Comics borrow concepts from both art and literature. Comics were not being taken seriously by the general public but have grown to celebrate the whole idea, and its concepts have also developed over time. Therefore, comic books blend image and text while narrating stories through a multimodal literature. There is a difference between comic books and traditional texts because of the visual nature of comic books. Many books and literature describe and try to make the public understand the concepts behind comic books. This paper will analyze Scott McCloud’s comic book, ‘Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art,’ and discuss useful concepts from the book. It will also refer to other media texts.
CONCEPTS
McCloud analyses closure as a concept that
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In some instances, the reader has to make a decision independently on which panel comes first and which one comes later concerning the whole story. The concept from McCloud of closure and gutter can still be applied concerning the medium of enhanced webcomics. The gutter matters according to the communication method with the readers. As a result, panels and images can be arranged in different ways (Batinic 22). The concept is useful according to McCloud because it means that while reading comic books, a reader has to identify the flow of the story through the panel progression in the book. It can help the readers in understanding the comic story depending on the manner in which he or she chooses to. The decision-making role with regards to the arrangement of the panels entirely depends on the readers. The logical panel progression of top to bottom and left to right can help the readers in determining the way they want the story to progress. Regardless of the author, readers have still to pay attention and decide on panel …show more content…
He describes comics as “juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and to produce an aesthetic response in the viewer” (McCloud 9). He uses the words “information” and “aesthetic response” to make his definition unique because they allow this definition to cover a broad range of comic works. This concept is interesting because it makes McCloud unique and different from other works. He is different from the other theorists who instead use the word “narrative” (Batinic 8). His definition of comic books is exact and wide, presenting a broad definition of comic books and works. However, this definition is too broad to fit his historical readings and
Alison Bechdel's graphic memoir, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, documents the author's discovery of her own and her father's homosexuality. The book touches upon many themes, including, but not limited to, the following: sexual orientation, family relationships, and suicide. Unlike most autobiographical works, Bechdel uses the comics graphic medium to tell her story. By close-reading or carefully analyzing pages fourteen through seventeen in Fun Home one can get a better understanding of how a Bechdel employs words and graphic devices to render specific events. One can also see how the specific content of the pages thematically connects to the book as a whole. As we will see, this portion of the book echoes the strained relationship between Bruce Bechdel and his family and his attempts to disguise his homosexuality by creating the image of an ideal family, themes which are prevalent throughout the rest of the nook.
The graphic essay “Show and Tell” by Scott McCloud is written in the form of a comic book as he explains the importance of words and images, and how to effectively use the two components when creating a comic. “Show and Tell” explains to the reader how creating a successful comic does not occur easily, as numerous components must be used in the right way and amount in order to create a product that is worthwhile to its readers. This insightful graphic essay portrays to the reader how in a comic, words and images can successfully be used in numerous ways if they are kept in balance with one another. Society traditionally believes that in a piece of literature words and images should be kept apart, whereas McCloud opposes this
Chabon asserts that comic books used to be extremely popular among people of all ages, but children were the main audience. Through the years, authors aimed to get a larger adult audience interested in comics. They started changing
In spite of pervasive opinions graphic novels are not the same thing as their original novels. There are many dissimilarity between the two such as the length of the texts, the freedom of imagination, and the diction. Admitting that both the graphic and genuine version of a novel is told in a different method, they both tell an identical story. In the resolution of both novels, the objective ultimately gets across in each of the novels granting that it’s told a dissimilar way.
When comics were first coming out, they were not all that popular but in todays’ world, they have become very popular and well known. Several of these comics have been turned into films, which is one of the many reasons why the popularity has been rising over the years. One of the most well known comics is Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. This comic was composed and released in 1986 by Frank Miller. With the usage of Frank Miller’s powerful, intense lines and the artwork done by Klaus Janson’s and Lynn Varley’s it has elevated this comic up to the very top of mainstream comics. In Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, the skillful illustrations on the pages successfully create the thought that there are underlying meanings, which makes the atmosphere a very intense one throughout the comic. The work of art that is presented on the pages in this comic are embedded in such a way that the pages become the continuum for the meaning. One of the main themes that are imbedded on the pages through the artwork in this book is the ideological struggle between Bruce Wayne and Batman.
