week 4 out of class

     This week out of class I read chapters one and two of Scott Mcloud's Understanding Comics. Reading this book was a pleasant surprise, I had no idea going into it that it was an actual comic book. It really makes sense though, what better way to talk about comics then in a comic itself? The first chapter dealt with defining comics, and some history of very early comics. These examples included an old Columbian manuscript, a French tapestry from 1066, and engravings on the tomb of Egyptian scribe Menna. McCloud creates his definition in a question and answer format throughout the chapter that really helps the reader follow his logic. By the end of the chapter the definition for comics that McCloud reaches is "Juxtaposed pictorial and other images in a deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or produce an aesthetic response in the viewer". In chapter two McCloud discusses icons and how they're used in comics. Mainly he focused on turning characters into icons. This was called amplification through simplification. A reader can make a face out of almost an image and the more vague and undefined that face is the more likely they are to relate to it. Having a reader relate to the character means that you're more likely to impact them in some way.