the Scott Stein

Understanding Comics was recommended on two separate occasions by my friend and colleague, author Paula Marantz Cohen. Last week, I put my Barnes & Noble holiday gift cards to good use and picked up a copy. My trust in Paula's judgment was, as I expected, well-placed: Understanding Comics is that rare book that lives up to its enthusiastic back cover praise. I was a big comic book fan through my mid-teenage years, regularly reading nearly a dozen Marvel titles. I finally outgrew their limitations, but as McCloud argues, those limitations might not have had anything to do with the form itself. I don't know if I'm fully convinced, but maybe mostly. Understanding Comics is a wonderfully absorbing comic book about comics, an explanation of the craft of storytelling and the tools available to the artist that should interest all writers. McCloud not only explains, but also demonstrates comic book technique with great wit and insight throughout. I don't agree with everything McCloud argues--his definition of "art," for example, is so broad as to make it include practically everything, which I think makes "art" and "artist" mean nothing at all. Still, even on this count, McCloud's explanation is engaging and fun to grapple with. This is a book worth reading and re-reading, for fans of comic books and storytelling of any kind, and for fiction writers.