Entry 1 - Understanding Comics.

After reading Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics I realized just how little I actually knew, or realized about the art and theory of comics. To be frank I went into the reading of it not thinking I would learn too much. I kind of thought I knew exactly what comics were all about, but there was so much he made me realize that I never considered. I found it kind of a funny coincidence, that a lot of the theory of Icons and Symbols McCloud discussed in Chapter 2 was a mirror of what is being discussed in my Graphic Design class. I was surprised how philosophical the book got and how it spoke about perception and the theory of the universe being constantly rendered by the observer. It was interesting seeing the relationship that comics have with this theory. I enjoyed how McCloud tied in aspects of musical theory as well when talking about the space between panels. He has a wonderful way of making very broad and inclusive connections between comics and other subjects. Another thing I found really interesting was how differently the Japanese culture of comics has developed from ours. How their use of different panel transitions is much more varied than in western comics. It seems I have always tended to like Japanese comic books a bit better than western ones. This is something I hope will change in this class. Something I wasn't well aware of was the way comic books structure time. I didn't really realize that even the shape of the comic book panels can indicate how much time is passing in a scene. McCloud made me realize that the readers eye is the only way through which we experience all other 4 senses portrayed in comic books. He makes you realize how effectively the human mind can fill in the blanks. The mind also has to do this in between the panels where there is no information. Overall I think McCloud did a wonderful job of explaining the theory of comics, and kept the comic itself interesting and visually stimulating. I really like his illustration style and his subtle use of humor through out. So I walked away from this book pleasantly surprised because of all of my misconceptions.