Periodicals and Comics synthesis

Status: Draft

Comics Schemas

The following schemata are condensed from an email posted to the WebSchemas email group on January 17, 2012, then merged with the Periodical proposal that was in progress in the Schema BibEx group.

Scope

The comics schema is intended to describe serially published multi-page print and digital comics. Although some of the work types described below apply, newspaper comic strips and web comics have serialization and syndication structures distinct from other periodicals described here and therefore are not part of the scope of this schema.

The stand-alone Graphic Novel schema defined below is intended to describe long-form comic works, including both original graphic novels and collections of previously published works.

Comics

Comics are a specialization of Periodicals.

• Comic - a sequential publication of comic stories under one unifying title - The Amazing Spider-Man, Groo the Wanderer
• Individual comic issues - short-form, saddle-stitched, serially published comics (the pamphlet-sized comics seen in comic book stores and hobby shops) that collect one or more stories and other creative works - Amazing Spider-Man# 600
• Comic Story - any indivisible, re-printable unit of a comic, including the interior stories, covers, backmatter, etc

Graphic Novels

• Graphic Novels - long-form comic works (including original graphic novels as well as collections of previously published comics)

Comic Schemata

Thing > CreativeWork > Periodical > ComicSeries

A sequential publication of comic stories under a unifying title, for example The Amazing Spider-Man or Groo the Wanderer.

Properties from ComicSeries

Property	Expected Type	Description
imprint	Organization	The publishing division which published the comic.

Thing > CreativeWork > PublicationIssue > ComicIssue

Individual comic issues are serially published as part of a larger series (for the sake of consistency, even one-shot issues belong to a series comprised of a single issue). All comic issues can be uniquely identified by the combination of the name and volume number of the series to which the issue belongs; the issue number; and the variant description of the issue (if it exists).

Note: At Marvel we use the start year as the volume number, as does comics.org, but this isn't uniform, so we have kept this data point distinct from startDate.

Properties from ComicIssue

Property	Expected Type	Description
artist	Person	This term is generally used in lieu of a penciler when the primary artist works in a medium other than pencils or digital line art (e.g. if the primary artwork is done in watercolors or digital paints).
colorist	Person	The individual who adds color to inked drawings.
coverArtist	Person	Often the art team for the cover of a comic is not the same as the interior art team. In cases where the penciler or artist for the cover is not the same as the interior, that creator should be listed here.
format	Text	The format of the comic (comic, book format, etc.)
inker	Person	The individual who traces over the pencil drawings in ink after pencils are complete.
letterer	Person	The individual who adds lettering (including speech balloons and sound effects) to the comic.
penciler	Person	The individual who draws the primary narrative artwork.
upc	Text	The UPC number of the issue.
variantDescription	Text	A description of the variant cover for the issue, if the issue is a variant printing; for example, "Bryan Hitch Variant Cover" or "2nd Printing Variant"

Example

A single issue of a comic book.

Original HTML

 <div>TRUE BLOOD
   <div>TRUE BLOOD chronicles the backwoods Louisiana town of Bon Temps... in a world where vampires have emerged from the coffin and no longer need humans for their fix.</div>
   <div>Publisher: IDW (<a href="http://www.idwpublishing.com">http://www.idwpublishing.com</a>)</div>
   <ul>
     <li>Issue 13
       <div>Author: Michael McMillian</div>
       <div>Art by: Beni Lobel</div>
       <div>Colors by: Esther Sanz</div>
       <div>Cover by: Michael Gaydos</div>
       <div>Letters by: Neil Uyetake</div>
       <div>Edits by: Beni Lobel</div>
       <div>Date published: May 2013</div>
       <div>Jason discovers the reason for
         Amy's sudden ability to go out in the daylight, but does
         his best not to think about it.
       </div>
     </li>
   </ul>
 </div>

