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.