In “Understanding Comics”, Scoot Mccloud gives many intriguing insights into the comics as an art form. It enables readers to better understand how the comics convey the ideas and how the comic readers perceive and process these ideas.
This book taught me about the way time and space are presented in the comics. Unlike film or photography which capture a single moment, time in the comics is like a rope. In comics, it’s possible to present different points in the timeline within a panel. And the panel itself also makes a difference in altering the perception of time. For example, using a longer panel and bleeds brings the feeling of time being expended.
I also learned about the difference between comics in the east and the west. While American and European style comics might focus more on depicting the motion, Japanese comics focus more on presenting a “status”. In McCloud’s word, is “western art emphasize being there over getting there” (81) and the eastern art which also emphasizes the “things omitted” is “the art of intervals” (82). This also reminds me of what is called “留白” (leaving blank space) in traditional Chinese painting, which aims to give more room for the audience to complete their own imagination about the painting, namely the invisible idea behind the work.
The imagination, or “closure” in McCloud’s word, is an essential part for understanding the readers. The ability to compete the invisible story gives the comic artists more room for different types of expression between the panels, especially the “non-sequitur” which offers no logic relationships between the panels (72). Meanwhile, the interpretation about how we perceive the message in the comics echoes our last reading – “The Medium is the Message” by Mcluhan. The comics as a medium carries the message. And the way comics present this message using abstract icons create an empty shell for us to easily put our identity in it and become the character. Though McCloud uses this to explain why people are involved in cartoons, it’s also suitable for the case of the comics. As Mcluhan suggested, the way people interact with inanimate projects is to include the object of our extended identity (39). As a self-centered creature, we human beings are able to project our self-consciousness into everyday objects and “become” the objects. This allows readers to get within the world. As for the comics artists, their aim is to enhance this engagement.