Literature of Comics & the Graphic Narrative

Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud is a comic book explaining the analysis of the comic book medium, as well as the concept and theory of comic art. McCloud explains the fundamentals that are unique to comics, and presents many ideas and insights that many people don’t consider when reading comic books. For example, an idea that I found interesting was the concept of stripping down images and characters and using simplification to amplify a specific meaning in a way that realistic art can’t; “amplification through simplification.” What the author means by this is that when an image is abstracted through "cartooning", you aren’t just eliminating details but rather helping the reader focus on specific details that give the character or image an essential “meaning” that is universal to more people. The more universal cartoon imagery is, the more people it could be said to describe. The process of simplification also allows readers to take the...

The graphic narrative “The Arrival” by Shaun Tan tells a story about migration, all without using words. The story of an immigrant’s experience in a new country is successfully told through pictures, allowing the reader to have full control of the interpretation of the story. The author guides the reader through the narrative using a series of pictures that act almost like a silent film reel and show the reader the story, rather than just telling it. The decision to use pictures instead of words almost puts the reader in the same kind of experience as the immigrant; he is as new to the world as we are to this story. It is up to the reader to figure out the story through the pictures, rather than through already written words. The story contains very surrealist images as well as strange creatures that really show the reader how different and unfamiliar this new place is to him. One of my favorite parts of this narrative is how the author is able to communicate to th...