Week 2 Understanding comics Scott McCloud:

Okay, in all honesty, I kind of hated this reading. Now, that does not necessarily mean I think it is a bad read, but I just hated it. I guess to me it brought back memories of high school English when my teacher would over dissect a reading to the point where I couldn't care less. The section about icons started really interesting, but the more I read, the more it droned on. I felt like the points it was trying to hit were just too existential to the point where I very much disagreed with them. For example, the point where it said we are drawn to cartoons because when we see them we see ourselves and not another person, I thought was kind of bullshit. Now, had I not studied animation, I would have totally bought into it. But, from a more technical aspect, and I guess some would call it cynical, the reason people are drawn to less complex things is simply because of our small attention spans. For example, had someone shoved a sentence at you to read, you would most likely read it because it is very short. However, you would be very hesitant if I were to tell you to read an entire article. The same goes for art. This is why it is the job of artists to boil down characters into such simple cartoons. If they are able to create simplified characters with rhythmic designs, then they will be easier to read, and then the viewer will be more inclined to retain interest if there is a sequence. 

I know I just tore apart the comic, however, there were still parts that I found entertaining. One, in particular, was when they were crafting the definition for comics, and the guy in the crowd became all hypothetical about the definition insinuating that it also applied to words. Also when the other guy was like batman should be in the definition somewhere. I genuinely laughed out loud in my room when I read that. So, final thoughts, you could honestly go your life without reading it it would hurt no one.