Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Comics/Templates

message: We should think about templates. Proposals:
*A project notice like template:philosophy, to be placed at the top of Talk pages. That will direct people here.
**Done. See template:comicsproj.
*Infoboxes (similar to those found on album pages {example})
:*"Comic book series" with picture, publisher, dates, notable creators, &c.
:*"Comic book character" with picture, publisher, dates, notable creators, first appearance, powers, group affiliations, real name, & all that trading-card stuff. (:Template:Superherobox)
:*"Comic book character" which is not Superhero-specific. (:Template:Comiccharacterbox)
:*"Comics creator" with picture (if legal?), dates, and most important works.
:*An infobox for graphic novels. I have been using the one for comic serieses (example: Watchmen), but I think a more standard one is needed. - Stephen Goldmeier, Columbus, Ohio 05:28, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

message: I've created a superherobox template which should act as an infobox for comic-book characters.  Because not all comic books deal with superheroes (eg Archie), this template was created and named specifically for them. See more info about this template on the main page.
Please make any suggestions here, but refrain from simply changing the template without posting about the changes here first. Feel free to add comic color codes to the list, but choose colors that are easy on the eyes. 
Comic book covers might not work too well as images in the template, due to the large height, so the Wolverine example would have to be replaced with something less tall, as would all other images. Maybe this one could just be cropped. --brian0918 01:30, 23 Feb 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: A cover is probably fine. Just shrink the image.  — Gwalla | Talk 04:45, 23 Feb 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Alright, the instructions will read that the image can be at most 300px wide. --brian0918 05:19, 23 Feb 2005 (UTC)

text: I don't really like that at all.  It's huge, the colours are all wrong and there is far too much information there.  Keep it simple would be my opinion.--Hiding 22:28, 3 May 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: What happened to the "Status" tadbit in the SH Boxes? Kanjilearner 11:42, 12 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: [[:Template:Superherobox]]

message: :'The following was originally posted at Template talk:Marvel-Comics-stub. As it applies to more than that single template, it has been moved here & reformatted, for the sake of a coherant discussion. --Jerzy•t 22:03, 4 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: A separate question of civility was raised on the other page.  I will respond to it on Hiding's user-talk page, in the belief it needs no attention by third parties (who of course may nevertheless want to monitor it there and/or comment). --Jerzy•t 22:03, 4 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Original, Moved Thread 

message: _ _ I looked here and Template talk:Comics-creator-stub and Template talk:Comics-stub for discussion to justify spamming, via the stub tag, abt the project.  Nothing. I looked at history of Template:Comics-creator-stub and found that 6 different editors had left it there for 10 months.  I Google searched and found (searching the result page) that the 39 hits included only the following instances of Template: pages:
# Template:Comics-creator-stub
# Template:Marvel-Comics-stub
# a redirect to one of these, probably visible only when i retrieved the hundreds of Google-omitted dupes.
I conclude that this is a comics-only aberration, and that WP and the comics articles will be best helped by removing from these templates these invitations to regard comic-project editors as self-centered and rude. I have edited the two templates accordingly. 
_ _ At the last moment (before doing the template edits and saving this), i decided to be more thoro than i had when i was sure only that there were more than one and none outside this project, and checked Template talk:Marvel-Comics-stub, to which i am responding.--Jerzy•t 20:25, 4 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I have responded to these comments at Template talk:Marvel-Comics-stub, where all discussion would be best placed to follow. Hiding  talk 20:56, 4 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Second Independent Thread 

message: Is there any template for DC Thomson comics like the Beano, The Dandy and their strips? 
--GingerM 15:58, 14 Mar 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: DC Thomson

