The Language of Comics

Jeremy Williams
4/12/10
The short story “The Language of Comics” by Scott Mccloud is very different from any story I have ever read. It was a very unique idea to use an actual comic book setting to tell a story. The author uses the same character throughout the comic story. The character tells what he is thinking in his mind and I think anyone who reads this definitely took a different approach than if they were going to read a regular story. Because of this unique way of telling the story it kept it fresh and interesting because most people will always want to see what’s in the next comic box especially if the story had a little bit of humor to begin with. After you get past all the pictures and jokes you begin to actually read what the author is saying and it all makes total sense. He is talking about the language of comics and how it is so real and true, just way more in depth than were used to. For example he says, this is not a pipe, it is a painting of a pipe, then says no it is drawing of a painting of a pipe. He goes on more and more about this picture and it all makes total sense and makes you realize what he is saying is all correct, we just don’t think about it in that way. He then goes on to talk about symbols and faces and brings up some very interesting facts about how we connect with these symbols or pictures as if they were something real. For example there was a stick figure type face in the story and he talks about even though we know this face isn’t real, we all accept it for and know it as a human face automatically. Overall this was a very interesting story and definitely unlike anything I have ever read. The author does a good job of getting the reader’s attention and keeping it for the whole story.