Scott McCleod

The Invisible Art

Understanding Comics

Scott McCloud

Traces the 3,000 year history of storytelling through pictures, discussing the language and images used.

Lara Engle

Genuinely entertaining, this comic about comics advances theory on the art and science of reading, writing, and interpreting comics. Sometimes philosophical and sometimes analytical, it never falls short for me. Even 25 years after it was written, the ideas are fresh and accessible. Thanks for giving me and my students the vocabulary to speak and write about comics in an academic way.

rumbledethumps

I read this book around the time it first came out, and there was really nothing like it then. On re-reading it nearly 30 years later, there is still really nothing like it. It is an explanation of how comics work, and an argument that comics are an art form worth of study and consideration, equal to and distinct from literature or painting.

While I have yet to see another book like this one in the 30 years since it was first published, I have seen wider acceptance of McCloud's ideas, and a much wider variety of comics and the voices telling those stories.

Praised throughout the cartoon industry by such luminaries as Art Spiegelman, Matt Groening, and Will Eisner, this innovative comic book provides a detailed look at the history, meaning, and art of comics and cartooning.

Mythos

It definitely helped me a lot in further understanding comics. It helped me get through an class that forced me to analyze comics. If you want to know more about the art 9f comics or need to get through an analysis this is the correct book to look at.

3/5 stars
It definitely helped me a lot in further understanding comics. It helped me get through an class that forced me to analyze comics. If you want to know more about the art 9f comics or need to get through an analysis this is the correct book to look at.

Gavin

Good fun. In any other medium I would disdain McCloud’s fussy, interminable construction of a single definition of comics, but he provides the distraction from it with the visuals. Gets really good after Chapter 2, when he uncovers a couple of tricks (masking and decartooning) in grand style.

Rohan Uddin

A nice and helpful treatise on the art of the comic book.

Rachel Kanyid

Very interesting way to portray a textbook! Much more fun to read than usual. :)

Adrian Mato

Awesome comic book explaining the world and creation of comics. 100% recommended!

Adam

I didn't grow up reading comics. I've recently started reading more, but I'm still figuring out what I enjoy (Y the Last Man, Walking Dead, Saga, and Attack on Titan so far).

This book is completely different. It's not about how to read comics, but about how to write comics. While I have no intention of writing comics, it's an insightful overview of how to create a story using a combination of images and words – something I want to get better at.

What impresses me most about this book is that it felt like a conversation between me and the author. The entire comic is written in a format where the author, the main character of the comic, is introducing you to various comic concepts and exploring why they work (or don't). Although I don't plan to create comics, I came out of this with a bunch of ideas that I want to try on mediums I work in.

Rebecca Owen

Great introduction to the world of comics as an art rather than just a children's pre-reading material. It feels slightly dated occasionally, but the majority of the chapters on language, symbolism and art still apply.

Daryl Houston

I've tended not to read comics for a couple of reasons -- I don't feel like I have the patience to engage in the way they require you to engage, and I've felt like most of what's out there just wouldn't interest me; I don't really care about superheroes, for example. I guess I'm basically a snob. So I'll read something literary (e.g. Chris Ware's Jimmy Corrigan) but not something light. This snobbery at least applies across genres; it's not the comic form itself that I'm snobbish about but the sort of material that most of what I think of as comics covers. 

This was a great read. It was very clever, and nicely laid out, and easy and fun to read, and it made me think about aesthetics and narrative in ways that I found satisfying. It's probably not for everybody, but I think most anybody who likes thinking about how stories and art function would find it appealing.

Hugo Ahlberg

incredible book on not just comics but the art of visual storytelling. highly recommended for anyone interested in any visual medium. 

(note to self: recommended and gifted to me by Alex Henry)

Varun Khatri

A must read for anyone trying to understand the medium of comic books. The first few chapters are more relevant to understanding the craft then the last few but through and through, this book showcases why comics matter and are not limited to the superhero stories people connect them to. Comics is a medium not a subject matter. 

Understanding Comics The Invisible Art

Reviews

Highlights