Understanding Comics is a great narrative that gives a lot of detail about the creation of comics. There are many aspects that build a successful comic rather then simply viewing them as pictures and words. A small detail Scott McCloud explains to us is that we want to naturally observe things as cartoons. People have tendencies to simplify an image or take a simplified shape and create a specific image out of it. The most common example is how people can take a circle with a dot inside and view it as an eye. This occurs whether it may be apart of architecture or some environmental objects. Scott gives many examples and explanations as to how these simple concepts will create the best comics.
What is most interesting to me is the timing and story a comic is able to anticipate. An author and artist must know the best scenes to include in each frame. Which part of the story will allow you explain enough while leaving some out. What we don’t see in a comic are the in-between frames. They may just be too much to include or perhaps they defeat the purpose of the story. What a successful comic book can do is create the necessary frames that we can build a story around. The comics will not have every footstep or every punch and fall. It is important that the audience can imagine the in-between scenes and actions that truly build the story. The comic is like a guide that creates the plot and basis which lets us then imagine it all.
This function and aspect of a comic is something we often overlook. We don’t always realize that we’re not actually seeing all of the action drawn out. The successful comics are able to keep the balance of timing and sequence to allow us to understand the story and taste the action while, more importantly, imagining the rest.
