Scott McCloud
Managing Editor: Ann Gill
Scott McCloud is an American cartoonist, but following the publication of Understanding Comics in 1993 he has been most widely known as a comics theorist, moving some to call him “the Aristotle of Comics.” Comics has been the red-headed step-child of the literary world long enough and McCloud is the foremost advocate of comics becoming a respected member within the literary and visual arts communities. The following resources are useful for the comics enthusiast and newbie alike, they will help round out a students knowledge of Scott McCloud the man, and his theories.
InFocusExtra ScottMcCloud at Salon Internacional De Comic Barcelona 2009. AB News (2009, August 6). Interview. YouTube video retrieved from <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upd0sh68I9I>.
In this interview author and theorist Scott McCloud discusses a wide range of topics. These include, the visual impact of style, the changes and evolution of comics over the last twenty years, his desire that comics become a respected member within the community of the arts, as well as using comics to instruct and educate.
McCloud, Scott. "I Can't Stop Thinking." Scott McCloud Journal. 2000-2001. Web. 6 June 2011.
In his series “I Can’t Stop Thinking” (2000-2001), Scott McCloud speculated about the internet as a medium for comics. His two major points were: Webcomics will transcend print boundaries (color, format, and length) and will allow the comic to have a more direct route to the audience, and to compensation.
McCloud’s posts can serve as a starting point for those interested in studying the origins and future of webcomics. His early entries into the genre show the untapped potential of the digital format. They also indicate how webcomics could be used to reinvent the comic industry through direct microtransaction payments.
McCloud, Scott. Scott McCloud - Webcomics. 27 June 2011 http://www.scottmccloud.com/1-webcomics/index.html
This website feature various webcomics by Understanding Comics author Scott McCloud. It gives background information concering when McCloud created his frist webcomics. McCloud shares how he took a break from creating webcomics to “create a couple of books.” He goes on to describe how his webcomics differ from others.
This website will be useful to anyone interested in the work of Scott McCloud as it feature links to books he has written. He also names companies he has work as a consultant for to show that there are other options for cartoonist other than creating comics.
Meskin, Aaron. “Defining Comics?” The Journal of Aethetics and
Art Criticism, Vol. 65, No 4. (2007). 369-379. JSTOR. Web. 20 June
2011.
How can comics be defined? Aaron Meskin researches all the
components of a comic. He analyzes the opinions of Greg Hayman, Henry John
Pratt, Will Eisner, and Scott McCloud. He talks about the brief history of recent attempts to define comics, the Hayman-Pratt definition of comics, comics and narrative, comics and history, and finally comics and definition. Eachtopic he t alks about he gives all the opinions of scholars and cartoonists.
Meskin does a great critique in the article because he gives
lengthy backgrounds on each components of the definition of comics. Teachers,
scholars, and readers can benefit from this article because it helps lay the
foundation to what is defined as a comic. The information given to the reader is
full of insight into comics.
Scott McCloud: Understanding Comics. TED Talk, (2009, January 14). YouTube video retrieved from <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXYckRgsdjI>. Put on your running shoes, because McCloud’s delivery is fast paced. It is a virtual avalanche of information. To get it all you might have to watch it more than once. His passion and enthusiasm are both evident and contagious.
In this presentation Scott McCloud discusses and illustrates some of the concepts that he covers in his book Understanding Comics and talks about his childhood family and early influences. It can serve to supplement a readers understanding of the text in that it sheds light on where his approach to comics stems from.
Pannafino, James. "Sequential Art: Hand, Eye and Mind." The International Journal of the Book (2009): Volume 6.
This text explains the term sequential art with derivations from Eisner and McCloud’s definitions. The term is defined as “a visual medium in which images (with or without text) are arranged in order to convey a narrative.” It also goes in depth to discuss how comics have transitioned into newer forms of mediums to display its content. Today, the most popular of these mediums is the digitized options which include web comics as well as portable digitized media readers (Amazon Kindle, Apple’s iPhone, etc.). However, despite these advances in comic-mediums, some still prefer the ease of the simple, printed comic.
