Understanding Comics

Another book borrowed from the library, this one helps people try and deepen their understanding of comics. McCloud goes thru a bit of comic history and then describes several techniques to how to really understand what is going on in the comic format. The book was interesting and also follows a comic book format but I found that the style was a bit hard to read in some places and didn't keep my attention as best as it should have.

I didn't grow up reading comics. I've recently started reading more, but I'm still figuring out what I enjoy (Y the Last Man, Walking Dead, Saga, and Attack on Titan so far).

This book is completely different. It's not about how to read comics, but about how to write comics. While I have no intention of writing comics, it's an insightful overview of how to create a story using a combination of images and words – something I want to get better at.

What impresses me most about this book is that it felt like a conversation between me and the author. The entire comic is written in a format where the author, the main character of the comic, is introducing you to various comic concepts and exploring why they work (or don't). Although I don't plan to create comics, I came out of this with a bunch of ideas that I want to try on mediums I work in.

I never thought I needed this—do you need a guide for understanding chocolate or ice cream? (Now that I mention it, though, I bet those exist). I like what I like, and enjoy it, and that's that, right? Well, now I wish I'd read this twenty years ago. McCloud adds new dimensions to my appreciation: he offers context, history, design insights, and makes it all accessible and enjoyable. It's too early to tell how/if this will change my future reading of comics, but I'm looking forward to finding out.