Current mood:

cynical

Understanding Comi-- GIMME A FUCKING BREAK!
Or as I also like to call it, making tons of cash out of pseudo-intellectualism.

If you are not aware, there is a book entitled Understanding Comics written by Scott McCloud who has been touted by some as comic-dom's Moses, charlatan and mouthy windbag by others.

The fact that such a thing exists illustrates my point better than any LJ rant. But rant I shall because it entertains me to do so.

The only people I know who have ever mentioned Understanding Comics in any context are the webcomic folks. This is usually in the same breath as Reinventing Comics which is another tome of shenanigans to which I shall never subject my eyes or my brain. But they exist.

I have not read the book, nor do I ever intend to read it. Nor have any other comic book professionals in my circle of friends. They're too busy trying to make rent. I should qualify this. I speak of my friends who work for Marvel, Image, DC, whatever, not the webcomics people I know.

Perhaps I am not intellectual enough to understand why one would need another to tell them how to understand comics. Okay, so possibly if you only know English and the words in the comic you're trying to read are kanji and not English, then possibly you would need someone else to tell you how to understand that comic. But that's more mechanics of language than anything.

Understanding comics, if they happen to be written in a language that you understand, seems relatively straight forward. You got your pictures. Sometimes, you got words. Voila! Comics! What else is there to understand?

I guess this speaks more to my personality than anything else. I don't necessarily care about knowing the exact chemical makeup of water. I just drink the stuff. I don't give a shit what makes up a comic or not. I just read the things. And sometimes, I make the things. There really isn't much more to it. Yes, I could go on for hours lauding the literary merits of comics as an art form. I could fill terabytes with rants of how comics are a necessity to stimulate the imagination. But none of that would help you enjoy comics any more or any less for that matter.

To look at it from a different perspective, let's take Dave Matthew's Band. I hate Dave Matthew's Band. I understand that his group is made up of some fairly decent musicians. His compositions are quite complex and melodious. His lyrics evoke imagery that is so badly missing from much of today's popular music. They are a tight band. I understand all of that. I still hate his music and I can't stand to listen to his group.

Intellectualizing comics won't help you like them any better just like intellectualizing the Dave Matthew's Band doesn't make me like them.

You either like comics. Or you don't.

Perhaps the value of a thing like Understanding Comics lies not in its message, but the discussion that such a thing and engender. This rant, for example, would never have come to be were it not for Understanding Comics. Not that this is a very good or well written rant, but it is part of a broader discussion on comics as an art form. However, do we really need such discussions? Clearly, just because you know the merits of a thing doesn't mean you'll like it any more. And Understanding Comics isn't exactly getting new fans into the stores. I'm fairly certain that my girl friend would never touch the book if she saw it in a bookstore. No, the only reason why she's remotely interested in comics at all is because I threw a bunch of Sandman at her.

Which brings me to my ultimate point. The best way to understand comics is to fucking well read a comic. Pick up a graphic novel at a bookstore. Or let your geeky friend throw some comics at you. You don't need some dude to tell you how to understand anything.

Understand for yourself.

Read a comic.