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Scott McCloud

Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art Paperback – April 27, 1994

by Scott McCloud (Author)

2,121 ratings

in Humor Literary Criticism

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Enhance your purchase

"You must read this book." —Neil Gaiman

The bestselling international classic on storytelling and visual communication.

Praised throughout the cartoon industry by such luminaries as Art Spiegelman, Matt Groening, and Will Eisner, Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics is a seminal examination of comics art: its rich history, surprising technical components, and major cultural significance. Explore the secret world between the panels, through the lines, and within the hidden symbols of a powerful but misunderstood art form.

Print length

224 pages
Language

English
Publisher

William Morrow Paperbacks
Publication date

April 27, 1994
Reading age

13 - 17 years
Dimensions

10.1 x 6.6 x 0.6 inches
ISBN-10

006097625X
ISBN-13

978-0060976255
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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

“If you read, write, teach or draw comics; if you want to; or if you simply want to watch a master explainer at work, you must read this book.” -- Neil Gaiman

“McCloud’s masterwork is not just an indispensable treatise on comics, it’s also the best primer around on visual literacy and the mechanics of storytelling. A must-read for anyone interested in narrative of any kind.” -- Alison Bechdel

“Cleverly disguised as an easy-to-read comic book, Scott McCloud’s simple-looking tome deconstructs the secret language of comics while casually revealing secrets of time, space, art and the cosmos! The most intelligent comics I’ve seen in a long time. Bravo.” -- Art Spiegelman

“Reading Understanding Comics blew my teenage mind, and gave me a toolbox full of ideas that I still use today.” -- Raina Telgemeier

“The best analysis of the medium that I have ever encountered.” -- Alan Moore

“BRAVO!! ... A landmark dissection and intellectual consideration of comics as a valid medium. ... Anyone interested in this literary form must read it.” -- Will Eisner

Start reading Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art on your Kindle in under a minute.

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ William Morrow Paperbacks; Reprint edition (April 27, 1994)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 006097625X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0060976255
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 13 - 17 years
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.15 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 10.1 x 6.6 x 0.6 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #7,872 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1 in Humor Literary Criticism (Books)
- #4 in Theories of Humor
- #5 in How to Create Comics

Customer Reviews:
2,121 ratings

About the author

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Scott McCloud

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Scott McCloud has been writing, drawing, and examining comics since 1984. Winner of the Eisner and Harvey awards, his works have been translated into more than sixteen languages. Frank Miller (Sin City, 300) called him "just about the smartest guy in comics." He lives with his family in southern California. His online comics and inventions can be found at scottmccloud.com.

Customer reviews

5 star		85%
4 star		10%
3 star		3%
2 star		1%
1 star		1%

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Top reviews from the United States

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starbaby*online

Buy it. Seriously, just buy it.

Reviewed in the United States on April 20, 2018

Verified Purchase

I adore this book. It was a required text for a digital imaging class at my university. It's written in the style of a comic strip or graphic novel. There is so much information packed in here and I don't think would come across in any other format than this. It is not only about comics but addresses layout and type and point of view and so much more then you would even imagine which would carry over into any other art medium. It's just brilliant and a joy to read. This all coming from someone who does not usually read graphic novels or comic books. I'm really happy with being assigned this book. It's one that I'm not likely to ever resell because it's just fun to have around and to reference when needed. Definitely a great purchase.

43 people found this helpful

Helpful

Lori Olson White

A book that makes you rethink storytelling

Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2020

Verified Purchase

I’m not into comics, in fact, they have never been on my radar. But a fellow filmmaker recommended this book as a great course on visual storytelling — and he was spot on!

Within the first few chapters I was seeing things differently. So many aha moments.

By the time I finished, I’d completely rethought the way to move forward on my current project.

If you’re a storyteller of any sort, I recommend picking up this book. It just might change the way you do your craft!

13 people found this helpful

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A concerned customer

A standby for a reason

Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2019

Verified Purchase

I use this book in my visual discourse class at a university. The scholarly criticism of this book is that there really is nothing new and original in it. That's true, but nobody is reading Eisner's book anymore, and this is the more common text showing up on universities. As far as an intro to give you some good jargon and definitions it's great. It's in visual format, so it serves more than just a textual purpose as well. Also, it is the same book, page number for page number, as the other copy with the brighter, yellower cover. They just blacked out there background of this cover, but it's the exact same innards.

10 people found this helpful

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Kaijin

A good art history book

Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2018

Verified Purchase

I feel like there's something about this book that didn't click for me. It's a fine history book, excellent even. I feel I understand comic design marginally better at best. I got this to help with a design project involving comics, it didn't help and I made no adjustments. If you're looking for something to assist in making comics, this isn't necessarily it if you're already a designer. If you'd like to understand why comics are as they are, here's your book. Very little info on modern comic design. I don't regularly read comics, I did appreciate the method of storytelling through the medium.

14 people found this helpful

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Lockszmith

Quoting Neil Gaiman from the back cover "... you must read this book"

Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2021

Verified Purchase

Scott McCloud is doing something phenomenal in this book. Not only providing a guide to the sequential imagery of story telling that is comics, he does do with a mastery of the craft.

I did not grow up with comics being ubiquitous, there were no comic book stores where I lived (I'm not originally from the US, came here as an adult) - however I did like reading comic books in my childhood and youth. The medium always fascinated me.

As and adult, now living in the US, access has become much easier, the range of what's available is staggering. This book can not only helped me understand the medium even better, it helped me create a deeper emotional bond with it. It also provides as a guide of sorts of prominent works, authors and artists that are worth checking out.