message: There are numerous Comics Editor Publisher. A template could be useful with the following information:
* Logo
* Country
* foundation year
* end of activities year (if any)
* ...
What about a template for comics magazine (especially relrevant for EU comics ?) with:
* Logo
* Publisher
* Starting date
* Ending date (if any)
* Periodicity
* number of published issues
* ...
Lvr 16:53, 22 Mar 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: By Comics Editor do you mean publisher?  Also, I don't see the point of putting number of published issues on an ongoing publication, as it will constantly need updating.--Hiding 22:31, 3 May 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: You're right. Corrected. Lvr 08:41, 6 May 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  
Editor
Publisher templates 

message: I would like to see an infobox for comics creators. It could have information like:
*Name
*Date of birth
*First publication: Title #xxx (Year)
*Field: (Writer, penciler, colorist, jack of all trades...)
*Notable/Best known work:
*Latest work: (for people like Ann Nocenti et al who haven't published anything in years it seems...)
*Current status: (deceased, hospitalized, working for DC, working in sports...)
Any viability to the idea? --Samy Merchi (Talk) 2 July 2005 01:21 (UTC)
* All of this information should be presented in the article, and almost all of it within the first paragraph, which makes an info box entirely redundant. Hiding 3 July 2005 04:30 (UTC)
:Same thing with superherobox. --Samy Merchi (Talk) 3 July 2005 10:54 (UTC)
::Actually, no, there is a difference.  If you look at the Superman article, which is a featured article and in my mind the standard we should strive for in superhero character articles, most of the information is scattered throughout the article.  Wikipedia's Manual of Style dictates, however, that a person's name, their date of birth, their occupation and their reason for notability be defined within the opening paragraph, along with their living status. However , I'd be quite happy to deprecate the superherobox myself, although I think the consensus here is that most people like them, as evinced by the discussion at Template talk:Superherobox.  Hiding 3 July 2005 20:56 (UTC)
*I think the comics creator box could be located in the article about that character myself.  Say your in Batman there could be a box for Bob Kane and Bill Finger. In that use I don't see it as redundant at all, That kind of information about the creator will not likely be repeated in the article but, would be of interest to someone researching the character.  The short listing of other notable creations could act as a good way for the viewer to browse similar characters.
--AjaxSerix 20:14, 1 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Comics Creator 

message: I just made my first ever Wiki Article (well stub) for Miss X (Comics) I am wondering if
*A. I did this right for the most part.
*B. If I should have used the comicproj template instead of comics-stub?
*C. If I spelled anything wrong?
--AjaxSerix 15:24, 3 August 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Looks OK, you just need to categorize it. Dread Lord CyberSkull ✎☠ 12:40, 30 November 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Which Template to Use

message: I'd like to see a template for alien races, like Kree, Kryptonians, Shi'ar, etc.  Maybe something similar to the Klingon page.  Ideas?--StAkAr Karnak 22:59, 3 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Aliens

message: I was wondering is there a template, for locations? I've been contributing to Asteroid M, these past couple of days. And I don't like the way it looks. - -- LEC20 22:31, 19 November 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Err, well among other things, the section titles of that article don't look very standard.  Instead of "First one" and "Second one", I'd recommend "First version", etc., or mention the story arcs to which they were pertinent.  I'd also stop referring to the asteroid as "it"; the pronoun is used excessively in that article and makes it difficult to read.  As for a location box, I don't think it would be a bad idea.  There are a couple other location articles that could use them, such as Baxter building. --DDG 16:22, 5 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: *Thanks, for your thoughts, on the subject. - -- LEC20 16:25, 10 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Locations

message: I see several major problems Template:ComicBookBox as it stands:
# It's too wide.  is already too wide, probably the widest infobox on Wikipedia, and needs to be cut down. Adding another TWO of the same width isn't the best of ideas.
# What does "Scenarist" mean? Rename or remove.
# Authors - is this a complete listing of writers and artists to have worked on the book (the box might get scarily long) or current listing in the case of ongoing books? And if the latter, what about cancelled/completed comics that have had multiple writers/artists?
# Leading on from that, is this ONLY for ongoing comics? 
# ISBNs - no, comics don't have them.
# Publication frequency is often variable, between writer/artist lateness and occasional fortnightly issues of monthly comics.
I think this needs some serious rethinking. - SoM 17:54, 2 May 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: "Creators" would be filled in as "[name] (script)[name] (pencils)[name] inks[name] (colours) [name] letering"? Anke 07:20, 11 November 2005 (UTC)

