Character Appearances

• Optional
• This field records the appearance of any characters in the story who the indexer thinks are worth indexing, along with brief notes about them.
• Characters should be separated with a semi-colon (;).
• Many of the more specific rules regarding how to record information in this field are superhero-centric and do not apply to most other genres.
• Square brackets should be used for aliases, secret identities and "also-known-as" information which clarify which character if it's ambiguous ("Flash [Barry Allen]" and "Flash [Jay Garrick]"). Roman numerals ("Flash I" and "Flash II") should not be used.
• Parentheses (round brackets) should be used for notes about the character's role in the story ("Superman (origin)"). Common notes about character roles are origin, introduction, death, cameo, guest-star and villain. Abbreviations, such as O for Origin, should not be used.
• Square brackets are also also used to show members of a group. The groups name is listed, then an open square bracket, then the characters, then a close square bracket. Note that many comics currently in the database (including those from Norway) do not follow this convention but use round parentheses instead. Unless an indexer has specifically been told by the Senior Editors that they can use parentheses, square brackets must be used.
• For characters that have changed over time due to re-boots or changes or multiple realities, the general rule is to index them as they are described in the comic at the time it was published. For instance Superman in Action #1 (1938) is indexed simply as Superman not Superman (Earth-2). If it is obvious from context or explicitly stated that the character is from another earth, this information can be included in parentheses.

• Examples:

* Sam Zabel; Mr. Lupicinus; Cynthia; Moxie; Toxie; Tisco
* Jimmy Olsen 
* Jimmy Olsen (origin, death) 
* Red Tornado [Ma Hunkel] (cameo) 
* Green Lantern [Hal Jordan]; Green Lantern [Alan Scott] (cameo)
* Justice League of America [Green Lantern [Hal Jordan] (origin); Superman [Clark Kent] (Earth-1)]; Justice Society of America [Superman [Clark Kent] (Earth-2); Flash [Jay Garrick] (cameo)] 

(end of definition)

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Note: The older form where different versions of a character were numbered - Wildcat II - is not allowed and should be corrected to the named form - Wildcat [Yolanda Montez]

Note: There is also information about how to index characters from multiple earths or timelines at Indexing Variant Characters.

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