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A review by captainjaq
Reinventing Comics: The Evolution of an Art Form by Scott McCloud
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.