Scott McCLoud's Understanding Comics
What's a comic?
comics are juxtaposed: "I guess the basic difference is sequential in TIME but not spatiallu JUXTAPOSED as comics are" (7)
Juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence
It is the medium itself, not the object--using the medium to talk about the medium; in a way, McCloud sidesteps the complexity/density and reframes through this modeling
Visual representation of stories
top of page 9 ("Ow! Hey! HEy! Let go!""
we see all the panels at once, which allows readers to see different connections
I like when he says "Space does for comics what time does for film" (7). We learn the plot through the space and places of objects and panels
but we also have a comics time: Zoe in chat: I like when he says movies are 'slow' comics- that surprised me bc it's actually composed of very very fast movies pics (8)
in general, we train in English rooms to go left to right, top to bottom; it feels uniform; but maybe comics have a tension between uniform and fragmented reading
As Kathryn says, I feel that comics allow the reader to set the pace. as fast or slow as they want
What's the use of benefit or implications of thinking about readers and agency?
"This phenomenon of observing the parts but percieving the whole has a name. It's called CLOSURE" (63): what's important about this concept of "closure" and this happens in the gutter
but, as Jennifer points to, we're drawn and moved and paced by the use of icons and action. But we have different types of frames
it interpollates the reader in particular ways?
closure DRIVES the narrative.
how do we read? For textual/narrative first and then look at the pictures? But what if it varies on the page--if the image is eye-catching first??? What if closure is impossible? (but also context matters)
on 66, he defines "the gutter"--it a way, it leaves it to the reader to do their own thing; gutter is a doirty place? Puts the obligation back on the reader?
calls attention to bad history of comics: reminds me how comics were seen as sources of "corruption". As an adult, I go back and read many of the older comics, and they do leave many of their stories open for interpretation
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the "transitions": McCloud creates a more audience-aware readership; lays out the things we missed
Comics are SENSORY!
aspect-to-aspect creates tone; it feels a way to talk about regionalism and nationalism!
where do we think about comic writer and comic artists? How do we attribute and think through content creation, tone, voices, authors, collaborators
He also inserted pictures of letters and momentos from his childhood (questions about materiality and 'found' objects_
closure is also about recalling sensory experiences
"released--like a trapeze artist" (90): that space between pictures has us hanging and flying;
it's also about reader expectations