It's the best book I've found for doing this, and it's in a comics format, with McCloud as the cartoony and erudite "narrator". Review from before: I've used this book many times to teach comics basics. Maybe this is less true for non-comics fiction, though. That's like suggesting that minimalism (something like Raymond Carver's stories, or Ernest Hemingway's stories) invite readers in more because we as readers have more space to "be" the characters, to connect with them. McCloud says that realistic depictions of characters such as in superhero comics are actually less relatable than simple characters such as Charlie Brown or Nancy, or most manga. What I have to add is that I had a fun conversation with my class about one insightful claim McCloud makes, that the simpler and more "cartoony" a comic representation is (i.e., a smiley face), the more universal it will be, the more we will say "that's me." In fiction classes I was taught to be as specific and detailed as I could be about characters and places. It's the primary source though there are many good books coming out. I'll read this and use it to help people understand comics every year. I finished reading it for my comics/YA Graphic novels class this summer, 6/16/16 and now again, 8/8/17.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |