The serious scholarly analysis of comic art (or as the Library of Congress says, "Comic Books, Strips, etc.") has grown at a significant rate in recent years. Witness the articles in journals such as the Journal of Popular Culture and the late, lamented INKS: Cartoon and Comic Art Studies, as well as the tremendous growth of papers delivered at the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association and Modern Language Association conferences. All of these are indications that we are on the threshold of a New Age of academic inquiry into the comic medium.

This maturation of comics scholarship requires attention in an area heretofore neglected. Bibliographic citation, one of the hallmarks of scholarly writing, becomes problematic when dealing with comic art. Comic books are particularly troublesome, as they incorporate aspects of both books and periodicals. Established citation manuals do not allow for the bibliographic uniqueness comics represent. Further, while established style guides may maintain that their primary aim is to establish credit, the primary aim of comic art citation is to provide location information: assisting those who wish to track down the cited source. Credit, if only because of its potentially convoluted complexity, is secondary. The Comic Art and Comics area of the Popular Culture Association, having recognized and wrestled with these concerns for several years, has established the following criteria for citing comic art.