Response to Understanding The Invisible Art of Comics by Scott McCloud

I thought that Understanding The Invisible Art of Comics by Scott McCloud to brought up some interesting porints about the unique way that comics can communicate and it broader position in society and within art.

One of the main theses of this book (besides explaining how comics are structured) was that comics should be considered an artform. McCloud brings up many examples of how comics can communicate in a unique way and how this makes comics a unique art form. He wants them to be respected in the same way that literature, film and painting are respected. I agree that there is stigma against comics: they are seen to be the “simplest” form of reading and as a reader grows up they will begin to read books without pictures.

McCloud does a good (and very thorough) job of debunking this. He brings up the idea that comics are not merely a simplified or dumbed down way to read text but rather an independent mode of communication that utilizes images, text, font, and --most importantly and interestingly to me-- the space between panels. He explains that “closure” is one of the most important techniques that comic-book artists use to communicate. Closure happens when one scene jumps to the next and we, as readers, fill in the meaning in-between panels. This, as McCloud explains, is at the heart of the unique type of communication comic books use.

At times throughout the book McCloud is very perceptive and objective. There is one point I disagree with: In Chapter 6 McCloud chronicles the usage of pictures and words throughout history. He argues that by the 1800s pictures and words were the farthest apart they had ever been and ever would be. But I think McCloud neglected the illuminated poems of William Blake (1757-1827). Blake was a spiritual figure who expressed his visions through poetry and art (painting and printmaking). His illuminated poems are close to comics in that the words and in visuals are equally important, without one the reader is losing half of the message. I think that by McCloud saying that pictures and words were the farthest apart in the 1800s he is completely ignoring an artist who helped to define the Romantic Period both in literature and visual art.