{{Infobox comics story arc
| title          = 
| image          = <!-- filename format only -->
| imagesize      = <!-- default 250 -->
| caption        = 
| alt            = 
| publisher      = 
| date           = 
| startmo        = 
| startyr        = 
| endmo          = 
| endyr          = 
| genre          = 
| titles         = <!-- include issue #s -->
| main_char_team = 
| writers        = 
| artists        = 
| pencillers     = 
| inkers         = 
| letterers      = 
| editors        = 
| colorists      = 
| CEheader       = 
| TPB            = 
| ISBN           = 
| TPB#           = 
| ISBN#          = 
| cat            = 
| cat+#          = 
| sortkey        = {{PAGENAME}}
| self-titled    = y
| nonUS          = 
| website        =
}}

• Most of the parameters are designed only to show in the infobox if something is entered. They can be left in the template and empty if the item does not pertain to the article or if the information is not known at the time the template is added.
• The title field is an exception. If left empty the infobox will not generate a title. If the title for the infobox is the same as the title of the article, title can either be deleted or commented out. The later is preferable since the name of the article, or the preferred name of the infobox may change.
• For multiple items in one field use the template {{plainlist}}. This is in line in accessibility guidelines.
• Placing images in the infobox uses two fields:
  • image which is just the filname of the image. The template will add the markup to show the image.

    Example: image= example.jpg

  • imagesize which is the width the image will display at. The template will only accept a number here. If left empty or if a string (such as "225px") is entered, the image will default to 250px wide.
    • If you find the image to be too tall, reduce the size below 250px.
    • The parameter is capped at maximum width of 250. Entering values grater than this will result in the default setting being used.
    • The image will also cap at 450 in height.
• The caption will appear below the image. Keep it short, but indicate the original source published source of the image and the artist(s).

  Example: A comic book issue cover would be captioned as "Wolverine vol 2, #17. Art by John Byrne."

• To keep in line with Wikipedia:Alternative text for images, alt needs to be updated with the "text alternative" of the image. This is not the same as the caption. It should also be kept short, but needs to be descriptive of the image.

• Date should be the cover dates of the first and last issues. This can also be generated by a sereis of 4 fields:
  • startyr - The year, by the cover date, of the first issue of the story arc.
  • startmo - The month, season or week specified in the first issue's cover date. This field is optional so it can be left out if no "month" is part of the cover date.
  • endyr - The year, by the cover date, of the last issue of the story arc. If the arc started and ended in the same year, this field should be the same as startyr.
  • endmo - The month, season or week specified in the last issue's cover date. This field is optional so it can be left out if no "month" is part of the cover date.
    • If endishyr and endishmo are omitted, the template will assume that the arc was completed within the month (both startyr and startmo present) or year (only startyr).
• titles will create a "hidden" table listing the series/issues involved as a notable part of the story arc. For cases where only a few (1-3) titles will be listed, the hide option can be overridden by adding:

  |notable = y

  • These lists should generally be sorted alphabetically.
• Creators and primary characters/teams that are primarily involved in the arc can be listed with the following fields. These fields should be minimal, please keep this in mind when dealing with stories that crossed many titles or had very large casts.
  • main_char_team
  • writers
  • artists
    • NOTE: artist should be used when listing creators who contributed in more than one capacity as a penciller, inker, and/or colorist. This would also include those who work in painted or photographic art.
  • pencillers
  • inkers
  • letterers
  • colorists
  • editors
• CEheader will change the page that Collected editions directs to. Defaults to #Collected editions. See The New 52 as an example of how this is used.
• TPB, TPB#, ISBN, and ISBN# are used to list notable collected editions. Up to 10 can be accommodated (# being replaced with 1-9). "Notable" in this case would be the first printing of either one of the first few collections or a collection with citable critical acclaim (industry award nominee or winner for example).
  • nonUS is a logical notation for items that were published using British instead of American spellings. At present this only affects the "Colorist/Colourist" field.

This template is designed to place the articles into the relevant categories under Category:Storylines in comics. To do this the following parameters are used.

