LOL! Thanks Cassie!

As you say in your post “comics are in their own universe,” and I think that applies to the use of quotation marks. I think I am going to go with Allan’s advice, and go for consistency.

“Do what looks good and gets your point across…” Good advice. I will.

I’ve learned one thing from this discussion: we’re making it up as we go!

“I meant to do that,” she said.

Single quote marks enclose quotations within quotations:

“I never said ‘I’m confused’ so stop saying I did,” she insisted.

Use three quote marks together if two quoted elements end at the same time. Rules for the placement of the period differ between the two manuals, however, so pick one and stick to it:

“I never said ‘I’m confused.'” (AP Stylebook)

“I never said ‘I’m confused’.” (Chicago Manual of Style)

In comics, word balloons define what a character is saying, but they are not equivalent to quotation marks, double or single. In a comic, double quote marks are used if the speaker is quoting someone or something. Single quote marks are used if there is a quote within that quote.

Main Character: I never said “I’m confused”. I said “I meant to do that”.

Secondary Character: You may have said “I meant to do that”, but you also said “Remember that ‘All’s well that ends well’.” I hope you’re right about that!

Now, when you ask about titles, do you mean titles of books and stories? If so, The Chicago Manual of Style calls for book titles to be in upper and lowercase italics. The title of an article within a larger work is set off with double quote marks and is not italicized. The title of a short story is in double quotes and not italicized. But comics are their own universe in this because the text is primarily all uppercase. I don’t know of any rules regarding book and story title in comics. I never had the opportunity to apply any! My suggestion is to do what looks good and gets your point across to the reader.

So there’s my long answer to your short question.

I am thinking of a future edition which will be in libraries for years to come. I want to make sure it’s the best I can do. And details matter to me.

But I think your point about being consistent eases my mind. I will use the single quotation marks, since that is what predominates.

If you’ll forgive me for saying so, I think you’re worrying rather too much about this. What you’ve done so far has been absolutely, perfectly fine. There are no grammar police waiting in the wings to pounce on a misplaced semi-colon. And even if there are, screw ’em: this is comics — we have our own rules.

Originally, I had a whole speculation on why, but since I don’t really know (it would require a little research 🙂 ) I won’t indulge in it. But certainly, you can let yourself off the hook by saying you used British punctuation.

Regarding titles, I’d say it depends on how you feel about the look of italics on the comic page. I would definitely leave bolding for emphasis. On JEOPARDY!, because our Chyron didn’t do italics, we would put quote marks around all titles (novels, songs, stories, movies, etc.).

As long as you don’t start doing that, it’s fine. 🙂