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comic book, comicbook

Although most references properly denote "comic book" as two words, we're making a CCdC assertion that both "comic book" and its compound brother "comicbook" are acceptable. However, for the sake of consistency only one form or the other should be used within a single article.

footnotes

As of this writing I've had two reviews that used footnotes and I coded both slightly differently, so this is worthy of an entry in this style guide. Not something writers necessarily have to pay attention to since it's as much about HTML code as anything else.

Since these are hypertext documents, footnote marks (asterisks, daggers, numerals) should be linked to the actual footnote itself. So far, the asterisk has been used immediately following the sentence requiring the footnote. According to the research I've read, the reference should not interrupt the sentence but should instead come after the ending punctuation mark (or closing quotation mark, I imagine). As for the code, I invoke the HTML <super> tag to make it a superscript character, and also make the character bold so that it stands out a little better on the computer screen (the most likely reading environment). Here's how it looks to the reader:

This sentence requires a footnote.*

Here's what the code looks like:

This sentence requires a footnote.<a href="#footnotes" style="text-decoration:none;"><b><super>*</super></b></a>

The actual footnote itself I've so far coded with a short left-aligned rule followed by an asterisk and the footnote itself, often in a type size slightly smaller than the rest of the document:

* Here's the content of the footnote. Lorem ipsum and all that.

The code:

<a name="footnotes"> (Matches the name in the "href" tag above, without the '#' character.) <hr width=150 align=left> (The rule) <p style="font-size:8pt;">* Here's the content of the footnote. Lorem Ipsum and all that.</p>

golden age of comics

Not capitalized. Although a cursory Google returns many examples of “The Golden Age of Comics” capitalized, I generally don't consider comics sites (including this one) to be good references in matters of general style. Instead I found an entry on the Oxford University Press website which was in turn printing a reference from Garner's Modern American Usage. The entry reads, “Capitlize historic eras <the Roaring Twenties> but not general labels that could apply to many eras <the golden age of radio>.”

manga

Not capitalized.

miniseries

One word, not hyphenated. This is according to Merriam-Webster OnLine.

story line

Two words, according to Merriam-Webster OnLine.

superhero

One word, not hyphenated. This is according to Merriam-Webster OnLine, where there is no entry for a hyphenated version of the word. Having said that, DC Comics still publishes a book entitled The Legion of Super-Heroes, but there's more latitude in titles than in the text of a review or article.