Wikipedia:WikiProject Comics/References

A selection of resources to help provide reliable sources and prove notability

Awards

 * List of comics awards
 * Category:Comics awards

Sales

 * New York Times Graphic Books Bestseller lists, hardcover, softcover and manga drawn from wide range of sources, started March 2009 (US-based)
 * Direct market comic book sales estimates (US-based):
 * Mayo Report at Comic Book Resources, back to August 2006
 * Top 300 Comics & Top 100 GN's Index at ICv2, back to March 2001
 * Comic Book Sales Charts and Analysis at Comics Buyer's Guide, back to 1996 (2008 onwards seem to be done on another site)
 * The Comics Chronicle, has monthly sales breakdowns back to the mid-1990s but is working on yearly sales figures back to the start of the 1960s (not complete at the time of writing)

Magazines/Journals

 * Alter Ego
 * Amazing Heroes
 * Back Issue!
 * Comic Art
 * Comic Book Artist
 * Comic Book Marketplace
 * Comics Buyer's Guide
 * Comics Interview
 * The Comics Journal
 * Comics Scene
 * Draw!
 * Hero Illustrated
 * The Journal of Popular Culture - index of comic-related papers
 * Wizard: The Comics Magazine
 * Write Now

Books
Contact User:Hiding if you require access to:
 * Back issues of The Comics Journal, solid run from 235, patchy before that back to 47. See also List of Comics Journal interview subjects
 * 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 of The Comics Journal Special Editions and issues 1, 2 and 4 of The Comics Journal Library
 * Issues 1, 8 & 9 of Comic Art magazine, see here for contents

Contact User:Curly Turkey if you require access to
 * The Comics Journal #27–184, 200, 205, 210, 225, 227, 250, 301 or The Comics Journal Library volume 7 (Harvey Kurtzman):

Other reference works
The following is an incomplete list of reference works that are believed to be of use:


 * Mike Benton, The Comic Book in America Taylor Publishing 1989
 * Eddie Campbell, alec: how to be an artist Eddie Campbell Comics 2001
 * David Collier, The Aesthetics of Comics
 * Les Daniels Comix, A History of Comic Books in America Bonanza Books 1971
 * Will Eisner Comics and Sequential Art Poorhouse Press 1985
 * Will Eisner Graphic Storytelling Poorhouse Press 1995
 * Mark Estren A History of Underground Comics Straight Arrow Press 1987
 * Ron Goulart Over 50 Years of American Comic Books Publications International 1991
 * Ron Goulart The Funnies: 100 Years of American Comic Strips
 * R. C. Harvey The Art of the Comic Book: an Aesthetic History University of Mississippi 1995
 * R. C. Harvey The Art of the Funnies: an Aesthetic History University of Mississippi 1994
 * Maurice Horn ed. The World Encyclopedia of Comics Avon 1977
 * Gerard Jones & Will Jacobs The Comic Book Heroes Prima 1996
 * David Kunzle A History of the Comic Strip University of California 1973 and 1989
 * Harvey Kurtzman From Aargh to Zap! Prentice Hall 1991
 * Rick Marschall America’s Great Comic Strip Artists Cross River Press 1989
 * Scott McCloud Understanding Comics - the Invisible Art HarperCollins 1994
 * Scott McCloud Reinventing Comics HarperCollins 2000
 * Trina Robbin A Century of Women Cartoonists Kitchen Sink 1992
 * Roger Sabin Comics, Comix and Graphic Novels: a History of Comic Art Phaidon 1996
 * ed. Bill Blackbeard & M. Williams The Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics Smithsonian Institution 1988
 * ed. Bill Blackbeard & Dale Crain The Comic Strip Century two-volume slipcased collection Kitchen Sink 1995
 * ed. Gary Groth & R. Fiore The New Comics Berkley Books 1988
 * The Comics Journal magazine

External lists of relevant books

 * Tom Spurgeon listed a far greater number of books at The Comics Reporter
 * Spurgeon also maintained a sizeable collection of comics links
 * The Comic Book Legal Defence Fund maintains a Censorship of Comics Bibliography
 * The comics research bibliography is maintained by Michael Rhode and John Bullough.
 * ComicsResearch.org's Comics Scholarship Annotated Bibliographies maintained by Gene Kannenberg, Jr.
 * Comic Art in Scholarly Writing: A Citation Guide offers up a way to cite comic books, strips and cartoons in reference sections.
 * The Comics Scholars' Discussion List offers a mailing list and links to many other pages that may be of use.
 * The HUEMULIN COMICS.

