'Nuff Said: American Graphic Media

Comic to me, before American Graphic Media class was just a book that I read just for fun and did not pay a lot of attention to those messages author trying to give to readers, and all those technique of using time, emotion, many other skills in comics. Also comic has about six steps, idea,purpose, from idiom, structure, craft and surface. Also, how comics are changing throughout years as our society changes. It is some sort of mirror image of society. I could learn from the comics from few decades ago, and got some idea of how the society was like then. Now when I read comics, I do not just read it for fun and forget the message. Now I look for the message and the skills that author used in comics, such as emotional content, and use of time. There are so much technique been using on comics that most people did not notice or cared about. Comics also often deal and talk about the big issues on our society. Political issues are often used in comics and other problems like sexual ident...

The way that I understand comics is the way that I always have until now. They are mostly small pamphlet books written for young children that were very popular about two decades ago. While this is when the comic "book" was popular there are also a lot of predecessors and post examples of what one might consider comics. I personally have always considered the Egyptian's wall paintings to be a sort of comic. The same goes in my mind for cave drawings. They are comics before our English language was established. In the era of the great depression comics become wildly popular in a society that needed heroes that were ever strong. Strong examples to move forward and find the courage to do so. That's what I think the comics of that age did and how I see them. While they may have been marketed to young children, we all now that what our children see and consume parents follow suit. So comics bred the age of a new tomorrow and the hope that that tomorrow ...

Comics to me was the most fun thing I growing up watching in my childhood, and I still enjoy comics a lot. Comics show both reality and fantasy.It is based on our culture and some times deal with issue in our society or give message to people. It is somewhat similar to movie, drama, and TV shows. However, people often take comics very lightly compare to others. Even though comics contain and give similar message or information. It is still taking lightly by people. It is funny how much movies and dramas are made by comics stories. Such as SuperMen, bet-man, wonder women, and many others. No comics are made by movie or drama stories. Comics are important. A text book defines comics as j uxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence intended to convey information and/or to produce an aesthetic response in the viewer.” However, I think there is more to it. It is hard to say there is only one definition to explain what exactly comics is.

Comics are understandable because our minds can fill in the missing movements between the segmented pictures we see. Comics use iconic figures, meaning representational images of things from reality. These images are simplified greatly but they are still recognizable and fully representational of an object we are familiar with. These representations can be as simple as a few curved lines making a bow, or as vast as a shaded and colored wall of the Grand Canyon. Recognizing these icons is vital to how comic books can imprint themselves onto us because without being able to simplify the picture, we couldn’t recognize something as simple as and abstract fork. If forced to become entirely lifelike comic books would also be more expensive to make and would therefore never be a viable business idea and would now probably be some sort of underground art movement that only New York and L. A. know about and depict social movements and genocide (think about it). To understand c...

Before beginning this class, I never really did try to understand comics. To be honest, I didn’t think their was much to understand. My definition was limited to stereotypical superhero comic books. Regarding these books, if I read them at all, I certainly never looked past the surface of a fun adventure story. However, after beginning the reading and thinking more critically about what comics are and what they do, I feel I have gained an increased understanding of them. I am beginning to look at comics with a more serious eye. For example, where as before I would have read a comic and based my opinion of it on it’s entertainment factor, now whenever I read a comic story or view comic art, I take the time to consider several more factors. I take into consideration the type of art used, where it lies on the picture plane, and why the artist chose to portray the scene or scenes in this particular way. I will also consider any differences between the style of the background and foregro...

The decade most of us remember growing up in is the 90s. When we were children we watched shows like All That and The Fresh Prince. Cartoons were something that attracted the attention the children and young adults at the time, but cartoons were not something that were among them. There was a small majority of students who were fans of comic books, but why are cartoons today making a comeback? Today it seems like the most popular tv shows are family guy, the simspsons and American Dad. Where do these shows come from? They are similiar to shows like Seinfeld and Two and a Half Men because they both are humorous shows with very distinct able characters. Growing up I was never a comic book kid. I was into sports and tv shows and never read much of anything. Coming into this class I had the predisposed view of comic books that many people have who are not avid readers. They seemed like a fun way to pass the time. After reading Understanding Comics, I realized that a great deal of thought a...

When looking at comics one must look and see the difference between reading a book versus reading a comic book. The experience of reading a comic is different for obvious reasons, pictures being one of them. The feelings and emotions literally pop off the page. The facial expressions and the different angles that provide a unique experience for the reader. In reality one cannot compare the experience of reading a comic to reading a formal piece of literature. A closer medium to comics would probably be watching Television. Though the two do capture features and emotions of the characters, one entices the mind to work its imagination and the other just satisfies the a couple senses. Comics as a medium can really provide an escape into literature. The reader has the ability to follow the story along with the ability to create his or her own interpretations of the text. When it comes to the contrary medium, there is purely what is in front of the viewer. With programs such ...

How do you understand comics? Most people would look at you as if you were a little “slow” if you asked them this question, and I was one of those people up until a few days ago when I started reading Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud. Before then I would have just told you that comics were just cool little books about superheroes that had more pictures than actual words in it, so there were no questions to be asked about how you understand them. In the book, McCloud clarifies the common misconception that people have about what comics actually are and in doing so actually made understanding comics a lot more challenging. Comics are more than just superhero stories with lots of exciting pictures in them, they are much more complicated than that. The definition for a comic that McCloud gives us in the book opens up a whole new world of graphic media and art that people, including myself, would have never and still do not dare call a comic. After much debate, h...

