I never really thought of comics to be an artform of its own category per se. To me, they were simply another sort of book or magazine that you would pick up at your local bookstore. However, after reading McCloud’s work, it is clear that comics do deserve a pedestal of their own as there are several key components that clearly distinguish them from regular novels.
One of the more interesting aspects of the reading was the idea of human interaction with the medium itself. McCloud stated, “we humans are a self-centered race……we see ourselves in everything.” This aspect of human nature seems to work in favour of maximizing engagement between the audience and the medium. The reader would put him or herself in the shoes of the characters that they see and would experience a whole new narrative from their eyes. McCloud also said, “Participation is a powerful force in any medium”, and comics seem to capitalize well on user engagement.
This is something I have personally experienced as I was (at one point of time), an avid manga reader. The factor that played a role in the immersive experience was the inclusion of sound effects (in words, of course) alongside the panels. This allows the reader to really visualize and gain a sense of the world that they are in not only in a visual sense, but an auditory sense as well.
And, achieving that level of engagement with simple print is quite impressive.