Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art | 
 enlarge | Author: Scott Mccloud
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $22.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  124 reviews
Sales Rank: 2590
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 224
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 10.2 x 6.7 x 0.6
ISBN: 006097625X
Dewey Decimal Number: 741.5
EAN: 9780060976255
ASIN: 006097625X
Publication Date: April 27, 1994
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Amazon.com
A comic book about comic books. McCloud, in an incredibly accessible style, explains the details of how comics work: how they're composed, read and understood. More than just a book about comics, this gets to the heart of how we deal with visual languages in general. "The potential of comics is limitless and exciting!" writes McCloud. This should be required reading for every school teacher. Pulitzer Prize-winner Art Spiegelman says, "The most intelligent comics I've seen in a long time."
Product Description
Praised throughout the cartoon industry by such luminaries as Art Spiegelman, Matt Groening, and Will Eisner, this innovative comic book provides a detailed look at the history, meaning, and art of comics and cartooning.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 119 more reviews...
 Reading between the lines July 25, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
As previous reviewers have mentioned, Scott McCloud is passionate about comics; part of the purpose of writing the book, it seems is to justify the argument that comics are indeed art. I found this a moot point, although his evidence was interesting. Another reason behind the book, it seems, is to explain the message behind comics: the epistomological leaps we take when we read them, the artisitic decisions made when they are created, and the evolution the art form has taken. This was not only the strongest and most interesting part of the book, but also much less preachy.
I enjoy comics, from 19th century broadsheets to the Sunday funnies and the occasional graphic novel. Until now, however, I never really thought about the conscientious decisions the artist makes between realism and meaning when drawing them. Similarly, I had never critically thought about the fundamental differences between Asian (especially Manga) comics and Western comics. McCloud has shed much light on these topics, and explains these differences and decisions clearly, without pretense.
Avid readers of comics, aspiring comic artists and purists may find McCloud a bit pedantic - for the novice such as myself, I was fascinated, as a whole new world has been opened to me through his explaination. Why the four stars then? I took a star for his argument about comics as "art". I suppose there are those who believe comics are not art (or are "low" art at the most); while I disagree with this (and side with McCloud), I thought the argument was out of place, and ultimately moot. Still, a recommended read.
Great! July 17, 2008
You don't wanna miss this lesson guys. Mccloud just forgo himself. A must-have book for all comic readers.
 A Brilliant Look at the Psychology, Physiology, and Effectiveness of Comic Strips and Books June 24, 2008
This is an important book that everyone should read. I would give it twenty stars if I could.
I've long been interested in both art and comic books (I have collected them for over 50 years). While the library shelves are full of wonderful books that explain what traditional artists are trying to do and why they succeed, I've often found the books to be pretty boring. In recent years, such books have gotten bogged down into abstruse language that is much less appealing than the art which is the subject.
But in those years, I've never seen anything that was very helpful in discussing the rules of comic art, except some books about pop art when that was popular that examined how the pop art was different from comic art. Naturally, I was blown away when I found that Understanding Comics is a far more comprehensive, thoughtful, and accessible book about interaction with art than I have ever read. Although the subject is ostensibly comic strips and comic books, it's clear to me that that Mr. McCloud has a deep and powerful understanding of all art. Some of his conceptual displays of where different forms of art fall in different dimensions of choice (degree of realism, abstraction, and message) are unbelievably powerful.
I hope that some art historian will stumble on this book and recast the history of art to explain and relate different styles to one another using this book's methods. There would be a lot more art lovers if that were the case.
Ultimately, the book's main benefit is to help the reader appreciate that comic art can be a higher and more effective form of art than either pure images or written words by requiring a mastery of more elements . . . elements that are more powerful in grabbing attention and conveying meaning.
Yet the book stays in humble form, a comic book. The powerful ideas sneak up on you as Mr. McCloud deconstructs the elements of comic art expression into chapters on defining what kind of art comics are ("sequential art" for short); explaining where various comics fall on the spectrum of reality, story, and abstraction; the way we fill in the spaces around the lines and between panels with our minds, allowing us to participate in creating the story and the experience; how time is expressed in various ways; the role of lines in creating our understanding and responses; how words and images can interact; a conceptual look at creating comic art; the effect of color; and a synthesis of the book in historical and conceptual terms.
If you want to enjoy both traditional art and comic art more, read this book. It's the Rosetta stone for non-artists in appreciating the images, stories, and messages that artists want to share with us through these media. You'll never be the same . . . and the change will be good for you!
Bravo, Mr. McCloud!
He Understands What Art Really Is - Brilliant Work May 24, 2008
This is the type of book that looks at a genre and sees it's roots clearly in the basic structure of art and human perception. This is not a book about costumes and secret identities, but about how comics use the basic human archetypes and symbolic language to speak to us in metaphor. THIS BOOK WILL SHOW YOU HOW TO APPRECIATE ART, NOT JUST COMICS. Every art student should have this in their library.
 Erudite, But Not Interesting April 24, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
Understanding Comics is a very, very deep dive into the history, meaning and creative processes involved in creating comics. The author, Scott McCloud, has clearly studied his topic. You will not walk away from reading this book without a deeper appreciation for the medium.
Yet, I found I lost interest pretty quickly in what the book was teaching. There are four reasons for this. First, I was thrown by the fact that the book, itself, is a comic. I can count on, well, one finger how many comics I've read that attempt to convey scholarly information. While Mr. McCloud's illustrations are very well drawn, the medium itself caused me to expect a lighter approach to the subject matter. Second, the author occasionally goes beyond teaching to preaching. Third, many of the book's concepts are confusingly conveyed. For example, Mr. McCloud uses a pyramid to show the range of different comic authors' styles. Unfortunately, this explanatory vehicle is hard to follow to start with, let alone when it's abbreviated and repeated quite often in subsequent pages. Fourth, Mr. McCloud goes on too long with some of his arguments. I often felt the urge to skim or skip past particularly long discourses where little new information was being added to earlier information provided.
If you're looking for a deep, scholarly analysis of comics, this book is for you. If you're looking for an easy to read, interesting new perspective on comics, you will probably not enjoy this book.
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