Bibliographical help

 * Comic Art in Scholarly Writing: A Citation Guide offers up a way to cite comic books, strips and cartoons in reference sections.
 * The Comics Scholars' Discussion List offers a mailing list and links to many other pages that may be of use.
 * The Comic Book Legal Defence Fund maintains a Censorship of Comics Bibliography
 * The comics research bibliography is maintained by Michael Rhode and John Bullough.
 * ComicsResearch.org's Comics Scholarship Annotated Bibliographies maintained by Gene Kannenberg, Jr.
 * Art, Cartooning and Humor bilbiography compiled by by Don L. F. Nilsen, Arizona State University, at Anadolu University

Reliable online column archives

 * It's Bob Rozakis The Answer Man Archive (dead link) (Archive link) 30-year comics veteran answers fan questions at silverbulletcomicbooks.com.
 * Adam Kistler's Monitor Duty Several comics' related profiles by the site owner.
 * Comics 101 Archive Scott Tipton's articles about comics.
 * Comic Book Resources Lying in the Gutters Archive The latest version of Rich Johnston's column is pretty reliable, particularly when an item has a green light next to it. He calls it a gossip column, but he actually sources most of his information or interviews those involved. Use your judgment.
 * POV Online, by Mark Evanier
 * Tom Spurgeon's Comics Reporter Highly reliable, former Comics Journal editor and respected professional expert.
 * Tom Spurgeon lists a number of books on comics at The Comics Reporter
 * Spurgeon also maintains a sizeable collection of comics links
 * The Comics Journals blog, Journalista Highly reliable online source. Defunct, but archived.
 * newsarama Good online source for news and interviews, does employ legal advice and does fact check.
 * Comics Worth Reading Johanna Draper Carlson's site, she's a former DC online editor, so a good source, blogs but also reviews. Has written for TCJ and Comicology magazines.
 * Paul Gravett's site Noted British expert, published three books now, written for TCJ and publisher of Escape magazine. Highly reliable source.
 * Publishers Weekly archives Highly reliable source of news.
 * The Beat Heidi MacDonald's blog. Another former DC editor, now writing the Publishers Weekly Comic Week newsletter, blog hosted on site.  Reliable source.
 * Time Magazine Andrew Arnold writes about comics for Time online. Reliable source, good reviews and opinions on works.
 * Multiversity Comics Staff members interview publishers and creators. Website ran from May 2009 to May 2024. An announced archive version of the website is scheduled for launch in September 2024; this version of the website will have a reduced number of images.
 * IGN
 * Comics Continuum interviews with notable people in the comic book industry.
 * Ain't It Cool News
 * ComicsAlliance (defunct)
 * Bleeding Cool

Databases, indices, and other such websites

 * The Grand Comics Database - as a tertiary source, it is unwise to use it to support any specific detail as its details are drawn from the actual comics so it is usually better to use the primary source (as there is always the potential for errors to sneak in). Note that the name changed from The Grand Comic-Book Database to The Grand Comics Database in December 2009.
 * Comic Book DB - another tertiary source like the GCDB, with similar caveats
 * Toonopedia - Don Markstein's Toonopedia, often contains useful in-depth articles, especially focusing on older American comics and comic strips.
 * Comiclopedia, at Lambiek - short but usually accurate biographies, especially useful for non-US comic creators (where English-language material can be thin on the ground), good breadth of coverage
 * Comixjoint, a good source for information and reviews of underground comix. The depth and amount of information used in each article differs from comic to comic, but is generally good.
 * International Catalogue of Superheroes, similar to the Marvel Appendix below (doublecheck as they often use material from there and it is better to use the original) with excellent breadth of coverage, especially useful for non-US characters
 * Bedetheque, very useful for Franco-Belgian comics and language skills needn't be a problem - just enter the search term in the box labelled "rechercher" (the results are well laid out and you should be able to find what you want - if not ask for help at WT:CMC. Just remember to use fr icon to flag that it isn't in English
 * BDoubliées, similar to the above. Quickest access might be through the search.
 * The Comic Strip Project: Credits
 * National Cartoonists Society (Members' mini-bios)


 * DC Comics:
 * DC Universe Guide
 * GLCorps.Org's Book of Oa
 * Mike's Amazing World of DC Comics
 * The DC Indexes
 * The DC Database
 * Cover Gallery
 * Marvel Comics:
 * The Marvel Universe, official, in-universe wiki and (where the page is available) probably best to have this as the first item in the external links
 * Atlas Tales (1950s Marvel)
 * The Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics creators (often has a way to link directly to the records)
 * The Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe, has been credited as a source by Marvel in their Marvel Monsters volume. Good for the more obscure
 * Marvel Guide
 * Cerebro Files (UXN) (X-Men)
 * Cerebra's Files (X-Men)

For those no longer with us we can access other sources (see Jack Kirby for an example of these in use:


 * Social Security Death Index (clearly US-only), Family Search (the site run by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) provides a handy search box and makes it easy to link directly to the records using the SSDI id

Also to cut down on external links use the Open Directory Project (following WP:ELMAYBE), using dmoz:
 * Comics, click the subsections and then use the letters to navigate to the right page

Templates
There are templates which can help add references to databases (which can help satisfy WP:V) so using the example from Hulk (comics):

== References ==

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For the order and naming of the sections at the end of an article, see: WP:LAYOUT.