This book blew my mind when I read it in high school. I'd loved comics since I was a kid but seeing things explained in this level of detail and depth made me appreciate the art form even more. I found the definition of comics helpful at that point and the concept of how much storytelling happens in between the gutters was revolutionary to me. Great video guys.

When I first heard about this book, I assumed it was just going to be a textbook. Which would've been fine but it being a comic shows you just how much faith this guy has in the medium.

I’ve never heard of this book, and I grew up a ravenous comic reader… This book is like magic. It’s blowing my mind.

Reading "Understanding Comics" is in itself a transformative journey mentally. Watching two absolute comics geniuses breaking it down page by page is... the ultra meta version of that. Thanks guys! As usual, this has been intensely inspirational. One thing... I noticed how you kept referring to this as "not a how-to book".... and that got me thinking about how we are and were (especially in the days when this book first came out) kind of hard-wired to think of books about comics as either "history of comics" OR "how to do comics". And when something like this comes along, it is hard sometimes to just let it be a commentary on comics theory, like a literary theory book would be commentary on what goes on inside a novel. Anyway, you guys have, as always, inspired me to Make. More. Comics. Thanks!!!

My favorite CK video to date. This book did my head in when it hit the stands. I had a few books published by 93 but when this came out I learned just how much I didn't understand comics. Hahaha. It was a helpful tool in expanding my knowledge of the medium as an impressionable youth. So a happy ending. :)

I checked this out from my local library in high school and remember being completely captivated. Scott's book really educates you about everything you need to know about the context, form, and history of comics, while at the same time illustrating a story in comic panels with word balloons. A must read for anyone interested in this unique art form.

This book, no joke, changed my life. I got it when it first released and it was and still is important to me.

The greatest "how to" or "deconstruction" on comic books ever. No question. Can't wait for the Shoot Interview.

This, to me, is the Kayfabe SuperBowl! One of the best episodes! Let's get McCloud in the hotseat!!!

Another banger of a video guys. I’m not a cartoonist but when I read it as a kid it gave me perspective on the medium I loved. Not to blow smoke up your bottoms but I think your channel is the modern exploration of the medium. Never stop.

Still today it's the best book on comic language ever made.

UNDERSTANDING COMICS absolutely blew my shit away! The page where he explains the significance of panel gutters made my brain explode. I had been ruling panel borders for years, and to me it was only blank space. It's really implied TIME and MOTION?!!! WHOOOOOA!!!!

in 1996 i bought the spanish edition of this book, Ediciones B, hardcover. It blowed my mind away. Few years ago Scott McCloud came to Chile. He took a picture showing my comicbook!!!

It's been a long time since I've read Scott's books. I still have them. While a few of his theories on the digital future of comics have mostly panned out, I believe most everything he discussed has been confirmed for me. (I'm only 26min into the video). I don't understand what controversy could arise over those panels; emojis/emoticons, Apple's memojis, app icons, etc. kinda all play within that range. IDK. I thought about this book when I first saw Apple's memojis; where you can make an animated cartoon version of yourself. I thought, "why?" what's wrong with a photo?" (I guess I'm too old). But it really moves to the middle of McCloud's graphic between realism and iconic (emoji). Good video so far!

Loved this discussion! This is a work that really opened my eyes to the techniques used in comics when I first getting into the medium. You two are the best.

Just thought I'd mention. Back in '93 your local library did not have graphic novels. They do have them today. But they did have this book in the art section. I am sure a lot of your viewers like myself took it out.

Great discussion as usual guys! I haven’t read it in 10 years, but remember “Making Comics” as being super inspiring.

i have all three books plus the sculptor. My favorite is Making Comics. Understanding was theory. Making was the practice. Re-inventing is more about how comics evolves 14:23 To explain the theory he had to remove the gatekeepers, the old labels and thought patterns that might prevent our minds from considering what he's trying to discuss with us. A new rocket fuel, a new gravy flavor we wouldn't ever dare let ours. Over the years, I have found his book on Making as textbook for film makers, storytelling, and writing of any sort. What you want to say, why you're saying it, mechanics for fine-tuning the magic sauce to hypnotize your audience.

Their appreciation for McCloud's book reminds me of a professor I had in grad school. Understanding Comics was required reading for us in a scenic design class. A fun book!

Man you guys have a video on every random comic thing I’ve loved. Insane breadth and depth. Love what you’re doing!

