Draft Comics and Periodicals Schemas

Hi group - 

A few months ago, there was some discussion of working on a draft schema
for Comics. Below, I've generated a handful of schemas for comics and
related creative works .  Please let me know if you have questions or
comments.  

Thanks,
Peter Olson

Comics and Periodical Schemas
There are two creative works related to comics modeled here, plus a
couple of schemas for periodicals which seem to be necessary
predecessors for the schemas here.  The two comic-specific schemas are:
-	Graphic Novels - long-form comic works (including original
graphic novels as well as collections of previously published comics)
-	Individual comic issues - short-form, saddle-stitched, serially
published comics (the pamphlet-sized comics you see in comic book stores
and hobby shops).

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.  (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.)

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)

Since there is no existing schema for periodical series or issues, I've
put together a draft schema for those as well.  Comic issues are an
extension of periodical issues.  I don't think there's a need for a
distinct comic series schema as there aren't significant differences
between comic series and other periodical series.  It's probably
worthwhile to reach out to more traditional periodical publishers to see
if there are fields missing from that description.

Periodical issues are an extension of creative work with fields to
describe the series to which the issue belongs, the issue number, UPC
and subtitle.  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 (still
generally in pencil, believe it or not, but can be digital)
Inker:  the individual who traces over the pencil drawings in ink after
pencils are complete (often still in India ink, but can also be digital)
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).
Generally work of this type won't use inkers or colorists.
Cover Artist:  often the art team for the cover of a comic is not the
same as the interior art team.  (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 indicator of his appearance in the interior of
that comic.)
In cases where the penciler or artist for the cover is not the same as
the interior, that creator should be listed here. 

Schemas:
Periodical Series (extends Creative Work)
Inherits all fields from Creative Work
- endYear [number] the last year of publication of the series
- publisherId [number] the internal publisher ID for the series
- startYear [number] the first year of publication of the series
- volume [number] the volume number of the series (At Marvel we use the
start year as the volume number, as does comics.org, but other
organizations don't so I'm keeping them as separate data points)


Periodical Issue (extends Creative Work) 
Inherits all fields from Creative Work
- issueNumber [number] the issue number within the series
- publisherId [number] the internal publisher ID for the series
- series [periodicalSeries] the series to which the issue belongs
- subtitle [string] the subtitle for the issue (e.g. "The Music Issue"
or "The Anniversary Issue")
- upc [string] the UPC number of the issue


Comic Issue (extends Periodical Issue)
Inherits all fields from Periodical Issue  
- distributorCode [string] the Diamond Code for the comic issue (this is
an industry standard identifier)
- coverArtist [person(s)] see role descriptions above
- penciler [person(s)] see role descriptions above
- inker [person(s)] see role descriptions above
- colorist [person(s)] see role descriptions above
- letterer [person(s)] see role descriptions above
- artist [person(s)] see role descriptions above
- variantDescription [string] if the issue is a variant (meaning has a
cover variant, , a description of the variant cover for the issue (e.g.
"Bryan Hitch Variant Cover," "2nd Printing Variant" or 

Graphic Novel (extends Book)  
Inherits all fields from Book
- distributorCode [string] the Diamond Code for the graphic novel
- coverArtist [person(s)] see role descriptions above
- penciler [person(s)] see role descriptions above
- inker [person(s)] see role descriptions above
- colorist [person(s)] see role descriptions above
- letterer [person(s)] see role descriptions above
- artist [person(s)] see role descriptions above
- collectedIssues [comicIssue(s)] a list of all issues collected in a
collection (for non-original works)
	
_____
Some general questions:
-	Should series use Creative Work as their base type or
intangible/thing?
-	Should story elements (such as the appearance of characters,
fictional places, objects, etc.) be included as part of the schema?
They don't seem to be used in other Creative Work derivatives, so I
didn't include them, but they are likely.  





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