As some of you know, I’ve been working diligently on a big fat book about visual communication. It’s turned into an unusually complex project and it’s taking a long time, so thank you for your patience. think about it: hamlet is completely consumed in his little world, and the stakes are all about what will happen to denmark and only denmark. and centuries later, we still perform the play and read it and think that that is us up there struggling with our problems, just with a different name. Dear comic art - Don't overestimate yourself, not because you're insignificant. Yes you have a long history indeed, and we 'understand' you're not just some flat tone sexist superhero adventure, and that you can be as postmodern as any other art school asshole graduate. Message received.

Understanding Comics, and its follow-ups Reinventing Comics and Making Comics, are a critically acclaimed non-fiction comic book series by Scott McCloud. More than that, Understanding Comics is a nine-part comic book about comics. Trudeau, Garry. "Understanding Comics—Scott McCloud", New York Times Book Review (Feb. 13, 1994), p. 13. Understanding Comics was first published by Tundra Publishing; reprintings have been released by Kitchen Sink Press, DC Comics' Paradox Press, DC's Vertigo line, and HarperPerennial. The book was edited by Mark Martin, with lettering by Bob Lappan. A highlight for me was found in chapter two where Scott McCloud explored the vocabulary of comics. The chapter begins with explain René Magritte’s painting The Treachery of Images (1928-29), an artist I am a big fan of. I actually went to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in the hope to see The Treachery of Images, but it was currently on loan to the Art Institute of Chicago. What I liked about this chapter was how he took the meaning of this painting and expanded on it to help explain comics. He took something easy to explain and built upon that to the more complex ideas. Masking can be seen in the superhero manga series One-Punch Man by ONE and Yusuke Murata. The titular protagonist Saitama is usually drawn in a simplistic manner with an iconic face, [14] while the series' other characters often have intricate costume or facial designs. [15] Consequently, Saitama is often juxtaposed alongside characters with realistically detailed appearances, which creates a masking effect where readers identify with the iconic Saitama and objectify the other characters. [16]

Develop

I remember when this book came out in 1993. My fifteen year old self scoffed. "I've been reading comics for years. What can this book teach me?" Twenty five years later and a thousand comics later, on the heels of rereading Zot!, I decided to finally give it a shot. I was apprehensive at first since you really have to scrape to find a negative review of Understanding Comics. Did so many people like it or were they afraid to admit they didn't?

ultimately, i'm glad i read it, but only to the extent it identified a bunch of interesting topics/themes that i'm now inclined to think about on my own as i read more comics (and reflect on the ones i've already read)--i.e. issues of time, motion, panel sequence, reader perception, artistic style etc. but on the whole i was not thrilled with mccloud's own exposition and analysis of those topics. i simply don't agree with a lot of the conclusions he draws. he makes a lot of unjustified analytical leaps that just strike me as really reaching for something deep and i just wasn't buying it. also, i was really put off by his tendency to go out of his way to say "but this is just my opinion--feel free to disagree." it just comes off as defensive. i was annoyed by his whole process of trying to define what "comics" are. and i completely skipped the chapter on "the six steps" because i could tell it was going to annoy the crap out of me. i think this sequence of comments pretty well represents the irritation i experienced at the beginning of this chapter: Van Wolputte, Steven (2020). "Masking and the Dividual: An Exploration". In Greub, Thierry (ed.). Revisionen des Porträts: Jenseits von Mimesis und Repräsentation[ Revisions of the Portrait: Beyond Mimesis and Representation]. Wilhelm Fink, Brill Deutschland. pp.55–72. ISBN 978-3-7705-6561-0. He warns against having too many samey character designs. The example he uses? A bunch of identical guys all yelling, " I Am Spartacus," of course!

Understanding Comics

As of this writing, there’s still a chance that it will be a movie, by the way. We’ll see! Not counting any eggs before they’re hatched, but you never know…

The book was called "one of the most insightful books about designing graphic user interfaces ever written" by Apple Macintosh co-creator Andy Hertzfeld. [15] [ undue weight? – discuss] Parodies [ edit ] Hunt, Nancy Rose (28 October 2002). "Tintin and the Interruptions of Congolese Comics". In Landau, Paul S.; Kaspin, Deborah D. (eds.). Images and Empires: Visuality in Colonial and Postcolonial Africa. University of California Press. pp.90–123. ISBN 978-0-520-22949-5. Stories for Humans" – topics include "Symmetry and Recognition", "3 Steps to Believable Characters", "Character Design", "Facial Expressions" and "Body Language"a b c "1994 Harvey Award Nominees and Winners". Hahn Library Comic Book Awards Almanac. Retrieved November 16, 2011. Manning, A.D. (March 1998). "Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art (article)". IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication. 41 (1): 66–69. doi: 10.1109/TPC.1998.661632. this book was intriguing, but also annoying. a comic book about comics! what a great idea! i wanted it to be better than it was. But then, with May comes the Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF), and in July, Comic-Con International in San Diego—special guests at both. Hope you can make at least one, they’re great shows! Winter was born immediately following Con in 1995. She pointed out the other day that she’d been to every single day of Con held during her lifetime. So Wednesday’s Preview Night is a must, to say the least…