Week THREE

The first chapter of Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud was a bit of an eye-opener for me. Previously.. and currently I wasn't a real fan of the idea of comics. I used to buy them from Red Dot when I was little because my brother did, so I wasn't greatly impressed by comics. When we were told to buy the book then READ IT I was shocked.... Especially when I OPENED it and found the whole book was written in comic form. But its Ok, because as I started reading it was actually pretty cool. I liked how McCloud attempted to define comics and then researched into the definitions in order to paint a picture to the reader and enabled us to make our own conclusions on comics. It helped me realize what makes comics comics and how they are relevant not just too the younger generations. It helped me realize its not just a picture book for kids. As I was reading I realised 'Boy Im glad the pictures are there cos otherwise this would be so boring'. McCloud illustrates the points well in a format that easy to read and understandable. This appifany also occured in class when my eyes were forced to watch MANGA. However, it turns out I nearly cried watching the first bit of "Grave of the Fireflies". It is just another example of how expressions of art are misunderstood and written off as clichés when they communicate much of the same emotion and energy as other forms.