Summary: Understanding Comics is a comic... about comics. It sets out first to define comics, and then to explore some of their history. From there, it gets into the language of comic books - the power of the symbols they use, how panelling is used in conveying a message, the relationship (or lack thereof) between the words and pictures, how they use a purely visual medium to convey information to all of the senses, and how they use a static medium to convey motion and time. Throughout, McCloud treats comics as an art form, and argues for their potential as communication devices that create a detailed interplay between the immaginations of the author and of the reader.

Review: I am not a huge comics aficionado, but I feel like I've got a reasonable grounding in the genre. Enough so that while I didn't recognize every one (or even most) of the examples that McCloud used, I was certainly familiar with many of the concepts. Or, rather, once he presented them, I was able to go "oh, yes, I've seen instances of that before," even though I lack any kind of background in art theory. Where McCloud succeeds is in formalizing the language of comics and placing it into that kind of theoretical framework... and where he *really* succeeds is in making it readily accessible to novice readers. I'll admit that there were a few places that got kind of dense, and a few ideas that probably went over my head. But, for the most part, ideas are presented in a clear and straightforward way, starting with the familiar and building it up to the more abstract, all while making excellent use of the visual nature of his medium, and injecting more than a little humor throughout.

The thing is, now I want to go back and re-read every graphic novel I've ever read to look for the concepts that McCloud talks about. How does the panelling in Sandman create a sense of time? What is it about the art in Fables that I find so appealing? How does the interplay between words and dialogue in Watchmen affect what the panels can show? How much of the action in Buffy is actually on the page, and how much am I filling in? From here on out, not only will I have the vocabulary to describe these things, I suspect I will also be much more aware of them. No more just reading the words and glancing at the pretty pictures for me! And, I suspect, by better understanding how comics authors and artists can use the medium, I will be better able to appreciate when it's done well - that is, I will be better able to appreciate the comics as an art form, which seems to me to be the outcome that Mr. McCloud was aiming for. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: Strongly recommended for comic book (or graphic novel, if you'd rather) fans, of course. I don't know how good it would be for someone who's brand-spanking new to the genre - it does assume that the reader is at least passingly familiar with the style. But, on the other hand, while McCloud focuses on comics, a lot of what he has to say is relevant to anyone interested in art, art theory, or art history, so I think even non-comics fans should open their minds - and their definitions - a bit, and take a chance and read it. ( )

Understanding Comics is quite simply the best analysis of the medium that I have ever encountered. With this book Scott McCloud has taken breathtaking leaps towards establishing a critical language that the comic art form can work with and build upon in the future. Lucid and accessible, it is an astonishing feat of perception. Highly recommended.”
Alan Moore, Watchmen
author's site
http://scottmccloud.com/2-print/1-uc/...

Briefly put, this book is a comic book about comic books. The book goes through a brief history of comics and then describes the technical aspects of the medium to explain how comics function and why they appeal to us. There’s some pretty interesting nuggets in there, particularly the idea of closure he describes in detail, although sometimes I think McCloud is a bit difficult to understand or just off the mark a little. I appreciate that he takes a broad definition of comics, so he includes Lynd Ward’s works in comics history, among other works not generally considered to be comics. I take some issue with the subtitle “the invisible art.” I get McCloud’s argument that comics ask readers to fill in a lot that isn’t actually on the page (although I disagree that only comics do this), but “invisible art” sounds negative, so I would prefer if he used a different term. Overall, it’s an interesting (and relatively quick) read, of interest for anyone who likes comic books (and arguably, even for those who don’t). ( )

A solid primer on the art and history of comics. Though a bit dense in some places, McCloud nonetheless puts forth a series of interesting theories and ideas. I was disappointed by his lack of a larger / wider focus on manga and its history. ( )

For some reason I was expecting this book to open up my understanding of comics, to reveal a mysterious unknown way of appreciating the medium. Sadly although the book was interesting and enjoyable it wasn’t quite the holy grail I was expecting. I did enjoy the way the book was presented, laid out in panel format, with the author and his speech bubble informing the reader. Very clever. Perhaps a book to be appreciated on a second read. It might be I’m disappointed because I was expecting a different book. ( )