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The Comic Books #2
Reinventing Comics: The Evolution of an Art Form
In 1993, Scott McCloud tore down the wall between high and low culture with the acclaimed international hit Understanding Comics, a massive comic book that explored the inner workings of the worlds most misunderstood art form. Now, McCloud takes comics to the next level, charting twelve different revolutions in how comics are created, read, and preceived today, and how they're poised to conquer the new millennium.
Part One of this fascinating and in-depth book includes:
The life of comics as an art form and as literture
The battle for creators' rights
Reinventing the business of comics
The volatile and shifting public percptions of comics
Sexual and ethnic representation on comics
Then in Part Two, McCloud paints a brethtaling picture of comics' digital revolutions, including:
The intricacies of digital production
The exploding world of online delivery
The ultimate challenges of the infinite digital canvas
Part One of this fascinating and in-depth book includes:
The life of comics as an art form and as literture
The battle for creators' rights
Reinventing the business of comics
The volatile and shifting public percptions of comics
Sexual and ethnic representation on comics
Then in Part Two, McCloud paints a brethtaling picture of comics' digital revolutions, including:
The intricacies of digital production
The exploding world of online delivery
The ultimate challenges of the infinite digital canvas
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
108 people are currently reading
3,636 people want to read
About the author
Scott McCloud
131books1,533followersScott McCloud (born Scott McLeod) is an American cartoonist and theorist on comics as a distinct literary and artistic medium.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 205 reviews
January 10, 2023
Lu à moitié mais en 2023 c’est l’effort qui compte alors ça rentre comme lu pareil (also c’est quoi le plus important?? pouvoir dire que tu as lu et détesté ou pouvoir donner un avis constructif???? bon c’est ce que je pensais)
honnêtement un peu trop niché à mon goût par rapport au premier tome qui nous émerveillait vraiment sur la compréhension de l’univers des comics, de sa «philosophie» (presque). J’avais été accrochée alors que là on a juste eu droit à une update sur le milieu des dessinateurs entre la publication du tome 1 et du 2. Wooooooo que les affaires changent entre 1990 et 2000� (ben genre oui mais comme mettons que t’es plus inter si t’es inter à être dessinateur)
Also les pages sont beaucoup plus chargées et c’est devenu trop lourd pour mon cerveau sulfurisé aux vidéos trop courtes
Anyways! (Quel bon mot qui finit toujours bien mes avis goodreads)
honnêtement un peu trop niché à mon goût par rapport au premier tome qui nous émerveillait vraiment sur la compréhension de l’univers des comics, de sa «philosophie» (presque). J’avais été accrochée alors que là on a juste eu droit à une update sur le milieu des dessinateurs entre la publication du tome 1 et du 2. Wooooooo que les affaires changent entre 1990 et 2000� (ben genre oui mais comme mettons que t’es plus inter si t’es inter à être dessinateur)
Also les pages sont beaucoup plus chargées et c’est devenu trop lourd pour mon cerveau sulfurisé aux vidéos trop courtes
Anyways! (Quel bon mot qui finit toujours bien mes avis goodreads)
December 7, 2015
Better as a cultural artefact than anything else (though I did occasionally enjoy certain historical tidbits). Perhaps this would have been more hard-hitting if I had read it when it was published in 2000, but half-assed discussions of diversity and cutting edge technology like CD-ROMs makes it woefully obsolete (and the writing wasn't anywhere near as engaging as its predecessor). Understanding Comics needs an update just because I'm interested in his take on the subject matter now; this is in dire need of an update for it to maintain any measurable relevance.
**
Counting as my (FINAL!) Panels Read Harder item for a book about comics.
**
Counting as my (FINAL!) Panels Read Harder item for a book about comics.
May 9, 2021
3.5 � for sure outdated, but I expected that going in. still fun to read abt the history and what they thought would happen ~someday.~ about what I expected, and I went in with like - medium expectations.
June 11, 2023
McCloud is an outstanding cultural analyst. Written in 2000, this book predicts the future of comics based on its past and present. He also diagnoses what he thinks needs to be done to make comics as successful as possible in the upcoming digital age.
This book is quite fun when it predicts the future of technology, like 'the internet will probably be a big thing.' It's even more fun when it gets it wrong, like 'computers will probably never be able to store a comic with 40,000 hi-res panels.'
But when the book is really at its best is when he makes suggestions that still have yet to be realized, like 'comics creators will need to use the interactive abilities of hypertext to compete with emerging technologies like virtual reality.' As always, his ideas can become long-winded and aimless at times, but I always love reading him because it feels like being in class with a really great professor.
This book is quite fun when it predicts the future of technology, like 'the internet will probably be a big thing.' It's even more fun when it gets it wrong, like 'computers will probably never be able to store a comic with 40,000 hi-res panels.'
But when the book is really at its best is when he makes suggestions that still have yet to be realized, like 'comics creators will need to use the interactive abilities of hypertext to compete with emerging technologies like virtual reality.' As always, his ideas can become long-winded and aimless at times, but I always love reading him because it feels like being in class with a really great professor.