• cat is the specific subcategory of Category:Storylines in comics. Leaving it empty will default the article to this parent category.
• sortkey is required for use with cat. It can be changed to forcing a different sort in the category. This parameter will not recognize a leading space.
  • Please note, as per standard sorting guidelines the following character types should not be used in the sort argument:
    • non-English letters (i.e. Δ, Θ, Д, Ж, מ, ي, etc.);
    • accented English letters (i.e. Á, Ö, Ñ, etc.); or
    • symbols (i.e. ¢, ₤, $, ♥, etc.).
  • "A", "An", and "The" should be dropped from titles and most subtitles in the srot argument.
  • All words in the sort argument should be capitalized.
• startyr will put the article in to the proper Year in comics category.
• self-titled can be added if the story arc was partially published in a self-titled limited series.
• The logical fields for genre will place the article into the appropriate categories.
• Additional storyline categories can be added with cat+#. Replace "#" with a number (currently the template is set up for 3 additional categories) and list the full category title.
  Please exercise category common sense in adding additional storyline categories. Some examples:
  • Appropriate:
    • Discrete team and separate character - Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes - Superman and the Legion each have separate categories for storylines and Superman is treated, for the story, as separate from the Legion.
    • A few teams - The Lightning Saga - Justice League, Justice Society, and Legion
    • A few characters
  • Inappropriate
    • Character as a team member - The Lightning Saga would not include Batman, Superman, or Green Lantern storyline categories since the characters were present as part of a team.
    • Broader category is more appropriate - Acts of Vengeance could be categorized as a story line for Spider-Man, Avengers, Iron Man, and Captain America. But since it is a more general "Marvel Universe" story, the generic parent category should be used.

{{Infobox comics story arc
| anth           = y
| title          = 
| image          = <!-- filename format only -->
| imagesize      = <!-- default 250 -->
| caption        = 
| alt            = 
| publisher      = 
| date           = 
| genre          = 
| titles         = <!-- include issue #s -->
| ISBN           = 
| main_char_team = 
| writers        = 
| artists        = 
| pencillers     = 
| inkers         = 
| letterers      = 
| editors        = 
| colorists      = 
| cat            = 
| sortkey        = {{PAGENAME}}
| nonUS          = 
}}

This variation is designed specifically for trades that collect various issues, but not story arcs.

• startmo, startyr, endmo, and endyr will not function; the original publishing dates for the collected issues have to be entered at date.

• The article will be placed under Category:Comics publications.
• cat will place the article under "<cat> titles", please make sure the appropriate category exists.
• startyr will not cause the article to be categorized.

This is a list of the logical fields the template currently supports for genre.

Anthro – for Anthropomorphic – can be refined for funny animal and furry comics:

• For funny animals use "funny" or "funny-first" instead of "y" or "first"
• For furry comics use "furry" or "furry-first" instead of "y" or "first"

Some of these are mutually exclusive based on subgrenre:

• Action-adventure (Adventure) is the parent of — Martial arts (MArts), Spy, Superhero, Swashbuckler(Swash), and War
• Crime is the parent of — Detective and Mystery
• Cyberpunk is the parent of — Biopunk and Steampunk
• Historical is the parent of — Alternate history (AltHistory)
• Horror is the parent of — Vampire, Werewolf, and Zombie
• Science Fiction (SciFi) is the parent of — Cyberpunk and Post-apocalyptic (PostApoc)
• Thriller (Thrill) is the parent of — Spy

In some cases, two or more of the tags will post a combined genre to the infobox. These include:

• Comic fantasy — Fantasy and Humor
• Crime-thriller — Crime and Thriller (Thrill)
• Comic science fiction — Humor and Science Fiction (SciFi)
• Dark fantasy — Fantasy and Horror
• Erotic fantasy — Erotic and Fantasy
• Erotic horror — Erotic and Horror
• Gothic science fiction — Horror and Science Fiction (SciFi)
• Historical fantasy — Fantasy and Historical
• Historical romance — Historical and Romance
• Military science fiction — Science Fiction (SciFi) and War
• Psychological-thriller — Psychological (Psych) and Thriller (Thrill)
• Romantic comedy — Humor and Romance
• Romantic fantasy — Fantasy and Romance
• Science fantasy — Fantasy and Science Fiction (SciFi)
• Science fiction Western — Science Fiction (SciFi) and Western
• Weird West — Horror and Western
• Wuxia — Fantasy, Historical, and Martial arts (MArts) in cases where "Chinese" can be selected as the original language.

Some series or franchise specific categories exists as subcategories for a particular genre. To avoid double categorization, the following "series" tags can be used:

• Category:Pages using ISBN without TPB