Scott McCloud

I read Scott McCloud's book "Understanding Comics"( because I could not make it to he talk last night; Monday 16 2007 @7 P.M.). There are a few chapters that i would like to talk about in particular, chapters 1, 2, and chapter four which was also in our text "The New Media Reader" (pages 711-735).
Scott McCloud's whole book it is all told in comic stripe form.Chapter one is the history of comics according to Scott McCloud he says that comics have been all the way back to "1049 A.D.(p.11)" which is the date on a "36-foot long brightly colored ,painted screenfold telling of the great military and political hero 8-Deer 'Tiger's-Claw'"(p.10) found by "Cortes around 1519 in Pre-Columbia"(p.10). Scott's definition of comics is: " Juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or to produce and aesthetic response in the viewer"(p. 9).
He tells us that most books about comics began around the turn of the century and many of the ancients ways of recording a story are forms of early comics like tapestry's and screens but not the Egyptian Hieroglyphics because they are too "pictorial"(p. 12). He goes on to talk about the invention of print and how it is a big deal not only for the written word but also for comics.

In chapter two he talks of the meaning of comics. he says that "in pictures ... meaning is fluid and variable according to appearance.."(p.28). Scott also talks about Icons and on page 27 he says he is "using the word 'ICON' to men any image that is used to represent a person, placed, thing, or Idea," I know that icons are symbols but really did not think about Icons being part of language or as representing philosophies, and concepts.
I really like the part of chapter two where he goes into cartooning because it helped me to understand some of my own tastes in the arts better.

In "The New Media Reader" Scott's chapter four was really good this is what I read first, before I even checked out "Understanding Comics". In this chapter Scott shows how time is displayed in the comics and how each frame is not just one moment in time but can depict a scenario of events that are relevant to the content of the comic. He also went into how motion is displayed in the comics.
Scott McCloud's whole book was really interesting and I would like to read more of his work.