McCloud
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McCloud
Scott McCloud, who was born in 1960, is an American cartoonist and theorist on comics. In our seminar, we read parts of Scott McClouds' Understanding Comics, which explores the definition of comics. Additionally, the historical development of the medium and its fundamental vocabulary is explored. Moreover, various ways in which these elements such as icons have been used are discussed.Biography and Bibliography:Scott_McCloud
Questions on McCloud
1) Why does McCloud seems elated when he talks about that what isn't covered in his definition of comics? Wasn't his attempt to clarify the concept?
McCloud is elated that the definition doesn’t include anything about the tools and the materials (of comics). As there is no exact definition, there is room for the development of the matter. For example, comics can change, but the definiton is still valid. Moreover, there are so many comics that you cannot study all of them in order to develop an overall definition. Therefore, there is room for everyone to express him/herself.
2) What would be the 'grammar' of the internet?
The grammer of the internet might be ‚change’ because it changes all the time.
3) What is the vocabulary and the grammar of comics?
The vocabulary of comics are words, icons and pictures and the grammar is closure.
4) What are icons and closure?
McCloud uses the word icon to mean any image used to represent a person, place, thing or idea.
When you observe only a part of something, but you perceive the whole object, this is called closure. An example would be a credit card in a wallet. Although one can usually only see the top of the card, one perceives it as a whole credit card. In comics, closure allows the reader to connect the moments shown in the panels and to mentally construct a continuous unified reality.
5) How do comics involve the reader/viewer?
The reader/viewer is involved because he or she has to connect the different panels and has to imagine what happens in between them. For example, if you have a panel showing a man with a gun aimed at another person and in the next panel you have just the word 'PENG', then you as the reader/viewer have to imagine what happened. Did the man shoot the other person? How?
6) What kinds of different transitions exist in comics?
There are 6 different kinds of transitions McCloud mentions:
1. Moment-to-Moment: Very little happens in between two panels and, thus, little closure is required. For example, a head is just moved slightly.
2. Action-to-Action: The panels show a single subject in distinct progressions. For example, a bomb flying and in the next panel a bomb exploding.
3. Subject-to-Subject: The panels show different subjects, but within a scene or idea. For example, one panel shows screaming children in the back of a car and the next panel shows an annoyed driver.
4. Scene-to-Scene: The reader/viewer is transported across significant distances of time and space. For example, one panel shows Asterix and the other inhabitants of the village celebrating and the next panel shows Gaius Caesar really angry in his palace in Rome.
5. Aspect-to-Aspect: In this transition, time is usually bypassed and a 'wandering eye' is set upon different aspects of a place, mood or idea. For example, one panel would show Obelix, one Idefix, one a potion and one a menhir (Hinkelstein).
6. Non-Sequitur: There is no logical relationship between different panels. For example, one panel could show a mouse and the other one a boxer.
My own Opinion
I liked reading the McCloud text as I had never really thought about the structure of comics before. Although I was never conscious of things such as 'closure' and 'transitions', I had experienced it myself in my youth when reading comics such as Asterix. Therefore, it was nice learning more about those ideas. For example, I would have never thought or realized that there were that many different transitions. While it is perfectly clear to me that icons are the vocabulary of comics, I still do not really understand why closure is its grammar. I would say that the vocabulary of a book is words or letters, of a movie moving pictures and of a comic icons. As 'grammar' structures one's vocabulary in a language, I would think that 'grammar' in comics should structure the icons. However, in my opinion closure does not necessary strucutre the icons. As I do not understand the concept of 'grammar' I still have problems transforming this idea of 'grammar' to other media such as the Internet or movies. In conclusion, McCloud wrote down some good ideas about comics and I beleieve that anybody who considers writing a comic should read McClouds Understanding Comics. However, the concept of 'grammar' in comics and other media does not make sense to me.
--Nora H. 11:25, 2 December 2008 (UTC)