text: There should NOT be spaces, let alone commas, in the parameters. And don't list members of a team, just the team itself (that's what the STB is for). It's a mess- SoM 21:45, 5 December 2005 (UTC)

text: I've just had another look, and this is as fatally flawed as Template:ComicBookBox. Let's try thinking it over rather than charging blindly ahead, no? For one thing - how many articles will this actually be used on? - SoM 00:42, 6 December 2005 (UTC)

text: I now put this up at Wikipedia:Templates for deletion.--Fritz S. (Talk) 13:00, 15 December 2005 (UTC)

text: Okay, since it was voted to keep and improve the template, I did some changes to it. Let me know what you think. --Fritz S. (Talk) 21:10, 24 December 2005 (UTC)

text: It was mostly designed to match templates such as the album, film or tv series infoboxes (which are even more widespread)... The many colored lines are pretty much identical to those of the album infobox (used on ~6000 articles), and I think they look fine. I also think the other comic boxes are too wide in contrast with most other templates on Wikipedia... But if there's consent to change this, I don't mind. --Fritz S. (Talk) 10:45, 28 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Well, the album template you linked to below has the same problem for the simple reason that you clearly cloned this one from that, and thus looks similarly amateurish. The film box doesn't though, although consistancy would have to be weighed up. If you had to clone one of the two though, clone the frelling film box... - SoM 01:40, 29 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Supercbbox

message: Ummmm... yeah. I see the rationale behind a lot of the changes, but it adds up to an unholy mess in a lot of ways.
Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do	Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do	Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do	Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do	Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do
                                          	                                          	                                          	                                          	
Miniseries by Marvel Comics               	Miniseries by Marvel Comics               	Miniseries by Marvel Comics               	Miniseries by Marvel Comics               	Miniseries by Marvel Comics
Publication date                          	Publication date                          	Publication date                          	August 2002 – present               	August 2002 – present
Number of issues                          	Number of issues                          	Number of issues                          	                                          	
Main character(s)                         	Main character(s)                         	Main character(s)                         	Black Cat<BR>Spider-Man                   	Black Cat<BR>Spider-Man
Creative team                             	Creative team                             	Creative team                             	Creative team                             	Creative team
Writer(s)                                 	Writer(s)                                 	                                          	                                          	
Artist(s)                                 	Artist(s)                                 	                                          	                                          	
Penciller(s)                              	Penciller(s)                              	                                          	                                          	
Inker(s)                                  	Inker(s)                                  	                                          	                                          	
Colorist(s)                               	Colorist(s)                               	                                          	                                          	
Creator(s)                                	Creator(s)                                	Kevin Smith<BR>Terry Dodson               	Kevin Smith<BR>Terry Dodson               	Kevin Smith<BR>Terry Dodson
                                          	                                          	                                          	                                          	
Let's take a look at the box as it appeared on Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do under the redesign.
We have six lines in total, notwithstanding a couple spilling over. Of that:
#Three are bold in their entirety and have dark-pink backgrounds. As a one-line highlight on an open box, as on  and , that's fine. When half a claustrophobic box is that way, it's not.
#Of the remaining, cramped, lines, half of each line is bold and the other half are links. This means well over half the box is bolded. Bad.
#There is no consistancy with WP:CMC's other boxen,  (973 pages),  (103 pages) and  (51 pages), all of which are used on far, far more pages than the 27 of this one, hence this one is the one which must fall into line.
(Crossposted with Template talk:Supercbbox) - SoM 23:04, 27 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: It was mostly designed to match templates such as the album, film or tv series infoboxes (which are even more widespread)... The many colored lines are pretty much identical to those of the album infobox (used on ~6000 articles), and I think they look fine. I also think the other comic boxes are too wide in contrast with most other templates on Wikipedia... But if there's consent to change this, I don't mind. --Fritz S. (Talk) 10:45, 28 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Well, the album template you linked to below has the same problem for the simple reason that you clearly cloned this one from that, and thus looks similarly amateurish. The film box doesn't though, although consistancy would have to be weighed up. If you had to clone one of the two though, clone the frelling film box... - SoM 01:40, 29 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Re: Fritz's redesign 

