90 pages • 3 hours read
Scott McCloudUnderstanding Comics: The Invisible Art
Nonfiction | Graphic Novel/Book | Adult | Published in 1993A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Further Reading & Resources
Further Reading: Literature
The Sculptor by Scott McCloud (2015)
Further Reading: Beyond Literature (Nonfiction)
Comics and Sequential Art by Will Eisner (1973)
McCloud mentions Eisner’s definition of comics as sequential art in order to expand upon his own version (Chapter 1).
Understanding Media by Marshall McLuhan (1964)
McCloud mentions McLuhan’s theory of humans projecting themselves onto inanimate objects in order to explain how the humanity of comics’ iconography connects with readers (Chapter 2).
Video & Podcast Resources
Understanding Comics, TED Talk by Scott McCloud (2009)
Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud by Cartoonist Kayfabe (2020)
A breakdown of Understanding Comics by YouTube channel Cartoonist Kayfabe (run by comics creators Ed Piskor and Jim Rugg).
Other Relevant Media Resources
The Bayeux Tapestry was one of McCloud’s examples of an early comic lacking distinct borders—thus, leaving the viewer to experience and judge the progression of its story at their own pace (Chapter 1).
The Tomb of Menna was McCloud’s means of illustrating how portions, snapshots, of art (in comics’ case, panels) require just that—being understood as parts of a whole in order to understand the story being told (Chapter 1). Despite comics’ reputation as a childish medium, they are capable of conveying complex ideas and emotions (i.e., the Tomb of Menna recounts all the steps of a wheat harvest).
A Harlot’s Progress by William Hogarth (1731)
Not only did Hogarth’s paintings exemplify the spirit of comics in being sequential art (art intended to be viewed in a specific order), but they resulted in copyright laws (Chapter 1).