April 27, 2011
Karl Marx was a great describer of capitalism, but turned out to be pretty terrible at forecasting its fall. It is a lot harder to predict or influence the future direction of something than it is to describe it. McCloud gives it a good college try, though from 2011 Reinventing Comics has aged a lot more than Understanding Comics.
I am impressed that McCloud for the most part doesn't fall on his face, though as I read it I was constantly wondering how he is reacting to the state of comics NOW - which is the pitfall of a book that is positioned on the tip of the quick moving digital revolution. I'm sure there are parts of this book that were out of date by the time it took for the book to be published - hell, even as McCloud was inking this sucker you wonder how much he had to tear up and re-write. Like with Understanding Comics McCloud tries not to get too bogged down in the minutia, he focuses on the conceptual heart of comics - "sequential art". Most of the subject of this book is McCloud's hopes for his favourite art media - comics - it's filled with his bias for a wider field for comics to play. You can feel his frustration that the majority of the comic business has stuck to superheroes. I wish there was a wider field myself, and I can see McCloud's points that comics have so much potential.
Yet McCloud finishes his book in rather airy, some-what hysterical rhetorical flourish. It is such a symbolic flourish I wonder if it is a way to paper over the fact that he has many wishes and hopes for the future, but is actually pessimistic that the same forces that have kept comics restricted to the men-in-tights genre are going to continue to predominate in Western comic culture.
There have been hey-days in the past for independent/indie comics; it isn't out of the question that something may emerge in the future. The potential is there. But I don't think McCloud has the answer in his book.
I am impressed that McCloud for the most part doesn't fall on his face, though as I read it I was constantly wondering how he is reacting to the state of comics NOW - which is the pitfall of a book that is positioned on the tip of the quick moving digital revolution. I'm sure there are parts of this book that were out of date by the time it took for the book to be published - hell, even as McCloud was inking this sucker you wonder how much he had to tear up and re-write. Like with Understanding Comics McCloud tries not to get too bogged down in the minutia, he focuses on the conceptual heart of comics - "sequential art". Most of the subject of this book is McCloud's hopes for his favourite art media - comics - it's filled with his bias for a wider field for comics to play. You can feel his frustration that the majority of the comic business has stuck to superheroes. I wish there was a wider field myself, and I can see McCloud's points that comics have so much potential.
Yet McCloud finishes his book in rather airy, some-what hysterical rhetorical flourish. It is such a symbolic flourish I wonder if it is a way to paper over the fact that he has many wishes and hopes for the future, but is actually pessimistic that the same forces that have kept comics restricted to the men-in-tights genre are going to continue to predominate in Western comic culture.
There have been hey-days in the past for independent/indie comics; it isn't out of the question that something may emerge in the future. The potential is there. But I don't think McCloud has the answer in his book.
May 14, 2021
Günümüzde tekrar ele alınması gereken konular. Eser sahibinin daha az zorlama bir anlatım ile daha iyi bir çalışma çıkaracağı kesin. Günümüz şartlarında çizgi romanı anlamak gibi bir şey mesela.
December 20, 2021
Yirmi yıl öncesi için (2021 Aralık ayı notları) yeni, heyecan verici fikirlermiş�
April 25, 2012
Read through it in the library today.
This is the first book I'm reading from Scott McCloud, however I hope to read more.
In the first chapter, he outlines reasons why he's worried about the comics industry, but it's very clear he's writing from the 90's. It really had me thinking, every other sentence, I wonder what the state of affairs is now and whether he's still concerned. He described a kind of "bubble" of comics-creation that inflated and then burst in the 90's. I work in the games industry, and it was honestly rather interesting to hear the way he described the comics industry of the "bubble" time, in which it seemed the demand for comics was going up and up, but really it had reached its peak-- it a little bit makes me reflect on the games industry that I'm familiar with at this present moment.
I was interested in this book just to see if Scott McCloud had any tips for the how-to's of developing and creating comics-- I didn't find as much as I was hoping for, maybe I'll find it in one of his other works.
I read through the chapters about 'digital comics', it was really more a reflection of what McCloud expected, at the time of writing this, the effect of computers would be on comics. At times I was groaning over the out-dated-ness, at other times I was stunned by some kinda outlandish ideas (comics on a rotating virtual cube? Virtual-reality comics? very Holodeck...) and there are a few things he mentioned which seem to have come true, in a general way-- like digital comics.
One thing that *was* very interesting and helpful and my favorite part, was his review of the history of comics publishing houses. That was very interesting to read from an insider.
In general, I do like McCloud's style of illustrating concepts and simplifying complex ideas down to hilarious and effective pictures, and he does this all the time throughout the book. I am still looking forward to finding some of his other stuff.
This is the first book I'm reading from Scott McCloud, however I hope to read more.
In the first chapter, he outlines reasons why he's worried about the comics industry, but it's very clear he's writing from the 90's. It really had me thinking, every other sentence, I wonder what the state of affairs is now and whether he's still concerned. He described a kind of "bubble" of comics-creation that inflated and then burst in the 90's. I work in the games industry, and it was honestly rather interesting to hear the way he described the comics industry of the "bubble" time, in which it seemed the demand for comics was going up and up, but really it had reached its peak-- it a little bit makes me reflect on the games industry that I'm familiar with at this present moment.
