Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud - Review

As someone who spent a lot of my time reading comics and graphic novels since forever, I never would have looked at reading them in a different perspective if I never read this book. Would it even be considered a book? Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud took me through such an entertaining form of education by discussing so many in-depth concepts hidden between the panels of comics. What I loved so much about this book is how it uses visuals in the style of comics to provide clear and concise information. The topic the book talks about that really stood out to me the most is when it starts to dig deep into the idea of pareidolia in comics. In other words, how every reader is capable of identifying faces and expressions despite them not really being there. I honestly thought it was mind-blowing when I noticed that we see two dots and a line in a circle and immediately see it as a human face, despite it having no nose or intricate details that imply that it is a human face. It's incredible how comic artists have took thought into a psychological phenomenon just to tell a story for entertainment. It's almost as if art has turned itself into a type of science. Another thing that I found interesting in this book is how the author explains how cartoon styles cause the viewer to see themselves in the characters they see. It's because of how we see other people in realistic faces and our childhood fascination with cartoons that people see characters this way. The author really nails this explanation by showing a side-by-side comparison of his cartoon persona and a realistic portrait of himself, asking the reader if they would listen to what he's saying if he looked real and less stylized. I love how the author really gets in on the psychological aspects of comics and the book as a whole is extremely self-aware since it's drawn as a comic itself. After reading it, I feel like I have a whole different perspective on comics and graphic novels other than them being a form of visual entertainment.