With schema.org

 <div vocab="http://schema.org/" typeof="ComicSeries"><span property="name">TRUE BLOOD</span>
   <div property="about">TRUE BLOOD chronicles the backwoods Louisiana town of Bon Temps... in a world where vampires have emerged from the coffin and no longer need humans for their fix.</div>
   <div property="publisher" typeof="Organization">Publisher: <span property="name">IDW</span> (<a property="url" href="http://www.idwpublishing.com">http://www.idwpublishing.com</a>)</div>
   <ul>
     <li property="hasPart" typeof="ComicIssue">Issue <span property="issueNumber">13</span>
       <div property="author" typeof="Person">Author: <span property="name">Michael McMillian</span></div>
       <div property="artist" typeof="Person">Art by: <span property="name">Beni Lobel</span></div>
       <div property="colorist" typeof="Person">Colors by: <span property="name">Esther Sanz</span></div>
       <div property="coverArtist" typeof="Person">Cover by: <span property="name">Michael Gaydos</span></div>
       <div property="letterer" typeof="Person">Letters by: <span property="name">Neil Uyetake</span></div>
       <div property="editor" typeof="Person">Edits by: <span property="name">Beni Lobel</span></div>
       <div>Date published: <meta property="datePublished" content="2013-05">May 2013</div>
       <div property="hasPart" typeof="ComicStory">
         <span property="description">Jason discovers the reason for
           Amy's sudden ability to go out in the daylight, but does
           his best not to think about it.
         </span>
       </div>
     </li>
   </ul>
 </div>

Thing > CreativeWork > ComicStory

The term "story" is any indivisible, re-printable unit of a comic, including the interior stories, covers, backmatter, etc. For example, most comics have two stories - a cover and an interior story.

Properties from ComicIssue

Property	Expected Type	Description
artist	Person	This term is generally used in lieu of a penciler when the primary artist works in a medium other than pencils or digital line art (e.g. if the primary artwork is done in watercolors or digital paints).
colorist	Person	The individual who adds color to inked drawings.
inker	Person	The individual who traces over the pencil drawings in ink after pencils are complete.
letterer	Person	The individual who adds lettering (including speech balloons and sound effects) to the comic.
penciler	Person	The individual who draws the primary narrative artwork.

Thing > CreativeWork > Book > GraphicNovel

Long-form comic works (including original graphic novels as well as collections of previously published comics).

Properties from GraphicNovel

Property	Expected Type	Description
artist	Person	This term is generally used in lieu of a penciler when the primary artist works in a medium other than pencils or digital line art (e.g. if the primary artwork is done in watercolors or digital paints).
colorist	Person	The individual who adds color to inked drawings.
coverArtist	Person	Often the art team for the cover of a comic is not the same as the interior art team. In cases where the penciler or artist for the cover is not the same as the interior, that creator should be listed here.
format	Text	The format of the comic (comic, book format, etc.)
inker	Person	The individual who traces over the pencil drawings in ink after pencils are complete.
letterer	Person	The individual who adds lettering (including speech balloons and sound effects) to the comic.
penciler	Person	The individual who draws the primary narrative artwork.

Code Examples

Comic Issues

Unformatted code:

Amazing Spider-Man (1999) #673
<img src="http://x.annihil.us/u/prod/marvel/i/mg/7/00/4ea85e808c079/portrait_xlarge.jpg" width="150" height="225">
SPIDER-ISLAND: EPILOGUE It’s the morning after for New York City. See how everything has changed for Peter
  Parker and the spider-crew now that he’s once again the world’s only Spider-Man or is he?
Writer: Dan Slott
Penciller: Stefano Caselli
Colorist: Frank Martin
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Editor: Stephen Wacker, Tom Brevoort
Orig. Published: November 02, 2011
Imprint: MARVEL UNIVERSE 
Rating: T+ 
Format: Comic 
UPC: 5960604716-67311
Price: $3.99
FOC Date: Oct 10, 2011

With microdata tags:

 <div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/ComicIssue">
   <div>
     <span itemprop="series" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/ComicSeries">
     <span itemprop="name">Amazing Spider-Man</span> (<span itemprop="startDate">1999</span>)</span>
     #<span itemprop="issueNumber">673</span>
   </div>
   <img src="http://x.annihil.us/u/prod/marvel/i/mg/7/00/4ea85e808c079/portrait_xlarge.jpg" width="150" height="225" itemprop="image">
   <div itemprop="description">SPIDER-ISLAND: EPILOGUE It's the morning after for New York City.
     See how everything has changed for Peter Parker and the spider-crew now that he's once again
     the world's only Spider-Man or is he?
    </div>
    <dl><dt>Writer</dt> <dd itemprop="writer" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Person">Dan Slott</dd></dl>
    <dl><dt>Penciler</dt>: <dd itemprop="penciler" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Person">Stefano Caselli</dd></dl>
    <dl><dt>Colorist</dt>: <dd itemprop="colorist" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Person">Frank Martin</dd></dl>
    <dl><dt>Letterer</dt>: <dd itemprop="letterer" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Person">Joe Caramagna</dd></dl>
    <dl><dt>Editor</dt>: <dd itemprop="editor" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Person">Stephen Wacker</dd>,
      <dd itemprop="editor" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Person">Tom Brevoort</dd>
    </dl>
    <dl><dt>Orig. Published</dt>: <dd itemprop="datePublished">November 02, 2011</dd></dl>
    <dl><dt>Format</dt>: <dd itemprop="format">Comic</dd><dl>
    <dl><dt>UPC</dt>: <dd itemprop="upc">5960604716-67311</dd></dl>
    <dl><dt>Price</dt>: <dd>$3.99</dd></dl>
  </div>

Notes and Explanation of Terminology

Graphic Novels

The graphic novel schema is an extension of the existing book schema, with additional fields to delineate comic-specific creator roles, the distributor (Diamond comics) code, and to list the collected issues inside the work.<ref>I am using the term "graphic novel" a little more loosely than the comic industry does - generally graphic novels are original creative works while bound editions which collect previously printed materials are termed "collections." I don't think that this is a meaningful distinction for consumers and retailers, however.</ref>

Periodicals and Individual Comic Issues

Individual issues are serially published as part of a larger series (for the sake of consistency, even one-shot issues belong to a series comprised of a single issue). All comic issues can be uniquely identified by the combination of:

• The name and volume number of the series to which the issue belongs
• The issue number
• The variant description of the issue (if it exists)

Periodical issues are an extension of creative work with fields to describe the series to which the issue belongs and individual identifiers such as the issue number. Comic issues extend periodical issues with fields for creator roles, a variant description and the distributor code.

Comic Creator Roles

The following roles are common work types used in comics (writers, editors and the like are already modeled in predecessor schemas). Comics often employ multiple people in a single role (for example, an issue may use several inkers, colorists, or even pencilers).

• Penciler: the individual who draws the primary narrative artwork<ref>still generally in pencil, believe it or not, but can be digital</ref>.
• Inker: the individual who traces over the pencil drawings in ink after pencils are complete <ref>often still in India ink, but can also be digital</ref>.
• Colorist: the individual who adds color to inked drawings.
• Letterer: the individual who adds lettering (including speech balloons and sound effects) to the comic.
• Artist: this term is generally used in lieu of a penciler when the primary artist works in a medium other than pencils or digital line art (e.g. if the primary artwork is done in watercolors or digital paints).
• Cover Artist: often the art team for the cover of a comic is not the same as the interior art team.<ref>The same can be said for character appearances on a cover. The appearance of Wolverine on a cover in the '90s was not a strong predictor of his appearance in the interior of that comic.</ref> In cases where the penciler or artist for the cover is not the same as the interior, that creator should be listed here.

Local ID Spaces

Comics and magazine use a number of local ID spaces, for example: the Diamond Comics Code in the United States, identifiers from individual publishers and commonly used IDs from fan sites such as comics.org. Rather than identifying every potential local ID within the schema itself, the current guidance for organizations which publish commonly used IDs is for such organizations to extend the schema.org product ID with their own product ID endpoints. For example, a distributor's code APR797 would be referenced as follows:

<span itemprop="productID" itemtype="http://schema.org/productID http://schema.distributor.com/OurID">APR797</span>

Related Links

• ACBF is a new open format for comic content, including metadata.
• A Comics Ontology – Explained, Paul Rissen