I was interested in this book just to see if Scott McCloud had any tips for the how-to's of developing and creating comics-- I didn't find as much as I was hoping for, maybe I'll find it in one of his other works.
I read through the chapters about 'digital comics', it was really more a reflection of what McCloud expected, at the time of writing this, the effect of computers would be on comics. At times I was groaning over the out-dated-ness, at other times I was stunned by some kinda outlandish ideas (comics on a rotating virtual cube? Virtual-reality comics? very Holodeck...) and there are a few things he mentioned which seem to have come true, in a general way-- like digital comics.
One thing that *was* very interesting and helpful and my favorite part, was his review of the history of comics publishing houses. That was very interesting to read from an insider.
In general, I do like McCloud's style of illustrating concepts and simplifying complex ideas down to hilarious and effective pictures, and he does this all the time throughout the book. I am still looking forward to finding some of his other stuff.
December 8, 2021
Quite interesting. I agree from the other views that this book is very outdated, and remains as largely a "historical curiosity" today. However, it is extraordinary to me how accurate Scott was in his predictions overall. Not always, but often. Especially in predicting VR, which is indeed a thing now, and still expanding, but as he mentioned - other media remain cherished and integral to human interest.
It was a risky move for him to make something that was sure to age very quickly, but I'm glad he did it; it remains a time capsule of sorts.
The infinite canvas chapter was quite fascinating, and a concept I have seen explored very seldom. It felt dangerous of being gimmicky, but in the hands of a modern skilled creator, it could be incredibly powerful if used for the purposes of enhancing a story. ,
Also, he was quite accurate in predicting that the web could lose its freedom and be trafficked by those with the "deepest pockets". That's absolutely true, and happening actively at faster rates than I've ever seen before. Most people use only a handful of websites now - Amazon, Facebook, Fox News/CNN, Youtube, google search, Healthline, Twitter, and maybe a few others they are personally fond of. It's like TV channels; they are only so many, and they are strictly monitored. The Internet is no longer a "dark web" of secret communications. People are de-platformed, erased from the internet, and topics like health and politics are written from biased lenses - mirroring the opinions of whoever is funding them. I fear this will only continue for the worse, as with any other medium.
Fun Facts
Scott = INTP, pretty sure.
I skimmed through over 1/2 of this book.
It was a risky move for him to make something that was sure to age very quickly, but I'm glad he did it; it remains a time capsule of sorts.
The infinite canvas chapter was quite fascinating, and a concept I have seen explored very seldom. It felt dangerous of being gimmicky, but in the hands of a modern skilled creator, it could be incredibly powerful if used for the purposes of enhancing a story. ,
Also, he was quite accurate in predicting that the web could lose its freedom and be trafficked by those with the "deepest pockets". That's absolutely true, and happening actively at faster rates than I've ever seen before. Most people use only a handful of websites now - Amazon, Facebook, Fox News/CNN, Youtube, google search, Healthline, Twitter, and maybe a few others they are personally fond of. It's like TV channels; they are only so many, and they are strictly monitored. The Internet is no longer a "dark web" of secret communications. People are de-platformed, erased from the internet, and topics like health and politics are written from biased lenses - mirroring the opinions of whoever is funding them. I fear this will only continue for the worse, as with any other medium.
Fun Facts
Scott = INTP, pretty sure.
I skimmed through over 1/2 of this book.
March 1, 2018
A more pragmatic book than his Understanding Comics—and thus a bit less timeless, perhaps—this is nevertheless a clear, well argued and explained essay.
January 24, 2018
Understanding Comics was understandably groundbreaking and something that I still draw inspiration from (no pun intended), but this appendix-like follow-up doesn't hold the same clout. Whereas Understanding Comics was a timeless philosophical study for the sake of the art, Reinventing Comics moors itself firmly in the late 90s, exhaustively studying the history and industry of comics as it stood in the 90s and how it may shape up in the then-future. The entire second half of the book is based on an extensive and often esoteric study of where comics are going in the digital age, which McCloud acknowledges very early on will probably seem out-dated in the very near future. If that was so clear in 2000, then why devote such a huge endeavor to something that will so quickly seem embarrassingly dated upon reading in 2017? I appreciate reading much of the first half of the book, where he argues for more gender equality in the industry and more diverse topics by a different range of creators; furthermore I'm old enough to remember the strange potential that a CD-ROM comic "book" held, and the agonizing bandwidth speeds that carried the early internet, so I can relate to the topics presented in the second half, but this dated study should have been a short appendix to his timeless classic, not an entire book worth. What must have been an exciting and interesting read in the first few years after publication is now largely a waste of time.
March 4, 2022
Published in the year 2000, when comics were in a slump, Scott McCloud created Reinventing Comics as a recommendation of things for the industry to focus on as a way of moving forward. His suggestions are amazingly prescient:
1. Comics as literature
2. Comics as art
3. Creators' rights
4. Industry innovation
5. Public perception
6. Institutional scrutiny
7. Gender balance
8. Minority representation
9. Diversity of genre
10. Digital production
11. Digital delivery
12. Digital comics
We don't get one chapter for each, instead they're all woven through the chapters. The first half of the book focuses on diversifying comics in both the creators and the subject matter. The second half of the book focuses on computers and is clearly written for people who are not early adopters of computers as an artistic tool.
