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Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art [Paperback]

Scott Mccloud (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (142 customer reviews)
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

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."

Review

"A landmark dissection and intellectual consideration of comics as a valid medium." -- -- Will Eisner

"McCloud is the McLuhan of comics." -- -- James Gurney, Dinotopia
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 224 pages
  • Publisher: Harper Paperbacks (April 27, 1994)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 006097625X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0060976255
  • Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 6.7 x 0.6 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (142 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,749 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
    #2 in  Books > Comics & Graphic Novels > Cartooning
    #3 in  Books > Comics & Graphic Novels > Comic Strips
    #3 in  Books > Literature & Fiction > History & Criticism > Criticism & Theory

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Scott McCloud
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Customer Reviews

142 Reviews
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99 of 102 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Nobody takes comic books more seriously than Scott McCloud, June 19, 2002
By Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)   
This review is from: Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art (Paperback)
I like to take things apart and figure out how they work, except instead of doing internal combustion engines or pocket watches I like to play with books, movies and television shows. In "Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art," Scott McCloud not only takes apart comic books, he puts them back together again. Certainly comics are a neglected art form. Put Superman, Batman, Spawn and Spider-Man on the big screen and there will be some cursory comments about the actual all-in-color-for-a-dime, and names like Stan Lee and Frank Miller will get kicked around, but nobody really talks about how comics work (the exception that proves the rule would be the Hughes brothers talking about adapting the "From Hell" graphic novels). Part of the problem is conceptual vocabulary: we can explain in excruciating detail how the shower scene in "Psycho" works in terms of shot composition, montage, scoring, etc. That sort of conceptual vocabulary really does not exist and McCloud takes it upon himself to pretty much create it from scratch.

That, of course, is an impressive achievement, especially since he deals with functions as well as forms. To that we add McCloud's knowledge of art history, which allows him to go back in time and find the origins of comics in pre-Columbian picture manuscripts, Egyptian hieroglyphics and the Bayeux Tapestry. Topping all of this off is McCloud's grand and rather obvious conceit, that his book about the art of comic books is done AS a comic book. This might seem an obvious approach, but that does not take away from the fact that the result is a perfect marriage of substance and form.

This volume is divided into nine chapters: (1) Setting the Record Straight, which develops a proper dictionary-style definition of "comics"; (2) The Vocabulary of Comics, detailing the iconic nature of comic art; (3) Blood in the Gutter, establishing the different types of transitions between frames of comic art, which are the building blocks of how comics work; (4) Time Frames, covers the ways in which comics manipulate time, including depictions of speed and motion; (5) Living in Line, explores how emotions and other things are made visible in comics; (6) Show and Tell, looks at the interchangeability of words and pictures in various combinations; (7) The Six Steps, details the path comic book creators take in moving from idea/purpose to form to idiom to structure to craft to surface (but not necessarily in that order); (8) A Word About Color, reminds us that even though this particular book is primarily in black & white, color has its uses in comic books; and (9) Putting It All Together, finds McCloud getting philosophical about the peculiar place of comic books in the universe.

"Understanding Comics" works for both those who are reading pretty much every comic book done by anyone on the face of the planet and those who have never heard of Wil Eisner and Art Spigelman, let alone recognize their artwork. Which ever end of the spectrum you gravitate towards McCloud incorporates brief examples of some of the artwork of the greatest comic book artists, such as Kirby, Herge, Schultz, etc., as well as work by more conventional artists, including Rembrandt, Hokusai, and Van Gogh. "Understanding Comics" is a superb look at the form and functions of the most underexplored art form in popular culture.

I am using Spider-Man comic books in my Popular Culture class this year and will be using some of McCloud's key points to help the cherubs in their appreciation of what they are reading. If you have devoted hundreds of hours of your life to reading comic books, then you can take a couple of hours to go through this book and have a better understanding and appreciation of why you take funny books so seriously.

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50 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Deep and Clear, March 3, 2000
By David M. Chess (Mohegan Lake, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art (Paperback)
I expected this book to be a witty and well-done presentation of mostly stuff that I already knew; but it was much more than that. McCloud has a deep understanding of art and society and people, and a completely lucid presentation.

There are neat and useful new ways of thinking about comics here (his comparisons of American and Japanese comics, his theories of panel transitions and why comic characters are sometimes drawn more simply than the backgrounds, his comments on the psychological impact of color), and for that matter ways of thinking about art in general, and design in general. And he makes masterly use of the comic medium itself to present the material in a way that never drags or confuses.

I hope someone programs the Orbital Mind Control Lasers so that McCloud extends this book into a whole series on the theory and practice of comics, and another on general visual design. The world needs it!

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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A profound book about more than comix, December 22, 1999
By Eric Lee Smith (Philadelphia, PA United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Understanding Comics (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition) (School & Library Binding)
This is one of my favorite books and one of the most insightful, unique, and enjoyable books that I've ever read. I have recommended it to many people, bought copies for several of them, and own two copies myself so that I can lend out one. I recommend it VERY strongly to anyone who's involved with designing Internet sites. Although it's not about that subject directly, it has more wisdom about the design of sites than any Web design book I've ever read or seen. Afterall, the Web is basically a 'page' structure, with text and graphics, just like a comic. Also, you'll learn more about art history from this book than you will from most art history classes (I know, I went to art school...). And did I mention that it's funny too! -E
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Like seeing an old friend through fresh eyes
This book is not strictly a graphic novel, but rather a mostly serious, occasionally whimsical analysis of the artistic medium known as "comics", done, naturally, as a comic book... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Dave Deubler

5.0 out of 5 stars Great study of the visual language
The first time I encountered this book was in a painting class. Not only did it completely change the way I thought about comics, it also changed the way I think about the visual... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Simone

5.0 out of 5 stars fantastic book
I've first see this book in my friend's home. I was amazed by colors, quality of paper and last but not least the content. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Leonid Yankulin

4.0 out of 5 stars Looking under the hood...
Scott McCloud has written a 216 page comic book to explain comic books. The artwork, language, humor or social criticism of comics are obvious to most comics readers, but McCloud... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Jack Bender

5.0 out of 5 stars What a great book
Let me begin by saying that I am very design and artistically challenged. I enjoy art passively. "Understanding Comics" introduced me to concepts in art and comics specifically... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Smiling Buddha

5.0 out of 5 stars should be required reading for anyone in the visual arts
During these holidays friends were going to visit the Petroglyph Park in ABQ. I remembered this book, reread for the 4th time and when done gave it to my friends, and bought... Read more
Published 7 months ago by D. Klecan

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant book - McCloud is about much more than comics
McCloud - to my mind - stands with Edward Tufte as an illuminator of visual information - and along the way, in reading all three of McCloud's books, I got a bit of art history,... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Gretchen Kehde

5.0 out of 5 stars Just as good as everyone else says it is
From front to back, this book is informative and helpful. Anyone interested in visual literacy should read this. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Benjamin J. Reynolds

5.0 out of 5 stars If comics is the language we all speak, McCloud has provided the essential dictionary
Comic books have always struggled with their role as art. At worst, they've been called subversive, destructive trash (see the Seduction of the Innocent fracas), but at best,... Read more
Published 8 months ago by GraphicNovelReporter.com

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential reading for newcomers to the comics medium or potential creators.
Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics is an extremely useful and fun resource for anyone who is interested in the history and mechanics of the comics medium - whether you're an... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Cody C. Gaisser

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