Chapter 9- Putting it all together

In the Final chapter, McCloud summarizes the points in which he talked about in each previous chapter. Referring back to the beginning chapters brought back memories and really helped me in understanding comics in his point of view. In some chapters, I was a little confused as to whether McCloud knew what he was talking about…or perhaps I just didn’t quite understand his point, but in the final chapter it all became much clearer to me. I find it very surprising that someone such as McCloud has done this study on comics—for 15 years!!! And counting. Wouldn’t it ever get boring? I’ve always liked comics, reading web comics, and manga books…but they have always been just comics to me. I found them interesting because they seemed to express meaning and the storyline much better than perhaps having to watch a movie which has been previously based on a novel or story. This is just like reading a novel. When a new movie that is originally based on a novel, comes out (e.g. Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, The Spiderwick chronicles), it is very rare for the movie to be made better than the novel! This is because to power of words gives us much more space for our imagination to wonder, where as watching a movie, we are seeing the whole story’s perspective in the eyes of the director. Everyone has a different approach and develops different images in their minds when reading the books, and so the director’s images may never match up to another individual’s idea.

Novels and Comics both have their advantages and disadvantages. Novels have the advantage of allowing readers to involve themselves within and really use their imagination- closure, where as comics have the advantage of describing things not only in written form but also visually, bringing them to the next level. The saying that ‘a pictures speaks a thousand words’ is very true, but to me, that only applies to a still image, not a movie. A comic only shows still images, along with some dialogue. The pictures within a comic strip speak a thousand words in its own ways. Like in chapter 6 where McCloud explains how words can balance pictures out and how pictures can balance words out. This applies with comics and how they are structured to allow readers to become so engrossed within the story. To me, comic artists have that one level higher advantage over novel writers. They can express their stories in much more depth visually with images and ideas that have formed within their heads throughout the creation of the comic. This way, readers can really involve themselves within the story line, having less chance of deviating from the original story, which is what many writers aim to achieve.