Understanding Comics (3pts)

I enjoy the way Scott McCloud writes, he packs jokes into every page. In the very beginning he really caught my interest when he compared the photograph of the man to various drawings that were increasingly simplified as your eye moved further down the page. That comparison was then followed by the question: "Why are we so in thrall to the simplified reality of the cartoon?" The reason I thought I was so interested in cartoons as a child and even now as an adult was because it was a form of escapism. Escaping the pressures and stresses of real life and entering into a land of humor and fantasy. However, the only way one can escape into this world is by accepting it for reality in the first place and I really like how McCloud explains how we are able to do this. "By stripping down an image to its essential "meaning" an artist can amplify that meaning in a way that realistic art can't." When he also explains that we see ourselves in cartoons that really hit the nail on the head. That reason alone is why it's so easy to escape into that world. "The cartoon is a vacuum into which our identity and awareness are pulled." I think I also found it interesting how the first half of this book really felt like an explanation of human psychology in relation to cartoons and comics rather than just on comics itself. I also really appreciated how throughout the book there was a comparison between western comics and Japanese manga. I like how things that were mentioned in the History of comics are again mentioned in this book as well. There are similarities between the two books but it's clear that this a more in- depth view of comics in a sense. For example, mentioning Osamu Tezuka and how he is the catalyst for Japanese comics or manga but then going more in-depth and explaining the drawing style and art techniques that a large percentage of manga artists tend to use and how that particular style isn't used as much in the States. Also explaining how that art style affects the reader was very interesting. The specificity that the author uses when talking about comics is really commendable he gets into the nitty gritty even taking the time to explain the abstractions of life into icons and the transitions within comics. All in all this book definitely accomplishes what the author set out to do, I feel like I have a much better understanding of comics as a whole now.