Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art

Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art (1994), an amazing book on the history, science and philosophy of comics, is itself a comic...then checking out most of the cartoonists he mentions that I hadn't heard of[0], too many to mention. I discovered a load of great stuff from that, e.g. the graphic novels of Will Eisner and wordless novels of Lynd Ward. [0] Library Genesis's comics section helped with that http://libgen.io/comics/index.php

I gotta second "Understanding Comics", it's incredible! McCloud is a under-recognized genius and comics are a profound medium! I found a copy on the sidewalk. I'm halfway through it now and he's blown my mind four or five times already. Don't be too proud to read a comic about comics: it will change the way you think, not just about comics but about thinking itself! It was published in '93. I just looked and I couldn't find the exact quote, but at one point he says something like, "even if you don't read comics, they will be influencing popular art and entertainment" and I thought, "Didn't a comicbook-based movie just gross two billion dollars?"

1. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art, by Scott McCloud A comic about comics, but I don’t think you have to enjoy the medium to get something out of the book. If you enjoy exploring subjects to their core, give it a shot. 2. The Sculptor, by Scott McCloud The latest fiction graphic novel by the person who wrote a seminal book on comics. No surprise it does a lot of things right. 3. S-Town, by Brian Reed Technically a podcast, but it was released all at once and is a contained story that lasts for seven hours. I’d say a fairer assessment would be to call it a well produced non-fiction audiobook, which is what you’d expect from the producers of Serial and This American Life. When I recommend it I always tell people to give it until the end of the second episode before deciding if they’ll stick with it. 4. Mindhunter, by John Douglas Enjoyed the Netflix show? There’s a good chance you’ll enjoy this.

Recommendations: 1) Einsteins Dreams - This book is a quick read, but shows a bunch of different perceptions of time. Fantastic. 2) Rock warriors way - Even if you aren't a climber, I feel like this book has a lot of great lessons about committing without fear. Much more accessible as a climber though. 3) Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art - Quick read, I learned a lot about storytelling in general. 4) Agnotology: The Making and Unmaking of Ignorance - This is a series of essays and the first few were great views into companies creating ignorance in the 50's around smoking and link to cancer. Gets a little dense after a while. Full list: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/18975415-samuel-mosley... (https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/18975415-samuel-mosley?shelf=read-2017)

"Understanding Comics" by Scott McCloud! Simply the single most important book to understand sequentional word/picture combinations. And yes, it's a comic! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Understanding_Comics