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thedoctorsaysrun's review
4.0
Interesting to see what has and hasn't come to pass in the digital comics realm in 16 years since he wrote this book.
potatodel's review
3.0
Ugh! J’ai fini!
La première partie m’a beaucoup plu, j’ai d’ailleurs revu ma note à la hausse parce que cette section à elle seule sauve le livre. D’un point de vue historique, les sections sur l’évolution de la BD avec l’apparition d’internet et le développement des ordinateurs peuvent être intéressantes, mais à mon avis les deux chapitres ont mal vieilli. Dans la dernière section, McCloud se lance sur des réflexions dont je ne comprends pas le sens ni l’intérêt.
MAIS la première section est toujours pertinente et le style est très pédagogique.
La première partie m’a beaucoup plu, j’ai d’ailleurs revu ma note à la hausse parce que cette section à elle seule sauve le livre. D’un point de vue historique, les sections sur l’évolution de la BD avec l’apparition d’internet et le développement des ordinateurs peuvent être intéressantes, mais à mon avis les deux chapitres ont mal vieilli. Dans la dernière section, McCloud se lance sur des réflexions dont je ne comprends pas le sens ni l’intérêt.
MAIS la première section est toujours pertinente et le style est très pédagogique.
theghosthybrid's review
5.0
Absolutely one of my favorite books. I have read Understanding Comics, Reinventing Comics, and Making Comics multiple times each. Together, they have given me so much understanding regarding storytelling, perception of art, and comics as a medium.
For this book specifically: this is a wonderful followup to the first book. It stands alone as its own exploration, however. It is equal parts "wow the Internet and computers are really changing the comics form" and "wow for all that the Internet and computers do, comics are still the same at their base level." I really appreciate that nod to both sides of the conversation.
Read all three. Then again, I'm a massive glutton for this kind of passionate knowledge dispensing and find it endlessly enjoyable.
For this book specifically: this is a wonderful followup to the first book. It stands alone as its own exploration, however. It is equal parts "wow the Internet and computers are really changing the comics form" and "wow for all that the Internet and computers do, comics are still the same at their base level." I really appreciate that nod to both sides of the conversation.
Read all three. Then again, I'm a massive glutton for this kind of passionate knowledge dispensing and find it endlessly enjoyable.
ecstaticlistening's review
5.0
I read this book while I was working at a record store at a time when the record industry was suing its customers like that was its business, and I realized at that point that Scott McCloud not only knows his stuff about comics, but about how to distribute creative output for a living. He also knows how to illustrate an idea, and keep it interesting and conversational.
jmanchester0's review
5.0
I really enjoyed this read!
And toward the end when he talks about digital distribution, it's crazy to see how things have changed in the last 20 years.
Side note: He predicted the bursting of the .com bubble.
I'd love to see an update to find out what he would write about the current comics environment!
And toward the end when he talks about digital distribution, it's crazy to see how things have changed in the last 20 years.
Side note: He predicted the bursting of the .com bubble.
I'd love to see an update to find out what he would write about the current comics environment!
neven's review
4.0
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.
charuchii's review
3.0
While the first half of the book isn't neccesarily relevant now (or even really up to date when this book was released), the latter half is a very interesting read when you look at the current digitalization of comics. There are some predictions McCloud makes he nails, and some ideas which are still very topical. However, this book simply doesn't have the same timeless quality as his previous "Understanding Comics" has, which focuses more or less on the state of comics at the time this was written.
captainjaq's review
4.0
I love Scott McCloud. I love the way he thinks about the art form of comics and I love the fact he has embraced the technological revolution whole-heartedly.
That said, this is a fascinating book for a number of reasons. While I'm a huge fan and have owned Understanding Comics and Designing Comics, reading them several times each over the years, if I've read this one before, I don't remember it. And I think part of that reason is because the this other two are much more timeless, dealing with universalities in terms of form and function, storytelling and design.
Reinventing, on the other hand, is looking at both the transitory nature of the industry and the technology used to produce the actual product said industry manufacturers. It is not, by any stretch, timeless. And that is what makes it so fascinating. Written in 2000, 17 years ago as of this writing, it's amazing to see what McCloud got right as well as what he got wrong about where the future would lead us. Some of his ideas on the ever-expanding canvas and the form online comics could and would take have come to pass and seen fruition. While others have not. There was no way he could have predicted the smart phone, but he did nail the idea of tablets and e-readers.
Over all, it's certainly well worth the read, even if it's just as a culturally important historical marker. What would be even better, though, would be an updated version - becuase I, for one, wold love to see where McCloud thinks we're going to be 17 years from now.
That said, this is a fascinating book for a number of reasons. While I'm a huge fan and have owned Understanding Comics and Designing Comics, reading them several times each over the years, if I've read this one before, I don't remember it. And I think part of that reason is because the this other two are much more timeless, dealing with universalities in terms of form and function, storytelling and design.
Reinventing, on the other hand, is looking at both the transitory nature of the industry and the technology used to produce the actual product said industry manufacturers. It is not, by any stretch, timeless. And that is what makes it so fascinating. Written in 2000, 17 years ago as of this writing, it's amazing to see what McCloud got right as well as what he got wrong about where the future would lead us. Some of his ideas on the ever-expanding canvas and the form online comics could and would take have come to pass and seen fruition. While others have not. There was no way he could have predicted the smart phone, but he did nail the idea of tablets and e-readers.
Over all, it's certainly well worth the read, even if it's just as a culturally important historical marker. What would be even better, though, would be an updated version - becuase I, for one, wold love to see where McCloud thinks we're going to be 17 years from now.
jayshay's review
3.0
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.