The Vocabulary of Comics

In the second chapter, McCloud discusses icons and how details, or lack there of, change one's perception on comics. I thought the most interesting section of this chapter was when he lined up the faces from most detailed to nothing but a circle, two dots, and a line. He then put labels underneath reading "one," "a few," "thousands", "millions," and then "(nearly) all." He does this to describe the universality of cartoon imagery. He states, "The more cartoony a face is, for instance, the more people it could be said to describe." Before reading, I had viewed comics merely as short humorous conversations, and I did not really care for them at all, which I don't know if I do yet. McCloud's explanation on how people view comics interested me a lot because I am so used to reading them and just taking it for how it is, not really looking into it much. Through reading this book, I developed a lot better understanding of comics and what they consist of.