These are my personal views on how to judge the notability of comic book-related articles. They do not always agree with consensus, and there are always exceptions. I'm enumerating them for the benefit of others and to expand on comments I often make in AfD discussions.
Comic characters edit
Stand alone articles edit
Most comic characters aren't independently notable, but I will typically support a stand-alone article for a character who meets either of the following criteria. While these may seem narrow, they encompass nearly all of the truly notable comic characters, including the villains.
- The character has starred in an eponymous ongoing or limited series AND has appeared in other titles
- If there has been a self-titled series, reviews of it likely exist. Sales information can likely be found. If it was published within the last 15 years or so, there are likely interviews with the artist and/or writer where they discuss their plans, influences, or opinion of the character. All of these can add real-world information to a character article. If the character has only appeared in their self-titled series, the article should be about the series, not the character.
- The character has had a significant role in other media that is faithful to the comic version
- A role is significant if it's consequential to the plot. It does not mean the character made a brief appearance on film or guest-starred in a few episodes of a television series. Guest appearances are cumulative across adaptations; being the villain-of-the-week twice in one cartoon is insufficient, but being the villain-of-the-week twice in each of three cartoons might be. If the adaptation is not faithful or non-speaking, the adapted version does not grant notability to the comic version.
Lists edit
Some characters who are not independently notable have a high degree of notability within the fiction. This can be harder to judge, but if any of these criteria are met, I will typically support merging the description to a list.
- The character is linked in-line by 15+ other articles.
- The point of character lists like List of Marvel Comics characters is to prevent duplication of character descriptions across multiple articles. If a character isn't mentioned in other articles, there isn't a need to save the information about that character. When checking what links to an article, it's important to consider how many are false positives due to templates.
- The character has been adapted to other media, whether the adaptation was faithful or not.
- This includes toys and statues, but excludes non-speaking cameo roles.
- The character is closely associated to a specific title, and a character list exists for that title
- Primarily for long-running series that are self-contained rather than a shared universe. In some cases, the list may be a section of the article about the comic publication.
Redirects edit
Failing all of the criteria above, a character might be significant to specific storylines. In these cases, I'll typically support a redirect to the article about the storyline (or the closest approximation).
Comic publications edit
If it's an ongoing or limited series from Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse, or IDW, enough review sources likely exist to make a claim of notability. If it's a recent release, Comic Book Roundup is a good place to start looking for reviews. Sales information can be found at Comichron dating back to the early 90s, and select comic titles further back than that. Additional information can be found by searching for the title along with the words interview and review. Don't forget to utilize the option that limits the search time frame and always look through more than the first page of results.
If it's a one-shot from any of these publishers, it's less likely to be notable. If it's a special issue of an ongoing story, it might be a better idea to redirect the title to a primary article. If it's not, it might be more appropriate to discuss it in the creator's article and/or add it to a list of publications.
If it's a work from any other comic publisher, it might be notable. If the methods described above fail to turn up sources, it might be better served on the creator's page or the publisher's page.
Comic creators edit
WP:AUTHOR supplies four guidelines for creator notability. Applied specifically to comics, the first two are self-explanatory and the fourth is mostly redundant. The third requires interpretation.
The person has created or played a major role in co-creating a significant or well-known work or collective body of work. In addition, such work must have been the primary subject of an independent and notable work (for example, a book, film, or television series, but usually not a single episode of a television series) or of multiple independent periodical articles or reviews.
Monthly comic books are subject to the parenthetical, so the absolute number of comics written or drawn is not as important as the combined significance of those works. There are two types of works in comics, and I view them differently:
- Work for Hire: A writer or artist is credited with creation of a significant character or is recognized for contributing a significant storyline to a character's history. Fill-in assignments and brief stints are not sufficient.
- Creator owned: The creator must have contributed to three or more independently notable works, or one award-winning work. Until this threshold is met, information about the creator should be located in the article about the work.