Reading and Writing about Comics ala McCloud, Part 1

After looking through several of the comics, I chose "I am the Most Beautiful Dog in the World." This comic supports many of the points Scott McCloud makes in his book Understanding Comics.

LINK TO COMIC: http://www.scottmccloud.com/comics/mi/mi-04/mi-04.html

My first point that the comic illustrates, and which McCloud also discusses, is the difference between comics and animation. McCloud compares the two modes, with animation being streaming images and comics more juxtaposed, one image after another creating a whole. The major difference here is that animation contains images in constant motion. There are no breaks. Each movement, expression, moment, is determined by the artist.

With comics, however, there are the spaces in between the pictures called "gutters." It is in these gutters that a comic artist allows the reader to be creative, to fill in the blanks, and initiate the next action. This also allows the reader to be a more active participant than with animation. McCloud uses this "gutter" approach in his comic, "I am the Most Beautiful Dog in the World." He defines this idea as being a sort of "limbo", a place where "human imagination takes two separate images and transforms them into a single idea." (McCloud 66) In "I am the Most Beautiful Dog in the World," image after image the dog remains nonplussed, refusing to fetch the toy. The gutter space between these images has the reader imagining the boy's increasing irritation and impatience along with the dog's stubbornness and pleasure at being uncooperative. The comic doesn't say this directly. Instead, the gutters convey this sense of time exhausting itself as the same image repeats itself. The gutters and repeated images allow the reader to interpret the comic without the artist telling the reader what to think or feel. It brings a reality to comics, as well as humor in this case, that the reader can interpret for themselves.

Another thing McCloud discusses in his book is simplicity and its potential to engage the reader. He states that, "When we abstract an image through cartooning, we're not so much eliminating details as we are focusing on specific details. By stripping down an image to its essential "meaning," an artist can amplify that meaning in a way that realistic art can't." (McCloud 30) "I am the Most Beautiful Dog in the World" is composed of very simple drawings. It is not the quality of the art that makes the comic good or bad, successful or not, but rather the entire package.

The simplicity of this comic is beneficial in this case (and in many cases) because there is nothing to distract the reader. The reader is not consumed by the boy's appearance, nor is the dog extraordinarily beautiful. Instead, the combination of dialogue, gutter space, repeated images, and obvious facial expressions make the comic understandable, comical, and effective. Something as simple as the three beads of sweat on the boy's face show his exhausted, impatience, and irritation with his dog. In addition, because he is so simply drawn, the reader relates to him, which McCloud states is a major plus of simply drawn characters. Otherwise, the reader would be "too aware of the messenger to fully receive the message." (McCloud 37) When the messenger (the boy in "I am the Most Beautiful Dog in the World, in this case), is simple, a universal face, undetailed, it is easy for the reader to relate to them and share their experiences. Because of this lack of focus on the messenger, the reader can focus on the message. The dog is not the most beautiful dog in the world, else it would be elaborately drawn. Instead, the comic expresses the dog's arrogance and stubbornness, suggesting the dog itself merely thinks it is the most beautiful dog in the world.

These concepts of simplicity, repetition, and gutters are something I had never considered nor appreciated about comics. Now however, I understand that these factors are intentional tools used to convey a message, or tools that allow a reader to extract a message from a comic.