Feature

• Required - if exists for the sequence

• Definition: The purpose of a feature designation is to group together stories containing the same character, same group of characters, or same thematic concept. Feature can join all appearances of such characters together regardless of in which title they appeared. This is most helpful with:

1. Stories which appear in anthology titles and therefore may not take their feature designations from the magazine title, and
2. Characters who appear in more than one title.

• Feature Names:
  • Features must be based on objectively observable things. For the purposes of the Grand Comics Database, "objectively observable" means something that appears somewhere connected with the printed stories themselves. The feature is usually named for the lead character or group or thematic concept. The name of a feature often coincides with the name of a comic book series, but it is not necessary that it do so. That is, not all features are named after magazines or reflected in story logos. For example, there is no feature named "All-Star Comics" or "Marvel Spotlight." The feature instead is named after the characters, groups, or concepts appearing therein.
  • Feature names are not always equivalent to the logos that appear with individual stories, as logos vary more than feature names. Logos reading "Dr. Strange," "Doctor Strange," and "Stephen Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts" all appear on different stories belonging to the Doctor Strange feature. For features known or presented variously, the core or dominant version should be used.
  • Not all stories are part of features. Not even all super-hero stories. The creation of artificial feature concepts just for the purpose of filling in the field serves no purpose.

• Feature Use:
  • Features may in appear in multiple series. "Superman" has appeared in the comic series Superman and in the series Action Comics. Likewise, the feature "Spider-Man" has appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man, The Spectacular Spider-Man, and Spidey Super Stories. The feature designation allows all these stories to be grouped together.
  • Stories presented as a series in a common style and format are considered features, such as "Tales of the Wasp" or "Tales of the Watcher." If the stories were reprinted without the feature trappings (the framing sequence) they would be interchangeable, and not considered to be part of a feature.
  • Just as features can span different titles and logos they can also span publishers, as features such as "Blue Beetle," "Tarzan," "Conan," and the "Star Trek" franchise demonstrate.
  • Interchangeability: in any given timeframe, any two stories belonging to the same feature could be switched without any dissonance. A reader wouldn't think "What's this doing here?" For example, in a situation in which a member of a group, such as the Human Torch, has his own feature (such as the one in Strange Tales), such a story would not be interchangeable with an adventure of the Fantastic Four in its own magazine.
  • Leave articles at the front of the Feature title: "The Shadow", not "Shadow, The"
  • Per a vote on August 27, 2007, Advertisements may belong to multiple Features, BOTH the name of the product being advertised and the comic character Feature used in the Advertisement.
  • ONLY for the purposes of the series A + X, as it is published around the world, the Feature shall be recorded as "Avengers; X-Men".
  • Framing sequences with hosts (and no other designation of Feature) are a special case, and if host X is present the Feature is X, for *ANY* host X. This would apply equally to hosts such as House of Mystery and House of Secrets' Cain and Abel as well as hosts such as Stan Lee or other writers/artists/editors introducing stories.

• Examples:

* Superman 
* Justice League of America 
* Asterix 
* Haunted Tank 
* Punisher; Archie 
* Hostess Fruit Pies; Batman  OR  Batman; Hostess Fruit Pies
* The Avengers
* Tales of Asgard
* Space Museum
* Bonanza (feature title is based on presentation, as it is about the Cartwright family on the Ponderosa Ranch, but named after the TV show.)
* Tintin
* True Stories of Sports Heroes

(end of definition)

Note that it has not yet been determined how or whether to address editorials with their own specific, recurring names WITHIN company hype pages (such as Stan's Soapbox in Bullpen Bulletins) or letters pages (such as From the Den in various places). It has also not yet been determined whether or not to duplicate the Feature name as a sequence Title for these types of pages.

• Examples:

* On the Ledge
* DC Nation
* Bullpen Bulletins
* Horsepower!
* Let's Rap with Cap
* Justice Log
* Groo Grams
* Meanwhile

• Note that Feature is likely the most mis-understood and hotly debated topic when it comes to indexing at the GCD.
• An inexperienced indexer or a new reader of a particular comic may not be able to identify the feature of a particular story sequence. This can only be corrected with experience and that experience should be provided by a mentor or editor who is familiar with the feature in question.

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