This is one of those non-fiction books written for the moment. "Where do we go from here." Also, it's primary audience seems to be comics creators rather than fans or the general public. I don't think there's any benefit to reading this today.
1. Comics as literature
2. Comics as art
3. Creators' rights
4. Industry innovation
5. Public perception
6. Institutional scrutiny
7. Gender balance
8. Minority representation
9. Diversity of genre
10. Digital production
11. Digital delivery
12. Digital comics
We don't get one chapter for each, instead they're all woven through the chapters. The first half of the book focuses on diversifying comics in both the creators and the subject matter. The second half of the book focuses on computers and is clearly written for people who are not early adopters of computers as an artistic tool.
This is one of those non-fiction books written for the moment. "Where do we go from here." Also, it's primary audience seems to be comics creators rather than fans or the general public. I don't think there's any benefit to reading this today.
June 4, 2017
Understanding Comics is significantly better and definitely stands the test of time much better (the half of this that discussed Technology seemed small-thinking in 2017 since it was written in 2000; I suppose it's exciting that many of McCloud's predictions definitely came true -- but it also left me wanting much more because I wonder what predictions he has NOW for what comics will look like in 2040) but this was a fun and interesting read.
October 11, 2024
Certaines parties intéressantes d'autres un peu moins. Tout le chapitre sur le marché est bien construit et intéressant à lire, mais dès qu'on arrive dans la partie 2 sur le numérique c'est trop lourd, trop de textes par cases, trop de cases par pages, trop d'infos d'un coup.
Daté mais avec le charme que ça peut avoir : ça donne un regard de 2020' sur ce qu'on pouvait imaginer du futur de l'informatique en 2000. D'un côté du coup certains problèmes qu'il soulève n'en sont plus du tout aujourd'hui (la qualité de l'image et la lenteur notamment) ce qui fait qu'il faut parfois se souvenir qu'on est en 2000 dans le livre; de l'autre les projections bien qu'intéressantes manquent du coup de tout un pan d'analyse qui n'aurait pu voir le jour qu'en 2020' avec l'explosion webtoon et le format de nouveau enchainé à la case et la page même si celle-ci se déroule à l'infini. En fait j'ai l'impression que les bds innovantes en terme de format se sont surtout développées dans cette fenêtre là : postérieures à son livre (aka avec le développement de l'informatique), mais antérieures à webtoon. L'ère Homestuck en somme. Peut-être que c'est un biais d'accès, que juste je ne vois plus ces bds là, who knows. Je pense que de façon générale il y a un retour à la page dans un retour au papier pour la diffusion de la bd- fanzinat en festivals, auto editions, ullules à petite échelle etc.
Pas un livre inintéressant mais aussi pas aussi essentiel que L'Art Invisible et Faire de la bande dessinée.
Daté mais avec le charme que ça peut avoir : ça donne un regard de 2020' sur ce qu'on pouvait imaginer du futur de l'informatique en 2000. D'un côté du coup certains problèmes qu'il soulève n'en sont plus du tout aujourd'hui (la qualité de l'image et la lenteur notamment) ce qui fait qu'il faut parfois se souvenir qu'on est en 2000 dans le livre; de l'autre les projections bien qu'intéressantes manquent du coup de tout un pan d'analyse qui n'aurait pu voir le jour qu'en 2020' avec l'explosion webtoon et le format de nouveau enchainé à la case et la page même si celle-ci se déroule à l'infini. En fait j'ai l'impression que les bds innovantes en terme de format se sont surtout développées dans cette fenêtre là : postérieures à son livre (aka avec le développement de l'informatique), mais antérieures à webtoon. L'ère Homestuck en somme. Peut-être que c'est un biais d'accès, que juste je ne vois plus ces bds là, who knows. Je pense que de façon générale il y a un retour à la page dans un retour au papier pour la diffusion de la bd- fanzinat en festivals, auto editions, ullules à petite échelle etc.
Pas un livre inintéressant mais aussi pas aussi essentiel que L'Art Invisible et Faire de la bande dessinée.
July 9, 2018
Casarme con un dibujante de cómics me expuso a un mundo hasta entonces completamente desconocido para mí. Scott McCloud y su obra Understanding Comics fueron mi puerta de entrada (y me quedé en cuanto descubrí a autores del género policial). Esta segunda entrega explora la estructura, retos y oportunidades de la Industria del Cómic que, debido a mi formación profesional, me resultó un tema interesantísimo. En 2015, tuvimos la ocasión de asistir a una de sus conferencias donde pude agradecerle en persona que me hubiese ayudado a comprender y admirar la profesión de mi esposo.
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December 18, 2022no recuerdo que pensé de este libro ni cuándo lo leí sjsjjsjs
February 1, 2025
Another re-read. A bit more turgid than UNDERSTANDING COMICS, and it's kind of quaint to see McCloud discussing the future of comics in the context of the Web without any inkling of what was to come with the rise of social media, but it's still an energetic and intelligent investigation of comics as an art and the issues holding it back and possibly able to help propel it forward.
