Perspective

Understanding Comics is a comic book about comic books. The author, Scott McCloud, addresses the reader directly. As a comics creator/writer/artist, Scott McCloud presents an anti-establishment view of the comics industry as a whole. With a clear bias against larger, more established comics publishing firms, McCloud presents an agenda and asks the reader to commit to making a change in the future of comics. McCloud promotes comics as an art form worthy of the type of critical acclaim generally reserved for other forms of media, including theater, the written word, film, and music. McCloud also casts a disparaging eye on artists who treat comics as a hobby, pastime, or job, instead insisting that it must be approached as a more noble profession. Art must only be created for art's sake. Only then does McCloud believe that comics will be respected in the artistic world.

In an...