Note to people who are new to Zot, especially adult readers, start with the black and white collection published by McMillan mentioned in the video. Before that point in Scott's career, he was still making stories that appealed to his earliest ideas as a kid of what a comic should be. Those first ten issues of Zot that were printed in color (and haven't been collected into one volume since the 90s I believe) are fun, but not "great" like the black and white stuff. And the last few issues of that black and white collection are his most serious and artistic work, as far as Zot goes. Even if you only like avant-garde memoir comics, you shouldn't miss those last roughly six issues or so of Zot. I grew up with Zot as a little kid, literally, and I love it all, but the changes that Scott went through with Zot are drastic and amazingly insightful.

So nice to get to revisit this book through hearing some in-depth discussion on it, this book was really the first thing I ever read that explained comics and how they work in a way that not only hit home as far as making logical sense, but also explained concepts in a way that often felt universal enough to be applicable to many types of comics. (This has often been my struggle with finding good advice on comic-making to this day, so often it seems to get so specific to one particular style or another that it just doesn't work in another type of comic, whereas Scott McCloud's books always seem to delve down to true core principles.) Great discussion. I also love how this book can speak to so many different people at different stages of life and creative development. I was first introduced to the book in college by a recommend from an art professor, and that might be why, actually, the first part of the book where McCloud really delves into the academic language in defining comics was one of the most striking parts of the book for me. I don't know if it's still like this, but when I was getting my degree I definitely felt this sense of comics being a disrespected medium, and being in that context of a kind of condescending academic elitism toward comics, it was just so freeing on so many levels to hear someone able to explain what comics are in the same academic terms used to describe other forms of art, and hearing it legitimized as a worthy artistic pursuit. By defining comics the way he does, his message to academics and the broader world is that comics deserve all the same respect other forms of art get, and the approach completely hit home for me.

Wonderful book and a great video. One point though: Scott McCloud MUST establish a sound definition of comics from page one in a book called 'Understanding Comics', regardless of your hang ups about people doing this (I also don't care, frankly. I know a comic when I see it, and that's good enough for me). Plus, in order to suggest that comics are neither defined by genre nor the tools used to create them, he has to first establish what exactly does constitute a comic. So I have no issues whatsoever with the opening section.

Just purchased the sculptor 3 days ago and read it the same day I wasn't able to stop, since they talk about this book on it I was gonna look for it

This is awesome. I just got all three (Understanding/Reinventing/Making) comics as a present recently so it's cool to go through the book with you guys.

Even for us non comic book creators, this is a hell of a book. I’m a sucker for this kind of thing though, dissecting how something works and how we respond to it. Great video as usual fellas. Thanks.

Interview him! IMO I think Liefeld needs a shoot interview, since you got Todd!

not just for comic-lovers - any creativity seaking person will LOVE this book

I was living in South America back in the early 2000s and had a photocopy of this wonderful book. I would have swore that faded black cover page was just in my copy!

thank u for this wonderful info on making comics. I have to give a presentation on this for school so this was really helpful

So when are we going to see "How to Make Comics the Kayfabe Way" hit the shelves?

I definitely think starting with the definition of comics, as he sees it, probably felt necessary. Trying to imagine myself undertaking a task of this scope on this subject, I can't imagine starting anywhere else. Even knowing there would inevitably be pushback and that variations of opinion would be endless, I think I would have felt this was the only starting point.

Always thought this book would be boring, but you guys sold me on hunting this book down.

Read it a million years ago, and I love loaning it to people who aren't into comics because it just makes so much sense even if you aren't familiar with the medium.

1:26:14 All in all, I think I'm more in favour of black & white comics. 1. They're more time-efficient. Adding colour consumes a lot of time. 2. Imperfections are easier to ignore in black & white from my experience. 3. It's easy for colour to look kinda tacky. 4. Black & white comics can have a lower price tag. Of course when colour is done right, it can be awesome. But I wouldn't worry about needing every single page to be in colour, even in today's digital world.

Good video. 38:20 re with action to action, there is more cause and effect (what he meant by 'progression') so you can't reverse the sequence but in column one, it could be read backwards so that she is opening rather than closing her eyes or that the spider is walking backwards. But the crash has to be last in column 2.

I’m sure McCloud has studied Semiotics, as a lot of the concepts in this book touch on the same ideas of signifier, signified, etc. The study of signs, symbols and their meanings.

This was recommended to me in grad school and I studied graphic design. It's a classic! 👍

Yes! Psyched to get into this.

Cartoonist Kayfabe credit hours. Thanks for another rad one!

Great video. That book really opened up possibilities for me

This is great! So much game!

10:50 looks so similar to the character select screen in Marvel vs. Capcom 2. What I would give to play a fighting game with exclusively comic book characters! Popeye would kick so much ass.

