Understanding Comics

Understanding Comics, written by Scott McCloud, shows an illustrative explication of the general information for comics. Some topics McCloud hits on are how and why there you can change comic layout, why we can understand panels, sequential, and how we all can understand comics.

One of the important topics I was interested in was how we humans are selfish, and greedy. When we are selfish and greedy, we tend to view the world as revolving around us. McCloud discusses that because we are selfish, we tend to see faces in everything around us. Some examples he includes are how we see faces in power outlets, car bumpers, etc. This leads to another main point: how are we able to understand faces in comics?

Since we are 3D, we are exposed to realistic faces everyday. However, many comics do not mimic everyday life, almost always simplifying features. But why is it that we can see faces with less detail? Does it enhance the face or detach it?

McCloud explicates that we can decipher faces from two dots as eyes and a line for the mouth because we are selfish. We define a face with eyes and a mouth, therefore we can see a face. This explains why we can see faces in everyday object (power outlets, car bumpers, etc).

When minimizing the face, it actually enhances it. It lets us understand that our brains can see faces when there is no detail. Eyes are significant when we see faces, so we automatically assume two dots in a circle represent eyes. McCloud discusses this extensively, allowing the reader to grasp the concept.