Ack! Comics!

Let me start off by saying that except for reading a few Cathy comic strips found in newspapers when I was much younger, I am completely new to the world of comics.

http://msmagazine.com/blog/2010/08/12/cathy-to-utter-her-last-ack/

Reading McCloud’s Understanding Comics was an overwhelming experience.  I had never realized the complexity of comics or the amount of thought and work put into them. It is a lot to process and I found myself getting lost in his chapter of icons.  Did you know that there are different degrees of realism in simply drawing a face and that each degree of realism conveys a different connection and understanding to the material???  Neither did I!!!  Confusing right?!

Once I got through the initial barrage of pictures and words, the nuances of the art of comics started to become clear.  I was impressed by the amount of thought and detail that go into each page.  As explained in chapter three, the size of the box, the space or “gutter” between the boxes, and the shape of the boxes are all deliberate in conveying the artist’s message.  Who knew it was that complex?!  I merely thought boxes were used to separate each image so the reader wouldn't get confused.  I was also impressed by the mood that can be invoked with simple lines.  It is easy to convey emotions with words and you often get distracted by them, but to look closer at the drawings and feel the anger, sadness, or love coming from the artist is impressive.

I am a frequent watcher of the show The Big Bang Theory and for those unfamiliar with the show, most of the main characters are religious in their love of comic books.  A love that I had never fully understood.  However, I am beginning to understand why comics are so popular.  They are not merely images in little boxes with onomatopoeia splattered across.  Each stroke of the pen is deliberate. The degree of realism in the character versus the background is purposeful.  Whether a line is straight, curved, bold, or broken all have meaning in relation to the story and mood the artist is creating.  I don’t think I will look at comics the same.  I imagine there are varying degrees of comics and art within them but I am quite impressed with the field overall.  They truly are works of art.  Kudos to all the comic artists out there!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0898266/mediaviewer/rm3293874432

Additional Source:
McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics:. New York: Harper Perennial, 1994.18. Print.

Overwhelmed by Comics

Before reading the first five chapters of “Understanding Comics,” the only comics I had ever really read were those in the newspaper. Whenever my grandfather would get the newspaper I would sit down next to him at the breakfast table and read the comic section. I used to love all of the funny pictures and cartoon animals.

Now as I’m sitting down reading this comic book, I don’t feel the immediate joy that I did as a kid. Instead, I honestly find comic books rather overwhelming and dizzying. There are so many different pictures and words that my eyes can’t find one thing to focus on. I like to consider myself a fairly organized person and I tend to make a lot of “to-do lists.” Sometimes, before I make those lists, I get super overwhelmed with all of the thoughts jumbled around in my head. When I look at this comic book I get that same feeling, as if I’m looking at the inside of my brain.

While I’m overwhelmed, I’m doing my best to be open to reading a new style of writing I’m not used to, but there’s a few things that are REALLY bothering me…

1. Why are there some words that are randomly BIGGER or BOLDER than all of the other words? You usually see this done to draw the reader’s attention to certain words, but just like over highlighting a text, can’t you overemphasize too many words?

2. Why is there so much gosh darn writing and art work on one page? I will admit that it is pretty cool that there are so many different types of artwork and fonts (you name it)! But, there is just so much on one page that I can’t really process it all.

3. Okay, so good ‘ole Scott McCloud says you read a comic left to right, just like a book, but some of the boxes are different sizes and shapes that it seems more like left, down, right, down, left, up to the right, etc.

So, I guess you can gather that reading this comic book and learning how to read comics/history about comics is not my favorite thing, but I will say there was one thing I appreciated.

At the beginning of the second chapter McCloud talks about the vocabulary of comics. For those of you who don’t like sappy love movies, the first two pages of this chapter are talked about in the movie “The Fault in Our Stars,” when Hazel Grace where’s a shirt that says, “This is not a pipe,” under a picture of a pipe. Though I love that movie and appreciated the common connection, I was mainly intrigued for the very same reason I was dissuaded by comics-they’re super complex and detailed. While it still confuses me, there are so many different possibilities that exist within comics and it just fascinates me how incredible our imaginations are! Kudos to all the people who can actually sit down and draw and write like this, I know I can’t.