Scott's TED Talk is also phenomenal.

Speaking of Matt Feazal, check out his "Understanding Mini-Comics" for a nice homage/parody of UC.

50:03 did you guys ever figure out what that thing is? i wonder if it's a brush holder. i remember a comic artist friend of mine having a big gray or beige plastic box like that which had slots for brushes and a well to hold quite a bit of water. i believe it had a weight in the base also to keep it from getting knocked over easily. it was meant for washing and drying your ink or paint brushes. but you might be right about it being a rapidograph pen cleaner.

best review of this book!

The high hat at the opening. "Hello, my my good Sir. Well met, in fact!"

Back in the 90s this book was being praised left and right, and I, who enjoyed comics and thought about drawing them at some point, was pretty disappointed when (I guess) I flipped through it in a bookstore. It wasn't, like you said, a how-to book, but rather an analysis of the medium. Which is pretty important and interesting, but definitely not what I wanted at that time. And there were no serious how-to books then. At least not any one that would appeal to me, who was seriously into that pre-Image X-Men and Wolverine kick. What little I had was what it got published on Wizard magazine... That and figuring out by ourselves from other comics, which I guess most people that couldn't get formal education (i.e. go to an art school) did. But if you are into trying to understand the medium of comics (yeah, I know, it's in the freaking title), I'd say this book is essential. As essential as Eisner's Comics & Sequential Art.

at 10:30, I think the "bad photocopy" page is very intentional, referencing the means of production for small-run/independent comics.

Coolness of tv refers to the engagement. With tv you could walk away easier than going to the theater.

Best comic book comic book.

I use this and Even A Monkey Can Draw Manga in my media classes. These two books are soul mates, McCloud's book is philosphical, Aihara & Takeuma are very tongue in cheek but no less relevant and insightful.

Personally, I like the defining of comics at the start of the book because I don't know anything about the medium but I want to be a comic artist. I need that framework/ foundation in order to understand what it is before I come up with my own definition or even attempt to deviate from the basic standard of a comic. Just my two cents.

I've always been into the academic side of comics - did my MA thesis on them. Lots of interesting theory being spun by the likes of Bart Beaty, from a literature perspective, which in the early 90s was largely unheard of. In my experience, academics didn't have the tools to understand that comics were actually a complex form of literature, and McCloud's popularity (plus Spiegelman's) woke them up. For a look at some interesting, very science based studies of comics and cognition, I highly recommend Neil Cohn's books, and you can sign up to participate in studies: www.visuallanguagelab.com/

God bless you Piskor

It'd be cool to have a Lexicon of Comicana review as well

Will you do 'Making Comics'??

💚

I just pulled out my copy and it is published by Tundra, not KSP. Do I have a first print? Pretty sure I bought it just as it came out. Great vid, guys!

I read this in Junior Year of High School.

Another great video. As I do, I took out my dog-eared copy to turn the pages with you. I noticed some differences. I went to look at what printing it was, thinking I had a 3rd or 4th printing. I didn’t see one. It was then that I noticed on the back cover the Tundra logo. I had no idea. Looking back, I wish I had bought two copies at the time, and bagged and boarded one. Then, I’d make it a mission to get it signed 20 years later. I’d love to see his reaction. Then, I’d explain about my reading copy. It would’ve been a practical joke 20 years in the making.

I enjoy your commentary, I wish you could cut down on the cussing because I would like to watch these videos with my grandson. Thank you and keep up the good work.

At 31 mins Ed mentions how he, when he was a kid, designed his future career as a cartoonist. What did that look like and would he change anything now? Future vid perhaps???

thanks for this jajajaja

Jim Rugg spitting bars 27:45

40:36 HAHAHAHAHAHA!

1:12:08 (Chapter 6) 1:19:36 (Chapter 7) 1:26:02 (Chapter 8)

PLEASE DO ZOT!

I don’t know how he made this...likely aliens were involved

33:23 Each next technology asks for its own dressage.

Even as a kid in the late 70s the printing quality of comics used to bother me. You look at a stack of old magazines at the dentist. Your Vogue, your Cosmopolitan, your Vanity Fair....I'll leave out the National Geographic because they put quality of printing as part of their selling point. But why are all these fashion rags printed with such quality and comics are on this crappy newsprint. I guess the answer is that these companies were barely staving off bankruptcy and they were selling comics to 14 year olds. They had to make them cheap to get that paper route money.

like those uncontructive critics ever thot of it before...or came up with their ver after.

people who think scott is too "scientific" need to read umberto eco