After reading McCloud’s first four chapters on “Understanding Comics” I have really deepened my sense of awareness, understanding, and appreciation for the art of comics. McCloud provides an in-depth analysis of the basics of comics through a cleverly articulated format.
The second chapter of the text, “The Vocabulary of Comics” was actually my favorite. I didn’t realize how many different items could be used to evoke different reactions depending on what society has rendered them to represent. I particularly liked the example of the face that was given. It was simply a circle with dashes in the centre to indicate eyes, a nose and a mouth but somehow our brains are able to connect the dots (literally) and signal it as a face. It became impossible to avoid being able to see the face.
That type of recognition can be extremely powerful and this was further demonstrated through the implementation of symbols or icons. These icons could include a country flag, food, or even a stop sign. What was interesting was just how much was evoked from one simple icon. In taking the stop sign for example, the caption that McCloud used was “not law”. I thought this was quite funny as the first thing I thought of was in actually that you must abide by stopping at the sign. All the sign said was stop, but I had already began to extend upon what the literal meaning of the sign means and I was able to extrapolate more sophisticated information pertaining to its relevance and intended purpose.
The hope I have for my interactive comic is to use simplistic conventions to convey a really deep and meaningful message. On the face value it may seem overly simplistic or lacking creativity but the longer you interact with the comic you begin to reflect on the deeper meaning that it is trying to convey. I think that is really powerful.
McCloud also talks a lot about manipulating different mediums through text, icons, sizing, positioning, and also how this can distort a sense of time (Chapter 4) and place. Comics have a power to transform the ways in which we think about certain ideas and topics. They present a very clear picture to an array of audiences to simplify often challenging concepts. This is the hope I have for my comic as I wish to be able to encapsulate an issue of importance in an engaging and simplistic way to increase awareness and accessibility to information.
McCloud’s text will definitely continue to be a source of inspiration as I continue on in my study of comics.