Understanding Comics is not a new book. It was released in 93, putting it at fifteen years old this year (sweet holy god 1993 was fifteen years ago? So this is what aging feels like). Understanding Comics is a history, explanation, and exploration of art and art theory with a focus on the comic – told in the form of a 200+ page comic book. It took years for the book to pick up steam, but once it did it became a landmark in terms of comic books becoming more respected as a medium. It was showered with positive reviews both from the press and some of the most respected names in comics, and is one of only two comic books that I know of which is regularly studied in schools around the country (the other being Art Spiegelman’s Maus – a graphic novel memoir about the Holocaust which won a Pulitzer Prize). My first encounter with Understanding Comics was my freshman year in high school. I was flipping through my English textbook and noticed some seemingly random excerpt from this comic. I was not into comic books at the time (I had briefly collected, as much as a young kid could, some comics when I was in third and fourth grade but it never really went past that), but read the short excerpt and found it interesting. We never read it as a class, unfortunately, but for some reason I always remembered what I had read.

Cut to about seven or so years later, and all of the sudden I’m spending way to much of my time (and money) buying and reading comics. All sorts of comics. Independent comics, mainstream comics, local comics found in specialty art shops, classic comics, pulp comics, science fiction comics, and whatever other types of comics I can get my hands on… for a whole bunch of reasons. Comics for stories, comics for art, comics for sociological philosophy, comics for fun, comics for collecting, comics for political commentary, comics as something to do and talk about with friends, comics comics comics comics. Somehow though, in the midst of it all, I didn’t read this book until now.

I work in a used bookstore, and one day recently someone came and sold a copy of this book that had obviously been required reading for some college class; it had the universal “used” sticker that all colleges seem to use and the college bookstore bar code on the back. It was heavily used, but I bought it anyways partially due to convenience of it being there and partly because of the employee discount received, but mainly because I really wanted to read it and upon seeing it couldn’t figure out why I had never purchased it before from somewhere else.

I was cautious when first reading the book, careful not to simply buy into the hype, but equally careful not to dismiss it because of over hype, which is something I think happens a lot when a good book/movie/game/whatever gets a lot of attention. Anyhow, the book ended up being fantastic. It did have quite a few interesting ideas and theories about comics, but more than anything, it was the most interesting study of art history that I’ve ever read, seen or heard, regardless of the fact that it did have a focus on sequential art. Even if you don’t care about comics, if you have any interest in art history and theory, I simply can not recommend this book enough. Indeed my favorite parts of the book had very little to do with comics in particular but with art as a whole. Take for example what McCloud says is the definition of a “true” artist (remember he isn’t talking about himself. I clarify that now because otherwise the following sounds like he’s being a pompous ass).

The “fine artist” — the pure artist — says to the world: “I didn’t do this for money! I didn’t do this to match the color of your couches! I didn’t do this to get laid! I didn’t do this for fame or power or greed or anything else! I did this for art!”

In other words: “My art has no practical value whatsoever!

But it’s important.”

I know that’s basically the idea of art for arts sake explained in more words, but for some reason it had never been articulated to me in a way that has ever stuck with me as much as that has.

Since the publication of Understanding Comics McCloud has been advocate for the digital distribution of comics, for many reasons, one of them being that it gives artists new opportunities to play with the format of the comics themselves. He has many examples of experimental online comics on his website (some good and some bad), my favorite being his three part (still currently unfinished) story The Right Number.

Again, I really can’t recommend Understanding Comics enough if you’ve ever been interested in any facet of art.