Its release sparked wide discussion, some controversy and if not created, it was at least the first “feature length example” of two (!) mini-genres – comics about comics and the comics essay.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a comics professional who hasn’t thought deeply about its contents. McCloud tells us that Understanding Comics is the result of a lifetime spent thinking through these concepts and it shows. There are moments of not only sheer genius, but absolutely necessary block building for a healthy art medium to know about itself. What’s more, the ideas McCloud is working with land much more often than not. McCloud draws himself in as a genial, clear-line narrator, laying out his train of thought while rushing from one panel to the next, repeating motifs, building charts and graphs, tilting and swirling and cracking jokes just to show he’s enjoying this as much as we are. Understanding Comics’ mark is its accessibility. Starting with the basics, asking “What is comics?”, chapters explore comics’ vocabulary of iconography, its unique intersection of time and space, the expressive properties of line and colour, the role of the reader – it’s heady stuff laid out with persuasive clarity. While it wasn’t the first attempt to speak theoretically about the medium, it was the first that was drawn as a comic, making McCloud’s pages into simultaneous explanation and demonstration. However, nothing else he’s done has had the impact of Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art, a book-length essay exploring McCloud’s ideas of how and why the comics medium communicates with the reader. Among his inspirations are: the 24-hour comic challenge, Five Card Nancy (Google it), the original Creator’s Bill of Rights, and tools that establish him as a leader in the web comics arena. Originally making his name in alt comics circles with his light-hearted superhero book Zot (and the hilarious one-shot parody DESTROY!!), McCloud started a parallel career as a thinker and innovator of tools and concepts that moved the art form forward. You’d think it unlikely then that a book of comics theory would become a widely-read classic while also being cover to cover entertainment. If you’ve been to a liberal arts college, you’ve probably been assigned to read art or media theory books that made you hate, in some combination, art, media, your professor, the written word and/or living.
0 kommentar(er)
