Forum:CT Archive/Italics in Canon comic issues

The explanation
In the aftermath of our recent Canon comic naming CT, we present another proposal for standardizing the formatting of Canon comic-book issues. Both Marvel and IDW, the two primary Canon comic-book publishers, show indications that they do not prefer the issue number of comic books to be italicized. For example, Marvel Comics 1000 over Marvel Comics 1000.

What makes this subject a bit difficult to determine is that neither Marvel nor IDW is very clear on this matter. The comic issues themselves don't indicate either way, and very rarely does either publisher indicate a formatting preference anywhere on their website. For example, pretty much all of Marvel's press-release articles capitalize their comic titles rather than italicizing them, and individual product pages don't use any formatting, so one needs to look carefully for an answer.

To use Marvel Comics 1000 as the primary example, note two particular Marvel.com press articles (1, 2). Their respective titles are SDCC 2019: Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham Return to Marvel for 'Marvel Comics' #1000 and "A Fascinating Mystery": The Reviews for 'Marvel Comics' #1000 Are In. The placement of the single quotation marks around "Marvel Comics" but not around "1000" indicates that the publisher prefers the comic issue number not be italicized. To compare that to two other Marvel.com articles (1, 2), Marvel places the same single quotation marks around "Agent Carter" and "Fantastic Four," both of which are also italicized in the course of those respective articles, thus indicating that these single quotation marks are intended to translate to italics. Therefore, Marvel prefers to format its comic titles as Marvel Comics 1000.

IDW doesn't have as extensive a website as Marvel, so there is even less indication here. But the answer seems to lie in this product page, which reads, "Collects Star Wars Adventures issues #10 and #11..." This indicates that, like Marvel, IDW prefers to not italicize issue numbers. And on top of that, StarWars.com is pretty consistent in mirroring this formatting in its own news articles. Here and here, for example, SW.com formats such titles as Marvel Comics 1000 and Star Wars Adventures 28, which I think pretty solidly supports this course of action.

Aside from that, the only other Canon comics I'm aware of that include issue numbers are the German-language adaptions of The Weapon of a Jedi and Smuggler's Run, which simply include "Part 1," etc., in block letting on the title page (see here) and don't provide any formatting beyond that. So I think we can reasonably make an executive decision here and follow the Marvel/IDW formatting by not italicizing those issue numbers. So, for example, we would format these titles as "Smuggler's Run, Part 1" and do the same for any future non-Marvel/IDW comics that may be published.

The proposal
So, with all apologies for the long explanation in the previous section, I propose the following policy additions. Firstly, a new section, titled "Comic books," will be added to Manual of Style and will read as follows:

Do not italicize the issue numbers of individual Canon comic books (examples: Marvel Comics 1000, Doctor Aphra 38, Star Wars Adventures 28, Smuggler's Run, Part 1).

Secondly, the "Number sign" subsection of the Naming policy's "Comics and magazines" section will be renamed "Italics and number sign" and will now include the additional amendment:

Do not italicize the issue number in the article titles of individual Canon comic books (examples: Marvel Comics 1000, Doctor Aphra 38, Star Wars Adventures 28, Smuggler's Run, Part 1).

To clarify a final point, this only applies to Canon comic books at this time. Legends is a beast for another day. And this only applies to individual comic-book issues, not trade paperbacks or hardcover collections. Toprawa and Ralltiir (talk) 16:57, November 21, 2019 (UTC)

Support

 * 1) Toprawa and Ralltiir (talk) 16:57, November 21, 2019 (UTC)