History ComicBook / UnderstandingComics

* NerdGlasses

* WallOfText: [[ParodiedTrope Parodied]] to make a point in chapter 3 of "Making Comics" (The Power Of Words). The chapter starts with Scott scouting out a giant word balloon stuffed with enough text to fill up more than half of the page explaining the importance of using both words and pictures in comics, concluding with a small panel that says to find a "--balance between the two."

* WallOfText: [[ParodiedTrope Parodied]] to make a point in chapter 3 of "Making Comics" (The Power Of Words). The chapter starts with Scott scouting out a giant word balloon stuffed with enough text to fill up half of the page, concluding with another panel that says to find a "--balance between the two."

* OnlySixFaces: He warns against having too many samey character designs. The example he uses? A bunch of identical guys all yelling, "IAmSpartacus," of course!

* NationalStereotypes: As an example of using body language to show things about a character, Mr. [=McCloud=] shows us a [[BonnieScotland jovial]] ManInAKilt with his arms wide open contrasted with [[BritishStuffiness a man in a bowler hat standoffishly clutching an umbrella]].

* UsefulNotes/TheGreatComicsCrashOf1996: ''Reinventing Comics'' discusses the causes and repercussions of this.

'''''Understanding Comics''''', and its follow-ups '''''Reinventing Comics''''' and '''''Making Comics''''', are a critically acclaimed non-fiction comic book series by Creator/{{Scott McCloud}}. More than that, ''Understanding Comics'' is a nine-part comic book about comics.

* AuthorTract: A non-political one, and rather well-executed at that.

* SpeechBubbleCensoring: Does this at one point to cover up the "naughty bits" of Michelangelo's David.

It was one of the first books to define the notion of "closure" or, rather, what happens between panels. That just as a reader's mind must fill in details when reading a book, so too must they fill in the blank space between panels. (exhibit A: Panel 1- ''Angry man raises axe while someone in front of him shouts NO!'' Panel 2- ''[[GoryDiscretionShot Loud, wet scream from a building in a very long shot]]''. Implication: Someone got killed)

** [=McCloud=]'s own ''ComicBook/{{Zot}}'' T-shirt, glasses, and plaid jacket also count. He keeps at least some of these every time he changes form to everything including semi-abstract rectangles, {{The Hulk}}, and a yin-yang.

** [=McCloud=]'s own ComicBook/{{Zot}} T-shirt, glasses, and plaid shirt also count. He keeps at least some of these every time he changes form to everything including semi-abstract rectangles, {{The Hulk}}, and a yin-yang.

* OlderThanTheyThink (InUniverse): In ''Understanding Comics'', Scott challenges the view that comics are merely OlderThanRadio--he defines comics as a series of juxtaposed images to be read in sequence--and makes a case for things like William Hogarth's serial paintings, [[OlderThanSteam a 16th-century]] Central American manuscript, [[OlderThanPrint the Twelfth-Century]] BayeuxTapestry, and name-drops the [[OlderThanFeudalism Second-Century]] Trajan's column. He even gives an example of Egyptian tomb paintings, making comics [[OlderThanDirt Older Than ]]''[[OlderThanDirt Dirt]]!''

* IconicOutfit: [[{{In-Universe}} The chapter on color mentions]] how a superhero's color scheme becomes inextricably linked with the character in the reader's mind.

** [=McCloud=]'s own Zot! T-shirt, glasses, and plaid shirt also count. He keeps at least some of these every time he changes form to everything including semi-abstract rectangles, {{The Hulk}}, and a yin-yang.

Essentially an essay about comics as a medium and the industry itself, the books are among the first that seriously analyzed comics in their own right, and they are well-known in comic circles.

* OlderThanTheyThink (InUniverse): In ''Understanding Comics'', Scott challenges the view that comics are merely OlderThanRadio--he defines comics as a series of juxtaposed images to be read in sequence--and makes a case for things like William Hogarth's serial paintings, [[OlderThanSteam a 16th-century]] Central American manuscript, [[OlderThanPrint the Twelfth-Century]] BayeuxTapestry, the [[OlderThanFeudalism Second-Century]] Trajan's column. He even gived an example of Egyptian tomb paintings, making comics [[OlderThanDirt Older Than ]]''[[OlderThanDirt Dirt]]!''

* OlderThanTheyThink ([[InUniverse within the work]]): In ''Understanding Comics'', Scott challenges the view that comics are merely OlderThanRadio--he makes a case for Egyptian tomb paintings being a form of comic, and thus [[OlderThanDirt Older Than ]]''[[OlderThanDirt Dirt]]!''

* OlderThanTheyThink: In ''Understanding Comics'', Scott challenges the view that comics are merely OlderThanRadio--he makes a case for Egyptian tomb paintings being a form of comic, and thus [[OlderThanDirt Older Than ]]''[[OlderThanDirt Dirt]]!''

* TheGreatComicsCrashOf1996: ''Reinventing Comics'' discusses the causes and repercussions of this.

** [=McCloud=]'s own Zot!! T-shirt, glasses, and plaid shirt also count. He keeps at least some of these every time he changes form to everything including semi-abstract rectangles, {{The Hulk}}, and a yin-yang.

'''''Understanding Comics''''', and its follow-ups '''''Reinventing Comics''''' and '''''Making Comics''''', are a critically acclaimed non-fiction comic book series by Creator/ScottMcCloud. More than that, ''Understanding Comics'' is a nine-part comic book about comics.

* {{Briffits and Squeans}}: [=McCloud=] talks about symbols in both Western Comics and in Manga, and references Mort Walker's book in his notes. He specifically shows plewds and waftrons as examples. He doesn't have to use Walkers terms in the book though, because he can draw them instead.
* TheGreatComicsCrashOf1996: ''Reinventing Comics'' discusses the cause of this in detail.

** Lampshaded (to prove a point) when he takes them off and he has no eyes

* TrueArt: [[invoked]] [=McCloud=] attempts to circumvent the subjectivity of questions such as "What is art?" by proposing an extremely broad definition of art: "Any human activity which [[DoingItForTheArt doesn't grow out of either survival or reproduction]]." (This also qualifies him as a [[LumperVsSplitter lumper]].)

''Understanding Comics'', and its follow-ups ''Reinventing Comics'' and ''Making Comics'', are a critically acclaimed non-fiction comic book series by Creator/ScottMcCloud. More than that, ''Understanding Comics'' is a nine-part comic book about comics.

''Understanding Comics'', and its follow-ups ''Reinventing Comics'' and ''Making Comics'', are a critically acclaimed non-fiction comic book series by ScottMcCloud. More than that, ''Understanding Comics'' is a nine-part comic book about comics.