In Alison Bechdel’s comic “Compulsory Reading”, she creates an image of how she feels about the world of creative writing. Bechdel mentions different authors and well known titles like “Beloved”, Romeo and Juliet”, and Charles Dickens. She also mentions her distaste to novels as well. Bechdel uses media and design, rhetorical patterns, and tone to communicate how she feels about literature.
McCloud, Scott. “Time Frames”, Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. New York : HarperCollins Publishers, 1993.
The ethnic and racial identities of the visual artists, editors, distributers, wholesalers and retailers who are in charge of making and conveying the work, and the readers who bolster them, consider as additional production related factors having an impact on the ethnic and racial messages of the comics. To see this most plainly, a clear look should be given at the historical backdrop of black comic artists’ work for black daily news papers. Only a couple of the illustrators who wrote comics were seen as ethnic minorities, and thus recognising the commitments these men made brings us rapidly from speculations about a ‘system’ and a ‘movement’ to two or three particular names. Two black artists associated with the comics development were Larry
Words and images are the couple that should never be separated. As mentioned in Scott McCloud’s, “Show and Tell,” we are taught from childhood that we should mature out from using images in our writing. Comics are viewed as amateurish in the professional field of English. We are continuously told that comics and usage of images in a text are pretty “childish” and should not be tolerated by the “higher” level of English. If the meaning of a text is transferred through the employment of images and words, then it is done correctly. Readers across the nation admits that demonstration of images and words in any literary work amplifies the understanding of the work, as also mentioned by McCloud.
In western culture, there are traditions of illustrating story telling like tapestries and religious paintings. Thus manga are a combination of such tradition and to an addition, they have dialogues, which add expressions and emotions to it, making it not only a part of its art but also its emotional shell.
The classic comic book is a polar opposite of the complex nature of poetry. The comic book is designed for the younger reader and possesses a simplistic nature that allows the creator to use visual media combined with short written dialog to tell a story. The pictures in a comic book are an integral part of the makeup of a comic book. The pictures allow the creator to portray the protagonist and antagonist in a way that is common to all readers. This however inhibits the use of imagination by the reader. The pictures are all an artist's interpretations of the actions and settings that make up each scene. When a person reads descriptive text with no pictures, it allows the reader to build a mental picture of each scene that is unique to his/her own personality. The comic book does not allow for this expressiveness in its prefabricated structure.
“The Golden Age of Comics” PBS. PBS, 2011 Web. Retrieved on February 11 2014 from http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/feature/the-golden-age-of-comics/
Most people believe that graphic novels are just an art book with minimal text. They believe it is just for entertainment for kids or young adults. They think that graphic novels are just like comics. But to get to the point, graphic novels are just like all the other novels. They are a piece of literature that tells a story and pulls out the reader’s imagination, so that they feel that they are a part of the story or can even relate to the story. Graphic novels have changed and developed into such remarkable pieces of literature and should be accepted by all scholars to be placed in that category. According to John Ridley, “There are still some people out there who believe comic books are nothing more than, well, comic books. But the true cognoscenti know graphic novels are-at their best-an amazing blend of art, literature and the theater of the mind”.
No longer an intimidating figure, an electronic author assumes the role of a craftsperson, working with prescribed materials and goals. She works within the limitations of a computer system, and she imposes further limitations upon her readers… the reader may well become the author’s adversary, seeking to make the text over in a direction that the author... ... middle of paper ... ... ver the reader.
In addition, the way Manga is drawn allows them to easily take the pictures and animate them far easier than comic book art. Unlike mainstream comic books, there is a huge variety of stuff. It (manga) incorporates a vast amount of cultural references, generalizations, stereotypes, and ideologies.