September 6, 2018
Persuasive, thoughtful, and clear. Comics-as-essay still is a niche style, although I would like to see it used more, and McCloud is a master of the form.
June 28, 2016
The contrast between McCloud's first and second books on comics is massive, both in content and in execution. Understanding Comics was a masterwork exploring what comics did, how they did it, and the cultural forces that influenced the ways comics were both created and read. Reinventing Comics is scrambling to explain the state of the field in 2000 and where McCloud thinks it can/should go from there. Like all predictions, he nails some things and is totally wrong on others.
The book is at its best when describing the fight for creators' rights (in which McCloud has played a significant and ongoing role) and the market forces that shape how comics are made and distributed. He also expresses hopes for greater diversity of both the kinds of comics that are created and the people who create them (both of which, in an era where Ms. Marvel and Nimona are selling like hotcakes and Fun Home has become both a bestselling comic and a Tony-winning musical, have improved by leaps and bounds). I remember when the book first came out that there was a lot of pushback from other creators about the viability of the micropayments McCloud hoped would become the future of online commerce. Instead, we've gone to a diverse system where most comics offer their content for free but make money off of merchandise, some creators use Kickstarter to both fund and promote ambitious projects, and others use Patreon to allow readers to support the artist directly while the work itself remains free. But interestingly, while McCloud was sure that we would migrate entirely online and that the form of comics would break out of the layout constraints of print, readers seem to like (and be willing to pay for) having the continual option of print, digital, or both, so online comics have mostly remained close to printable formats for easier conversion to print collections. Who knows where all this will be in another fifteen years?
Some problems: Reinventing is less readable than its predecessor, both because the word count per page is at least double what it was and because McCloud has switched to digital comics creation, which (because the work was made when the tools were still early and crude) means clip art, ragged lines where things were cut or erased, and lines that never change their weight, all of which can be headache-inducing after a while. And the rushed nature of the work means that McCloud gives histories of both the computer and the internet that sound authoritative but completely erase the many women who contributed (Ada Lovelace, Hedy Lamarr, and Radia Perlman, to name some glaring omissions), something that's so out of character for McCloud that it must have been unintentional.
In the end, I think this book did what McCloud hoped in provoking discussion about the changing field, but unlike both Understanding and Making, Reinventing Comics was both difficult to read at the time and hasn't aged well.
The book is at its best when describing the fight for creators' rights (in which McCloud has played a significant and ongoing role) and the market forces that shape how comics are made and distributed. He also expresses hopes for greater diversity of both the kinds of comics that are created and the people who create them (both of which, in an era where Ms. Marvel and Nimona are selling like hotcakes and Fun Home has become both a bestselling comic and a Tony-winning musical, have improved by leaps and bounds). I remember when the book first came out that there was a lot of pushback from other creators about the viability of the micropayments McCloud hoped would become the future of online commerce. Instead, we've gone to a diverse system where most comics offer their content for free but make money off of merchandise, some creators use Kickstarter to both fund and promote ambitious projects, and others use Patreon to allow readers to support the artist directly while the work itself remains free. But interestingly, while McCloud was sure that we would migrate entirely online and that the form of comics would break out of the layout constraints of print, readers seem to like (and be willing to pay for) having the continual option of print, digital, or both, so online comics have mostly remained close to printable formats for easier conversion to print collections. Who knows where all this will be in another fifteen years?
Some problems: Reinventing is less readable than its predecessor, both because the word count per page is at least double what it was and because McCloud has switched to digital comics creation, which (because the work was made when the tools were still early and crude) means clip art, ragged lines where things were cut or erased, and lines that never change their weight, all of which can be headache-inducing after a while. And the rushed nature of the work means that McCloud gives histories of both the computer and the internet that sound authoritative but completely erase the many women who contributed (Ada Lovelace, Hedy Lamarr, and Radia Perlman, to name some glaring omissions), something that's so out of character for McCloud that it must have been unintentional.
In the end, I think this book did what McCloud hoped in provoking discussion about the changing field, but unlike both Understanding and Making, Reinventing Comics was both difficult to read at the time and hasn't aged well.
March 14, 2022
When I borrowed this from a colleague, he told me that he liked it even better than he liked Scott McCloud's first book. I do not share this viewpoint at all. I finished the first one in two weeks...this one took me two months, and that was a struggle. Thinking about it though, led me to make some discoveries about myself and my own interests. I liked McCloud's first book because it delt with the ideas of comics, how they work, how they function, and how the reader interacting with them causes meaning transfer. This book deals with the media aspects of comics, what kinds of forms and sequences they might take, how they might interact with different technologies. While interesting to skim over, it doesn't draw me in, because I am more interested in how ideas are conveyed than I am in how the medium through which those ideas are conveyed might grow and expand.
I suppose that's what makes me different, I am not an artist. I do not wish to make my own art, I do not wish to explore layouts, or push the boundaries of sequentiality, I want to read stories where other people have done that work and then use that work to add nuance to their stories. I guess it's also a solidly narcissistic view, I want to understand what's going on in my own head as I read the comic, not what's going on the artist's head as they consider how to convey their idea. I want the story and the idea, not the process that goes into figuring out how to convey the idea.