message: Ones for non-superpowered comic book characters, anti-heroes, villains etc --Chaosfeary 10:01, 30 November 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: What do you mean "non-superpowered" characters? And why separate templates for anti-heroes and villains? If you could clarify your position that would be great. Dread Lord CyberSkull ✎☠ 12:39, 30 November 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  ++--=More templates needed=--++ 

message: All these infobox templates seem a little wide to me in contrast to other infoboxes like Template: Album infobox, Template: Infobox Film, etc. Shouldn't we reduce the width on these to 20ems? (And the suggested image size to 225px or 200px?) --Fritz S. (Talk) 21:30, 18 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Templates' widths

message: I started a little to do list on the 2000 AD talk page but was wondering if there were specific things for it (or at least the general class of anthology publications):
* I was wodnering if 2000 AD could have it own colour for info boxes as part of Wikipedia:WikiProject Comics/Color scheme
* As it is an anthology the Comics Book Title infobox doesn't seem to quite work - I think this was also what someone mentioned above about the DC Thomson titles. That infobox could be used or slightly changed for the needs of an anthology - the publication it appears in , etc.
(Emperor 20:47, 26 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: 2000 AD

message: I'm not sure I understand why this section is here. Can anyone enlighten me? --Chris Griswold 15:13, 23 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: It seems to me that the References info ought to be on the main WP:COMIC page, not here on the templates page. GentlemanGhost 06:48, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  References info section? 

message: We totally need a crossover box Exvicious 17:06, 10 June 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I totally agree. At first, I was all like, "What?" And then I was all like, "Yeah!"--Chris Griswold 10:24, 11 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Crossover 

message: Can we add equipment to the Heroboxes? A number of heroes have notable equipment, but there's no way to document it in the current system outside of the 'powers' box, as I found when I tried to add it to Ex Machina. Given that unlike powers, equipment can easily be taken away, or a hero caught without it.ThuranX 03:27, 23 June 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: That seems like overkill. Why can't it just be part of the article? --Chris Griswold 05:15, 23 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Equipment 

message: Please join the discussion at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Comics/templates/navboxes. We're discussing the need, use, and style of navbox templates with the goal of creating a WP:CMC guideline. --Chris Griswold 05:25, 7 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Navboxes 

message: The relatives section on the John Constantine page doesn't seem to work anymore. Has that been taken off of the superhero templates? It doesn't seem to be on the Susan Storm example on the project page either. --Mister Six 18:21, 27 August 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes, that was removed a month or so ago. See the talk page for that template for details. --Chris Griswold  (☏) 03:26, 28 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Relatives section in superhero template

message: I updated the example templates, but now the page display is all funky, any way to fix that? --Basique 11:35, 21 October 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  WikiProject Comics/templates page 

message: check it out; the word wikipedia links to some russian site (i haven't clicked it and i wouldn't advise anyone else to try). anyone know how to fix that?
:no worries - sorted it out myself in the end 212.139.211.44 21:15, 27 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  marvel stub template 

message: I recently became aware of . It's not listed on this page, although it looks like some project members have helped to shape it. Is there currently a plan to incorporate it into WikiProject Comics? --GentlemanGhost 21:27, 17 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Template:Non-free comic