Thoughts on “Understanding Comics” by Scott McCloud
McCloud’s writing,
“Understanding Comics,” is an excellent pictorial explanation behind the
breakdown of comics, what comics are, as well as a simplification on how comics
differ and how all comics are created in a way so as to move a narrative or idea
forward. The categorization and simplification of the six different transitions
from panel-to-panel was very helpful for me in understanding the overall flow
of comics better. When McCloud breaks down Western comics and Eastern comics
and compares and contrasts the types and amount of panel-to-panel transitions, I
found this extremely helpful. Western comics tend to lean more towards Action-to-Action panel
transitions which typically make up about 65% of the total transitions while Subject-to-Subject
panel transitions and Scene-to-Scene panel transitions make up the rest of the
35%. Eastern comics, however, typically have a bit more of a range of
panel transitions, there is not an approximate percentage given but there is
more use of Aspect-to-Aspect panel transitions. This
Aspect-to-Aspect transitioning sets up more of a mood and setting much like a
movie with its establishing shots. According to McCloud, this use of panel transitions has been an
integral part of mainstream manga from the start. This works for a multitude of
reasons that he explains later; from the actual length of the book being much
larger than traditional western comics and how a fundamental split of ideals on
what is important in a comic or manga has influenced panels over the years. I
personally enjoyed learning about the different types of panel transitions as
well as the different ways to use them and how historically and culturally they
have been used. All of this expansive amount of thought on panel transitions
and comics is explained and shown quite brilliantly. I enjoyed having a new way
to think about comics and learning how each type could be used to a comic’s
advantage.