On the other hand, I stand by my earlier statement. Scott McCloud is a prophet. This book was written in the 2000s but he accurately predicted a lot of the things that have happened in digital comics. I've been reading digital comics for several years at this point, and it's only in the last six months that they figured out they should be doing what he suggested on page 228 here: "A sense of 'where you are' at any given time could be provided through color changes in the panels already read." That frustrated me endlessly at the beginning of this year, if I stopped reading a manga because I found something more interesting, and came back to it more than 72 hours later, I could not figure out where I had left off! Now, there is a pleasant gray color indicating those that you have already read and it saves my sanity.
I am also struck by how well read Scott McCloud is. He will visually reference, or outright quote, dozens of authors on his pages. They are not all just comic authors either, on one page he referenced Cervantes and Stephenson at the same time. That was a bit odd. It's interesting to read this book and hear all about the Metaverse, and then realize how much of our current day moves are based on the fantastical ideas of those in the past, exploring their imaginations. Zucker must also have read Snowcrash. I wonder if he realized it's a dystopian novel?
I suppose that's what makes me different, I am not an artist. I do not wish to make my own art, I do not wish to explore layouts, or push the boundaries of sequentiality, I want to read stories where other people have done that work and then use that work to add nuance to their stories. I guess it's also a solidly narcissistic view, I want to understand what's going on in my own head as I read the comic, not what's going on the artist's head as they consider how to convey their idea. I want the story and the idea, not the process that goes into figuring out how to convey the idea.
On the other hand, I stand by my earlier statement. Scott McCloud is a prophet. This book was written in the 2000s but he accurately predicted a lot of the things that have happened in digital comics. I've been reading digital comics for several years at this point, and it's only in the last six months that they figured out they should be doing what he suggested on page 228 here: "A sense of 'where you are' at any given time could be provided through color changes in the panels already read." That frustrated me endlessly at the beginning of this year, if I stopped reading a manga because I found something more interesting, and came back to it more than 72 hours later, I could not figure out where I had left off! Now, there is a pleasant gray color indicating those that you have already read and it saves my sanity.
I am also struck by how well read Scott McCloud is. He will visually reference, or outright quote, dozens of authors on his pages. They are not all just comic authors either, on one page he referenced Cervantes and Stephenson at the same time. That was a bit odd. It's interesting to read this book and hear all about the Metaverse, and then realize how much of our current day moves are based on the fantastical ideas of those in the past, exploring their imaginations. Zucker must also have read Snowcrash. I wonder if he realized it's a dystopian novel?
February 16, 2015
If I could invite one person, living or dead, to a dinner party, Scott McCloud might not be my final choice, but he'd definitely be in contention. Partially this is because, while so many of my personal heroes would probably be awkward or disappointing (or, lbr, I would be awkward and disappointing around them), I don't think Scott McCloud would be. His work is so thoughtful, so precise, so exciting, so informed. I would just love to hear what he has to say about pretty much anything. Especially, of course, things at the intersection of storytelling and art and digital technology, which is why Reinventing Comics, even 15 years later, is still a great read. It's almost creepily prescient, but it also captures the excitement of the early internet and expanding digital media, when it seemed like just around the corner anything would be possible. McCloud makes you feel like that's still true, and he has ideas and logic to back it up. I would recommend Reinventing Comics (along with, of course, Understanding Comics) to any one interested in storytelling, form, art, technology... whether they like comics or not.
December 10, 2010
This sequel to is more fragmented, kinda preachy, and less interesting.
Part 1 of his manifesto for the reinvention of comics focuses on their public perception, industry missteps, and the need for more diversity (in all senses of the word). Solid stuff.
Part 2 focuses on the digital revolution and its implications for comics' creation, distribution, and format. He ends with some lofty talk about comics breaking free of the printed page. His idea of the infinite canvas is interesting, but it's ten years later and there still don't seem to be any good implementations (I checked ).
Part 1 of his manifesto for the reinvention of comics focuses on their public perception, industry missteps, and the need for more diversity (in all senses of the word). Solid stuff.
Part 2 focuses on the digital revolution and its implications for comics' creation, distribution, and format. He ends with some lofty talk about comics breaking free of the printed page. His idea of the infinite canvas is interesting, but it's ten years later and there still don't seem to be any good implementations (I checked ).
February 5, 2018
I picked up this tome because I thoroughly enjoyed McCloud's first book, Understanding Comics (which I strongly urge you to check out if you haven't yet). That first book is focused on timeless theories about what makes comics and graphic novels worth reading, and how to read them. This one is longer and, because it's about the early 2000's and the technology that was coming on the scene at the time, it feels a lot more dated. There are still some interesting ideas and insights, and it's sad that nearly 20 years later, some of the battles for equality that McCloud thought were just over the horizon are still being fought; but McCloud's sincere belief in the importance of comics to tell stories as no other media can is engaging and refreshing.
September 9, 2010
After Understanding Comics, this was disappointing. The economic analysis did make sense and I'm fully on board with the need for both authorial and genre diversity. However the long-winded exposition about comics' potential as an art form, especially in the digital realm, far exceeded my interest in the subject. Also, McCloud's prose style (long, declarative, overly dramatic sentences bisected by "but" or "and") grew very tiresome after 200 pages and the second half of the book needed a severe editorial pruning.
September 13, 2018
McCloud is something of a genius. Though his first book will likely remain his masterpiece, this one stands tall as well, not only explaining the ways in which comics as a method of art delivery can survive, but also how new technology will enable and alter the works. He presents a better explanation of the internet than Thomas Friedman while not giving in to the goblins of globalization in the way Friedman does in much of his work. Recommend to all lovers of art and where it will go in the 21st century.
August 11, 2021
Reinventing comics. I was expecting thoughts on the new directions the comics as a medium would evolve. What I got in the mailbox is a political book that is mostly crap.
# 2021-08-10:
P0. Foreword. Well done.
P1. Recap. Well distilled.
P2. Actually P6. Part One starts. ”Modest living� as a badge of honor. There are people who live ”modest� or ”frugal� and are quite happy. Marking the modest is the mark of the loser. They know they are under-performing.
P6:
> Lately, I've wondered how much *longer* guys like me will be able to keep doing it.
Who cares? Do something that brings you more money. It's a form. And not ”a business model�. Business is one thing. Technique is something else. Medium is a third. And so on. Making money itself is an entirely different thing and it can blend with any other aspect.
Apparently McCloud masters the comic book. He sees and understands things that are not obvious to many. Now, when he gets outside that field, pain starts pouring out.
P7 is virtue signaling. There is something more, but it gets drowned in that. Yet, maybe I'm wrong and he is just helping his reader identify with his *purposeful* cartoon-styled character.
Last three panels p.9: the sales were up. Why? Because. Period. Decline. Period. Like a stray cat, the writers are victims, with no reason to save themselves. The environment is nothing more than the collection of noise and obvious objects. And somehow they have made everything possible.
P10 panel 8. Sure, comics can be studied. He has done that. Others have done like him. Only he does imply academic study. Or short: killing the medium for the sake of governmental grants. At times like that I am starting to doubt McCloud loves comics, that he hates them because they escape some grand plan he can't phrase.
P11/p2: actually he has a militant agenda. Fair? They used to receive a contract that was taking everything in exchange for *exposure* and maybe a publishing credit. Now they have the tools at a discount price. The authors themselves are so rich they can choose between inking with a brush, inking with a reservoir pen, inking with a nib, inking with an iPad, and so on. Not only some of the options were not invented, but there were places in America where the author could find NONE of the above.
P13/p5: Speculator market? Sure, in his church speculators are evil wizards that oppose the one true path. But if one takes a step back, the speculators were precisely the authors he praises, the ones who innovated. Some of them got their names on some lists. Some were forgotten. What McCloud's church calls speculators were most of the time the victims who lost their money falling for the snake oil sold by the artists. I'm not shedding tears for them, that is what taking risks means.
P14: talent. First of all there is no talent. Talent is just work, and not an undeserved gift from gods. Second, the way people got into comics was because of the context. Back in the day there was no glory. There was quite a risk, see the way the comics used to be censored. Now more people have the money and the skills. And there is an aura, after all anybody with a crayon is called "artist". Notice how he gives the statements as gospel, with no numbers or proof. But even if there were fewer people getting into the production of comics, so what? It is an established medium that with the latest Marvel and DC film productions is getting closer to mainstream. And, maybe a century from now, a new generation and a new spirit will emerge from this. Guess what? That will build on the comic books hoarded by the collectors and sold for a few cents in mint condition over some Amazon of the future.
So *Reinventing...* is more about building up a Trade Union, and some Faculties to gain control for a select caste. And it is very misleading sold as the new way of doing stuff.
P20-P21 are about the kid throwing a tantrum in the candy store: the Nanny should give him what he wants, as soon as possible, and it should be free, or nearly free. The man is so absorbed by his tantrum he can't waste time doing the math: if the author is paid much, and the consumer pays next to nothing, who is going to pick up the bill? Well, the others for whom the brat does not care: the people who truck the ink, the paper, or the volumes themselves, the accountants, and the lawyers, the night watchmen, the gas pump people, the paper makers, and the ink makers, everybody be damned, this is 'art' we're talking about!
P22 he is parroting crap he heard on TV. Minorities? Most of the important guys in the comics industry were Jews. Nobody asked them about a quota. Today with self publishing, anybody can get it, without armchair revolutionaries drafting petitions online. The Japanese market has more and more women, both on the production side and on the consumer side. ALL the crap McCloud is preaching for would only hurt the environment and stunt the development. And there are many toxic concepts injected: like "creators' rights". That means the rest of the society should be bound into slavery for the pricks that will get the "creator" certification or license? F that! One produces goods and sells the goods for whatever the buyer is going to give them, not a cent more.
P.23: real life has shown in other areas of visual creation the "directions" are not going in different points on the horizon, and that they can be blended.
I have to take a break.