This resource could be used by scholars of comics, teachers and readers alike. The information provided within this text provides one with multiple statistics of surveys, great information about evolving mediums in comparison to the comic world, as well as information from other texts dealing with the same subject matter.
InFocusExtra ScottMcCloud at Salon Internacional De Comic Barcelona 2009. AB News (2009, August 6). Interview. YouTube video retrieved from <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upd0sh68I9I>.
In this interview author and theorist Scott McCloud discusses a wide range of topics. These include, the visual impact of style, the changes and evolution of comics over the last twenty years, his desire that comics become a respected member within the community of the arts, as well as using comics to instruct and educate.
McCloud, Scott. "I Can't Stop Thinking." Scott McCloud Journal. 2000-2001. Web. 6 June 2011.
In his series “I Can’t Stop Thinking” (2000-2001), Scott McCloud speculated about the internet as a medium for comics. His two major points were: Webcomics will transcend print boundaries (color, format, and length) and will allow the comic to have a more direct route to the audience, and to compensation.
McCloud’s posts can serve as a starting point for those interested in studying the origins and future of webcomics. His early entries into the genre show the untapped potential of the digital format. They also indicate how webcomics could be used to reinvent the comic industry through direct microtransaction payments.
McCloud, Scott. Scott McCloud - Webcomics. 27 June 2011 http://www.scottmccloud.com/1-webcomics/index.html
This website feature various webcomics by Understanding Comics author Scott McCloud. It gives background information concering when McCloud created his frist webcomics. McCloud shares how he took a break from creating webcomics to “create a couple of books.” He goes on to describe how his webcomics differ from others.
This website will be useful to anyone interested in the work of Scott McCloud as it feature links to books he has written. He also names companies he has work as a consultant for to show that there are other options for cartoonist other than creating comics.
Meskin, Aaron. “Defining Comics?” The Journal of Aethetics and
Art Criticism, Vol. 65, No 4. (2007). 369-379. JSTOR. Web. 20 June
2011.
How can comics be defined? Aaron Meskin researches all the
components of a comic. He analyzes the opinions of Greg Hayman, Henry John
Pratt, Will Eisner, and Scott McCloud. He talks about the brief history of recent attempts to define comics, the Hayman-Pratt definition of comics, comics and narrative, comics and history, and finally comics and definition. Eachtopic he t alks about he gives all the opinions of scholars and cartoonists.
Meskin does a great critique in the article because he gives
lengthy backgrounds on each components of the definition of comics. Teachers,
scholars, and readers can benefit from this article because it helps lay the
foundation to what is defined as a comic. The information given to the reader is
full of insight into comics.
Scott McCloud: Understanding Comics. TED Talk, (2009, January 14). YouTube video retrieved from <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXYckRgsdjI>. Put on your running shoes, because McCloud’s delivery is fast paced. It is a virtual avalanche of information. To get it all you might have to watch it more than once. His passion and enthusiasm are both evident and contagious.
In this presentation Scott McCloud discusses and illustrates some of the concepts that he covers in his book Understanding Comics and talks about his childhood family and early influences. It can serve to supplement a readers understanding of the text in that it sheds light on where his approach to comics stems from.
Pannafino, James. "Sequential Art: Hand, Eye and Mind." The International Journal of the Book (2009): Volume 6.
This text explains the term sequential art with derivations from Eisner and McCloud’s definitions. The term is defined as “a visual medium in which images (with or without text) are arranged in order to convey a narrative.” It also goes in depth to discuss how comics have transitioned into newer forms of mediums to display its content. Today, the most popular of these mediums is the digitized options which include web comics as well as portable digitized media readers (Amazon Kindle, Apple’s iPhone, etc.). However, despite these advances in comic-mediums, some still prefer the ease of the simple, printed comic.
This resource could be used by scholars of comics, teachers and readers alike. The information provided within this text provides one with multiple statistics of surveys, great information about evolving mediums in comparison to the comic world, as well as information from other texts dealing with the same subject matter.
