Introduction+to+Understanding+comics

INTRODUCTION TO UNDERSTANDING COMICS: THE INVISIBLE ART by David Myers



Understanding Comics- An overview
 * Understanding Comics ‘//The Invisible Art’// **

//"There are precious few books around that really treat the comics medium seriously, or fully explore what is and may be possible in that medium. Scott McCloud's "Understanding Comics" is one of the few.// //This book has tonnes of things going for it: McCloud's enjoyable and accessible cartoon-style delivery, which is itself a brilliant demonstration of how powerful a communication tool comics can be ... the infectious passion he has for his subject ... the bountiful results of his serious research and scrutinization ... I could go on.// //Perhaps the best thing about "Understanding Comics", though, is McCloud's sheer imagination. When it comes to comics, he has a way of thinking and seeing that is almost completely uninhibited by any preconceptions. The result: he's constantly chucking ideas at you that surprise you and make you re-think about comics, writing, art and perception. You might not agree with everything he says, but the point is you're thinking about something you'd never have considered before. It's a truly eye-opening piece of work.// " [|M. Board "sheepisher"] (UK) []

Understanding Comics is funny, interesting and challenging. It is a very dense book of ideas, covering a wide range of theories about art and literacy. Yet it is done in a witty, playful style which lightens the book considerably, it is actually quite fun to read. Also the author offers good explanations along the way both in writing and pictures to help the reader understand the concepts. Having said that each chapter contains enough ideas that it’s probably best to read this book over a series of sittings rather than straight through.

In essence it is a detailed manual of how comics work. The author also demonstrates the complexity of trying to define a medium such as the comic. He highlights the conventions that make a comic a comic but also stresses that the future of comics is not static and is open to new interpretation. The following is a chapter by chapter analysis of the book, with some key ideas of each.

In the first chapter the author sets the tone of the book right from the start. Like I said it contains some very dense theory which has the potential to overwhelm the reader, yet there is plenty of playful, witty comments to keep you going.
 * Chapter 1- What makes a comic a comic? How do you define a comic? **

In the first chapter the author is trying to come up with a definition for ‘comics’. It is a critical examination, “The world of comics is huge and varied. A definition must encompass all the different types.” Some key ideas are:

· Separate the medium (the art form or the jug) from the ideas and images (the contents of the jug). · Eisner: Sequential Art.

The author explains Eisner’s ‘Sequential Art’ definition then expands the definition of what makes a comic to: “Juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or to produce an aesthetic response in the viewer.”

-Traces back to Pre-Columbian manuscript, -Norman conquest- Bayeux Tapestry. -Egyptian Paintings? Over 2000 years ago, Greek Painting? Japanese Scrolls?
 * When did comics begin? **

-The invention of Printing-Art more accessible to the ‘masses.’ -//Rodolphe Topffer//, the ‘father’ of the modern comic. -Mid 1800-s Interdependent combination of words and pictures. -Woodcut Novels. Frans Masereel, Max Ernsts. -Negative connotations of Comics -Back to definition of Comics- Definition is good because it leaves future of comics open: No materials are ruled out, no tools are prohibited. -Ongoing process, debate.


 * Chapter 2:** **Icons: “this is not a pipe”**

Icon: Any image used to represent a person, place, thing or idea. What is the secret of the icon “cartoon” or why is it so popular? -Amplication through simplification= power. -Simpler face: easier to project ourselves on to it. Too much detail blurs the message: Involves the reader more. -Humans are a self-centred race: We see a face in everything, a power socket, a squiggly line with an eye in it. -Audience involvement – is the degree to which the audience identifies with a story’s characters. -Cartoons are simple- therefore they are easier to identify with: that’s why cartoons have had an advantage in breaking into popular culture. -Also our biological awareness of self is simplified: -Inanimate objects become part of us: clothes, forks, bikes, crutches. We extend our identities into objects around us. -Everything we experience can be separated into two realms: the realm of concept and the realm of the senses. This part of the book gets quite abstract and it is easy to lose your train of thought, but it is definitely interesting and thought-provoking.

Chapter 3 is about the space between the lines of comics: what is left unsaid. “Our perception of reality is an act of faith based on mere fragments”: ie we may have never seen Jupiter but we assume it is there. -//Between the panels//: none of our senses are required, that’s why all our senses are engaged. -Cartoons often ask the reader to imagine what is happening: they demand audience participation. -Talks about the East/West split: -The West: goal orientated culture: more action based comics. -The East: cyclical, labyrinthine, more contemplative comics. Japanese comics- the author uses these too show differences in east west culture. Look at difference in mood between Eastern and Western comics.
 * Chapter 3: The Space between the lines. **

The author has a panel with about six different people speaking in it. They way you read it means you have to go from one person to the next. The author is trying to show how comic books can represent time. Through Words: words represent sound: sound only exists in time.
 * Chapter 4: Time Frames: **

What you get is what you give: In the end each reader will have their own interpretation, depending on their own background and cultural/environmental influences. Recognisable Icons: -smell marks off a smelly thing -drunk bubbles. -birds flying in circles round someone’s head represents dizziness. Emotional effect of pictures, patterns. Depends what the reader brings to the story. Comics can invoke all our senses and emotions.
 * Chapter 5: Pictures **

Traditional thinking has said that words and art should be separate: That is all great works of Art have no words. All great literature has no pictures Talks about how as we grow up we go from all pictures, to mostly pictures and some words, to mostly words and some pictures, to just words. Symbols use to look like what they represented. Like old alphabets. Now most modern writing systems only represent sound and have lost any resemblance to the visible world. In comics words and pictures have to work together, “like a dance” author goes through different ways words affect pictures and vice versa. Talks about how they have to complement each other, shouldn’t just have the words describing the picture because this = boring.
 * Chapter 6: Words and Pictures: **

Can comics be art? Art = anything that doesn’t grow out of our two basic instincts- survival and reproduction. Cave men: can’t do this all the time, sitting round the fire, someone bangs a stick, makes a drum. Purpose of Art: sometimes for money, and success, but good art is to spread ideas, to connect. Comic’s are a good way to connect people; we can never know exactly how it feels to be someone else: comics can help bridge that gap,
 * Chapter 7: Can comics be art? **


 * Chapter 8:** **Colour**

Commerce and technology Primary colours Affect of technology: colour cartoons proved to be a big hit, but cost more, so newspapers cut costs but sticking to basic colours, that’s why comic super heroes are kind of garish and bold, simple colours.


 * Chapter 9**: **Why comics?**

Why should we try to understand the comic? The author suggests that us humans are in a state of profound isolation. Mainly because we can never feel exactly what someone else feels no can anyone know exactly how we are feeling. The answer? Cartoons! the medium: converts thoughts into forms so that they can be re-converted by one or more senses back into thoughts. Comics = chance for individuals to be heard. – Everyone can make a comic, all you need is pen and paper. Give children a voice, get them to make their own comics!

For more exciting work by Scott McCloud, cisit his website- []

The use of comcis in the classroom