# 2021-08-10:
P0. Foreword. Well done.
P1. Recap. Well distilled.
P2. Actually P6. Part One starts. ”Modest living� as a badge of honor. There are people who live ”modest� or ”frugal� and are quite happy. Marking the modest is the mark of the loser. They know they are under-performing.
P6:
> Lately, I've wondered how much *longer* guys like me will be able to keep doing it.
Who cares? Do something that brings you more money. It's a form. And not ”a business model�. Business is one thing. Technique is something else. Medium is a third. And so on. Making money itself is an entirely different thing and it can blend with any other aspect.
Apparently McCloud masters the comic book. He sees and understands things that are not obvious to many. Now, when he gets outside that field, pain starts pouring out.
P7 is virtue signaling. There is something more, but it gets drowned in that. Yet, maybe I'm wrong and he is just helping his reader identify with his *purposeful* cartoon-styled character.
Last three panels p.9: the sales were up. Why? Because. Period. Decline. Period. Like a stray cat, the writers are victims, with no reason to save themselves. The environment is nothing more than the collection of noise and obvious objects. And somehow they have made everything possible.
P10 panel 8. Sure, comics can be studied. He has done that. Others have done like him. Only he does imply academic study. Or short: killing the medium for the sake of governmental grants. At times like that I am starting to doubt McCloud loves comics, that he hates them because they escape some grand plan he can't phrase.
P11/p2: actually he has a militant agenda. Fair? They used to receive a contract that was taking everything in exchange for *exposure* and maybe a publishing credit. Now they have the tools at a discount price. The authors themselves are so rich they can choose between inking with a brush, inking with a reservoir pen, inking with a nib, inking with an iPad, and so on. Not only some of the options were not invented, but there were places in America where the author could find NONE of the above.
P13/p5: Speculator market? Sure, in his church speculators are evil wizards that oppose the one true path. But if one takes a step back, the speculators were precisely the authors he praises, the ones who innovated. Some of them got their names on some lists. Some were forgotten. What McCloud's church calls speculators were most of the time the victims who lost their money falling for the snake oil sold by the artists. I'm not shedding tears for them, that is what taking risks means.
P14: talent. First of all there is no talent. Talent is just work, and not an undeserved gift from gods. Second, the way people got into comics was because of the context. Back in the day there was no glory. There was quite a risk, see the way the comics used to be censored. Now more people have the money and the skills. And there is an aura, after all anybody with a crayon is called "artist". Notice how he gives the statements as gospel, with no numbers or proof. But even if there were fewer people getting into the production of comics, so what? It is an established medium that with the latest Marvel and DC film productions is getting closer to mainstream. And, maybe a century from now, a new generation and a new spirit will emerge from this. Guess what? That will build on the comic books hoarded by the collectors and sold for a few cents in mint condition over some Amazon of the future.
So *Reinventing...* is more about building up a Trade Union, and some Faculties to gain control for a select caste. And it is very misleading sold as the new way of doing stuff.
P20-P21 are about the kid throwing a tantrum in the candy store: the Nanny should give him what he wants, as soon as possible, and it should be free, or nearly free. The man is so absorbed by his tantrum he can't waste time doing the math: if the author is paid much, and the consumer pays next to nothing, who is going to pick up the bill? Well, the others for whom the brat does not care: the people who truck the ink, the paper, or the volumes themselves, the accountants, and the lawyers, the night watchmen, the gas pump people, the paper makers, and the ink makers, everybody be damned, this is 'art' we're talking about!
P22 he is parroting crap he heard on TV. Minorities? Most of the important guys in the comics industry were Jews. Nobody asked them about a quota. Today with self publishing, anybody can get it, without armchair revolutionaries drafting petitions online. The Japanese market has more and more women, both on the production side and on the consumer side. ALL the crap McCloud is preaching for would only hurt the environment and stunt the development. And there are many toxic concepts injected: like "creators' rights". That means the rest of the society should be bound into slavery for the pricks that will get the "creator" certification or license? F that! One produces goods and sells the goods for whatever the buyer is going to give them, not a cent more.
P.23: real life has shown in other areas of visual creation the "directions" are not going in different points on the horizon, and that they can be blended.
I have to take a break.
February 7, 2008
Like McCloud's earlier Understanding Comics, this book is a must-read for anyone who plans to work in the graphic novel genre. Though it's now eight years from its publication date, its predictive power and perspective remain right on target(and the presentation style keeps it a fascinating read). Find a copy and enjoy it!
June 16, 2008
While admittedly not as revolutionary or as eye-opening as , Reinventing Comics was still worth the read, I think, if only as an expansion upon the first book.
September 22, 2018
Boa abordagem quanto como os quadrinhos podem melhorar, porém a história se perde quando conta sobre a internet, o autor poderia ter ido direto ao ponto em vez de contar do passado.
Definitivamente o livro está desatualizado no contexto digital.
Definitivamente o livro está desatualizado no contexto digital.
May 20, 2013
Well, I for one certainly was not thinking about the Internet in 2000, so all the stuff in here you'll be warned is dated was pretty fascinating to me.
He's such a good man, and thorough.
He's such a good man, and thorough.
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