It has been published in 1993, but the points made and the content still holds up.

If you always thought comics was "just for kids", give this book a chance - it will not only change your mind - it will reveal the wonderful world you missed, and guide you through it.

If you always liked comics, but wanted to learn about it's evolution and history - this book will be a joyous ride that you'll want to revisit multiple times in the future.

If you wanted to understand what makes this medium different, what are it's strength, what are the struggles facing the world of comics (and it's industry) definitely read this.

I can't think of anyone who will not find this book fascinating.
When you're done, I highly recommend his next book, from 2000, Reinventing Comics.

One person found this helpful

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Jessica Dance

Amazing Book!

Reviewed in the United States on November 12, 2017

Verified Purchase

I've wanted to read this book for a long time.
As an aspiring graphic novelist, I've had my eye on it for as long as I can remember, and I decided to spring for this and finally get my hands on it. The book arrived on time and in brand new condition. The front cover of the book I received doesn't match the one advertised, but that's neither here nor there. I'm sure I just received a newer reprint of the book.
I'm on chapter four right now, and I must say, I've enjoyed this book immensely so far. McCloud's explanations and philosophies have me looking at my own work and comics in general, an entirely different light.
I would recommend this book to any artist/writer out there, or even just the average comic lover wanting to understand this artistic medium a little bit more.

8 people found this helpful

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Jaime Quenzler

An enlightening look at comics history and how they work

Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2019

Verified Purchase

This book is truely amazing. It's writing is well done and it's structure is sound. It talks in depth about everything having to do with comics from art to color to even there history. There are only a few minor criticisms I have twords this book. One is that it definitely shows it's age as it doesn't mention web comics or the first known modern comic the adventures of Obadiah oldbuck but this I feel are overall minor things do to how well done the book is overall and the fact that it appears that the two latter books in the series reinventing comics and creating comics alongside some webcomic entries on the author Scott McCloud cover some of the stuff that is missing from this first book. If you are interested in comics, webcomics, manga or even fumettie (basically all sequential art) wether it be as a fan or as a possible profession I highly recommend you check this book out.

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Jl Adcock

Outstanding

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 14, 2018

Verified Purchase

This is a brilliant book about comics, storytelling and graphic design. Scott McCloud packs a huge amount of information about art, history, comic design and the different ways people communicate in words and pictures into this highly accessible book. Like comics themselves, there are hidden depths here, because beneath the immediacy of the presentation are some deep, serious ideas about the development of language, art and communication. The book is superbly done; clever, witty, thought-provoking and really informative. You will never read a comic or graphic novel in the same way again, and you will almost certainly appreciate the art form more than you did. The whole book is engrossing and educational, but chapters 3 and 4, on how we interpret the space between the panels in comics, and how time and space is represented in pictures, show McCloud's genius for conveying complex ideas with real power and clarity.

5 people found this helpful

Kieran McLoughlin

One of the best books on storytelling and comics you'll ever read!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 6, 2021

Verified Purchase

Wow... That was incredible. Like many of you probably will anticipate this to be, I expected this to purely be a text book about comics. I was very wrong indeed... What you have here is a wonderful dissection of not only comics in themselves, but of storytelling and how human beings use different senses to interpret different entertainment mediums. If anything, it is as much a book about the human introspection of how to process information, with obviously the visual nature of comics being the main focus. Overall, I absolutely recommend this book to all creative people, regardless of whether you plan on ever writing a comic or not. There is just so much here which creatives and storytellers would greatly benefit from. Truly, you can imagine how much work went into this. Trust me, you will not be wasting your money on this!

L. Spencer

A truly great read and a beautiful book. A classic.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 28, 2018

Verified Purchase

Not just the best book on comics but one of the best books I know on any subject whatsoever. In 25 years teaching undergraduates I have put this on numerous reading lists and often lent out my copy to students. It is essential reading for anyone interested in communication in whatever form. It is also so brilliantly systematic that it can serve as a model for any kind of textbook.

A great read, too.

8 people found this helpful

Karol Zamojcin

Mind blowing and eye opening experience

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 14, 2017

Verified Purchase

Hi there.
This book was recommended to me when I asked about books for design as "not totally about design book but a must read for a designer".
I'm just going to say that this is one of the best informative books I've ever read!
It is an eye-opener & mind-blowing experience.
I recommend it for absolutely everyone, whether you are interested in comics themselves, design, or art in general.
There is no way you are going to regret buying this book.
All the best for everyone.

3 people found this helpful

og505

Changed how I see comics and art in general

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 3, 2013

Verified Purchase

I had recently started getting into reading graphic novels when my friend recommended this book to me. I was skeptical at first - put off by the mention of "comics" - but decided to give it a try anyway after hearing more rave reviews. I was definitely not disappointed. Scott McCloud uses the medium of comics to explain their history and how to understand them, exploring everything from faces and backgrounds to panels and the progression of time in a comic. His explanations are easy to understand, even for people like me who are very inexperienced with comics.

This book has given me a new appreciation for comics. I've read graphic novels completely differently since reading it. I now really notice the authors' styles, savour each frame, and I feel like I have a deeper understanding of the stories now than I would've before. I also appreciate the time and effort that goes into making a good comic and find it unfortunate that comics are generally not taken very seriously.

I will never look at comics the same way again, and in some ways I will never look at art the same way again either. This book is both for those experienced and very inexperienced with comics. Very thought-provoking but also an entertaining read!

2 people found this helpful

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