Understanding Comics

I've always enjoyed reading the Archie comic books that my mom had saved from her childhood when I was growing up. I also recall watching a children’s program on comics, and how they are created; so, I always have understood comics as being an art-form. I never realized that there were different ways (crafts) of making comic books, though. Chapter three outlines a number of ways that transitions can be made in different comic books. Certain comic books use certain trends of transitions than others do, which I would have never considered on my own. Every comic book that I have read has also been American, so I’ve never considered the differences in nationalities and how they fashion their comic books.
I actually found the coloured portion of the comic book took a lot more time to read. I think that was because colour adds a new dimension to anything that you’re absorbing. I also found it interesting how colours “…symbolize characters in the mind of the reader…” (page 188) as we associate certain colour schemes (i.e. blue, yellow and gray: Batman) with a given comic book. This is true to a lot of things outside of comic books as well. This relates to synesthesia: how a memory or experience can be triggered by a smell, image etc. That would also explain why a number of other publications always maintain not only the same colour motif, but also consistent themes. (like the same type of transitions)
The breakdown of how any work is created was also useful. (page 170) It’s true to follow for anything that it is created, not only comics. Leading up to this was a comparison of iconic and realistic drawings. (page 46) The point about how every time someone sees a circle with two dots in the centre, they associate it with a face. Not only do I associate this with a face, but I cannot interpret it as anything else.
I really enjoyed reading this Understanding Comics. It was a quick read, but also full of a lot of information that I had not considered before. I’ve always thought that people who do the art for comic books are very talented, but I did not consider how they finally pieced everything together. I think that reading this book is not only helpful to media students, but I would recommend it as an interesting read to anyone mildly curious about learning.