In reading the first two chapters of Scott McCloud's Understand Comics: The Invisible Art I was quickly reminded of my initial introduction to the world of comics. Every time my mother took me along to the grocery store, I would pick up a copy of Batman or Spiderman and read it cover to cover before "swinging between the aisles" as if I had been bitten by some radio active spider. However, at such an age, I was not aware of McCloud's definition of comics as a "juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and /or to produce an aesthetic response in the viewer" (9). While the definition might be new, my understanding of it now and then are not that far apart. As I aged and "matured," I was quickly introduced to the Japanese import of manga, and eventually to the much longer and more "intellectual" graphic novel. While my tastes changed (and the direction I read), I never lost my love for the ...

Before reading the first 60 pages of Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud I looked at comics from a different perspective. Like many of the average people on the street, I did not know the true meaning or definition of a comic. "Juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence intended to convey information and/ or to produce an aesthetic response in the viewer", would not be my response if someone asked me to describe what I thought a comic was. It would be more along the lines of what I see in family circle in the daily newspaper. After reading this book it has been brought to my attention that what I believed to be a comic my entire life was in reality not a comic. On top of the corny newspaper comics, I was aware but never looked into the comics such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and all of the popular super heroes that are in magazines or now even in extremely high reviewed movies. Another misconception that many people including myself make about all ...

I have always enjoyed comics, comic books, cartoons, and the like. Growing up, I always read the comics section of the newspaper with my father and my favorite book is Watchmen , a graphic novel. Comics have always been a medium of entertainment that I particularly enjoyed, much more so than paintings/pictures or regular books. I like looking at pictures, but always feel that something is lacking, as I usually don’t understand the point the artist is trying to get across. I also like reading, but find myself trying to imagine what exactly the characters look like, but not in the way I think they should look, but in the way the author sees them. I think that’s why I enjoy comics so much because they are the mix of these two things. As Scott McCloud puts it, comics are “juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence” (McCloud). That’s how I understand comics and what I love about them: it’s a work of art brought to life in every sense. I don’t understand why...

When looking at comics one must look and see the difference between reading a book versus reading a comic book. The experience of reading a comic is different for obvious reasons, pictures being one of them. The feelings and emotions literally pop off the page. The facial expressions and the different angles that provide a unique experience for the reader. In reality one cannot compare the experience of reading a comic to reading a formal piece of literature. A closer medium to comics would probably be watching Television. Though the two do capture features and emotions of the characters, one entices the mind to work its imagination and the other just satisfies the a couple senses. Comics as a medium can really provide an escape into literature. The reader has the ability to follow the story along with the ability to create his or her own interpretations of the text. When it comes to the contrary medium, there is purely what is in front of the viewer. With programs such ...

Understanding comics is easier said than done. Before reading the first 60 pages of Understanding Comics , and the first 30 of Comic Book Nation if someone had asked me what a comic was, I would probably hesitantly reply with something like “boxes with pictures and words in them.” Needless to say the level of variety and intricacy put into graphic novels astounded me. However, in order to truly understand comics you must understand several aspects of the art. Firstly, in order to understand comics, you must know what a comic is. Scott McCloud would tell you a comic consists of: “juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence intended to convey information and/ or to produce an aesthetic response in the viewer.” Which loosely translates to a series of juxtaposed images in sequence used to tell a story or generate a reaction from a reader. This definition is purposely broad in order to encompass any genre or style of comic anywhere from Superman to Dilber...

Before I read pages 1 through 59 in Understanding Comics , I didn’t think much of comics as I was reading them. I guess you could say I read what was on the surface; to be frank it never occurred to me that a comic could relay a message of such depth. Upon taking this course I haven’t had much experience with comic books, unless you count the occasional DC or Marvel film. I was fascinated by the process that was described by Scott McCloud; it’s almost as if there is a formula in successfully creating a comic. The process is captivating because it isn’t what I originally thought. Yes, it is taking someone’s ideas and putting them on paper but it is much more than that. I originally thought that a comic book was essentially a story with pictures. The definition of a comic is a “juxtaposed pictorial and other images in a deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or to produce an aesthetic response in the viewer” (McCloud). When opening the pages of McCloud’s book your first ...

When I was a kid, comic books were my favorite things to read. Almost every day after school I would walk downtown and go to a store called “Mackenzie’s” and buy a new comic book. I was all about Spiderman and Iron Man. As I got older and became more familiar with TV shows such as Spiderman and Iron Man, comic books began to disappear in my life. I would think to myself, why am I reading words and pictures and trying to put all the pieces together when I could just be watching the action? As soon as these shows came out on TV, I set down the books. I haven’t read a single comic book for about 13 years until the other day. “Understanding Comics” opened my eyes completely to what I missed out on. As a boy, I thought of comics as just words and pictures to flip through. I was completely wrong. There is so much more behind the scenes action that I didn’t even realize. One very interesting part in the read was when Scott McCloud talked about the Egyptians and the hieroglyphics. Hieroglyph...

At first, like most people, I thought that comics were just superhero stories and that the format they used involved mostly pictures instead of written descriptions to better show the story. I thought of them as childish picture books and wasn’t really interested in them. Not to say that I didn’t like the stories because that’s just not true. I’m a big fan of marvel superheroes. I just prefer to watch the movies and the televisions shows instead of reading the comic books. With that said, I really found Scott McCloud’s definition of comics to be an interesting way of thinking about it. His definition states that comics are “juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or aesthetic response in the viewer.” This definition makes comics seem much more complicated then what we normally perceive of them. After reading the chapters, I understand comics aren’t just superhero books. In fact comics don’t have anything specifically to do wi...