A review by eowen2696
Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud

Scott McCloud's "Understanding Comics" is an informational text, written in the form of a comic book, that attempts to give readers a greater appreciation of the genre as an art form. Although I had read graphic novels and comic books in the past (specifically "Persepolis," "Maus," "Paper Girls," and "Watchmen"), I had never dedicated the in-depth thought to the form that McCloud inspires in his audience. McCloud brings readers to think critically about the purposes served by the line style, colors, dialogue, and panel use utilized within the discipline of comics; he identifies comics as a form that is not necessarily the combination of images and text, but something all its own. This text led me to build a greater appreciation of comics and to find ways to defend the form against critics who restrict their conceptions of "comics" to stories about superheroes. I think that my familiarity with the genre made the text more readable to me than it might be to someone who has not previously read any graphic novels or comics; I could see how it would be easy for an audience looking for an entrance to the form to become overwhelmed by the Discourse of McCloud's text. I would recommend this book to any readers with a surface-level familiarity with graphic novels or comics that are looking to deepen their understanding of the form; this text would also be great for lovers of the form who are looking to create comics of their own.