Terminology

Comic strip(s) - There is no consensus in the domain about the definition.
Topper - A traditional "topper" is a extra comic strip by the same artist that accompanies a main comic strip. The topper has a continuing story line that is self-contained. The term topper can be misleading because it can be above, below, or next to the main comic strip. For instance, "Jungle Jim" is a topper for "Flash Gordon" that grew to prominence as its own comic strip. Topper should be used in a narrower sense.
- "A topper in comic strip parlance is a small secondary strip seen along with a larger Sunday strip. In the 1920s and 1930s, leading cartoonists were given full pages in the Sunday comics sections, allowing them to add smaller strips and single-panel cartoons to their page. Toppers usually were drawn by the same artist as the larger strip. These strips usually were positioned at the top of the page (hence their name), but they sometimes ran beneath the main strip." [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topper_(comic_strip)]
Feature - Feature is a broad term for most or all comic strips and things that aren't comic strips but printed in comics sections, e.g. puzzles and games. A separate comic strip or panel that is related to a main comic strip could be seen as a related feature. For instance, "Dinny's Family Album" in relation to "Alley Oop" and "Soul Corner" with "Wee Pals." Another example is paper dolls with "Flash Gordon." "Marmaduke" had a "Doggone Funny" feature. Many of these are these features are educational or activity-based. Another related feature is "Crime Stoppers" with "Dick Tracy."
One-shot
Daily
Sunday

Controlled Vocabularies

Resource Type/Type
- Image (DCMI Type Terms)
Genre
- comic strips (Getty AAT) and when published in newspaper, add secondary genre term of "newspapers" (Getty AAT)
Medium (= Migrate Materials terms)
- Enter individual terms according to Getty AAT, e.g. "ink", "paper", "colored pencil", or local terms when necessary, e.g. "non-photo pencil" (https://www.dickblick.com/products/staedtler-non-photo-pencil/) for potential submission to Getty. Do not include specific colors unless relevant.
Version - Local CV
- original art - broader term for roughs, pencils, and inks when we don't know which version the comic strip is.
- tear sheets - A page that can be or has been removed from a newspaper, magazine, or book for use separately. In contrast to Getty AAT term (http://vocab.getty.edu/page/aat/300112003), our tear sheets are not related to advertising. Tear sheet is usually a whole page.
- pencils - Pencils are a clean, preparatory drawings to ink over; an intermediary clean up and development stage of the comics page. While many artists use traditional wood pencils, others prefer mechanical pencils or drafting leads. Sometimes another sheet is put over the original drawing to be inked on preserving the original drawing.
- proofs - Proof sheets were the means by which syndicates provided newspapers with black-and-white line art for the reproduction of strips (which they arranged to have colored in the case of Sunday strips). Typically each sheet will have either six daily strips of a given title or one Sunday strip. Proof sheets are off-set printed and are not original art.
- roughs - Preliminary unfinished sketches with lack of detail in the comics creation process.
- inks
- clippings - A part of a tear sheet.
- prints - If art prints that are mass-produced.
- mechanical reproduction* - Mass reproduction of identical copies of original works. [Not artist's proof or numbered prints] Copies of art images, art objects, decorative arts, or other valued images or objects, made without intent to deceive; with regard to art images, it includes photographic reproductions. Example: poster. Tear sheet may be narrower term.
Subject
- Library of Congress Subject Headings or FAST Subject Headings - Use related to "aboutness" and characters
Time Period (Topic)
- Local CV for decades, e.g. "1930s (1930-1939)"
Place (Topic)
- Library of Congress Names, Library of Congress Subject Headings or FAST Subject Headings
Syndicate - Local CV?
- King Features Syndicate

Title Creation

Flowcharts have been created for assigning titles to comic strips. Refer to the Comic Strip Titles Flowcharts PDF.

Lifecycle of Comic Strip Creation (Version)

Rough > Pencils > Original Art > Color Guides > Proof (glossy paper) > Printed comic strip > tear sheets > clippings

We will avoid mechanical reproduction in most cases.

Same lifecycle could be applied to animation, e.g. storyboards.

In some cases, there may not be existing works with earlier stages. Some creators may skip rough and pencil stage. In some cases, they may ink over pencils and erase pencils marks.

Record Structure

There are a wide variety of digitized comic strip records in DC. Here is some guidance for description.

Objects/records with one comic strip

Describe according to Best Practices documentation. Examples from Zippy: https://hdl.handle.net/1811/491be0da-b842-40a1-a98a-c148db2c245e and https://hdl.handle.net/1811/61092dc9-2280-4a6c-8310-2f05eb254abc

Objects/records with more than one comic strip

Rule 1: If there is more than one creator for works on object, there will be separate records for each creator's work.

Rule 2: If there is one creator for all works on the object, one record may describe all the works.

Further clarification/examples:

All comic strips on object are from the same creator: If all of the comics on the object have the same creator, describe the work as one object with two comic strips. Example: https://hdl.handle.net/1811/c8f99de8-2228-48b6-83de-f670bb66da50
Same as bullet #1 but with additional content: Describe according to bullet #1. Additional content, e.g. paper dolls, can be mentioned in Description field. Example: https://hdl.handle.net/1811/6b2a7e98-a11d-48bd-b7a6-932f056908ed
Comic strip with topper: If the other comic strip by the same creator depends on the main one to exist, it is a topper. Example: https://hdl.handle.net/1811/7b2ee017-c3ca-4e17-bd45-6315ea3711c5 and https://hdl.handle.net/1811/3a9687fb-c0c7-4218-b6a4-189846a06426
Same comic strip series but different individual titles pasted on same object: To be determined. Example: https://hdl.handle.net/1811/f4e78f42-f473-48a8-b7be-3daa7e3c1f49 - Remediation of this example is pending.
Different comics and different creators on one object: Create parent record for whole object and have child records with cropped versions of each individual comic strip to describe it in more detail. Example: https://hdl.handle.net/1811/23d3ac2a-9027-47c2-a2fa-2a00c4f16802 - Remediation of this example is pending.

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