Comic Re-discovery
I finished reading Understanding Comics last night, which I had been told many times over the years was required reading. Those over-the-years tellers, they knew whereof they spoke. In addition to gaining a great deal of insight into comics — pardon me, "sqeuential art" — I also saw clearly that Raph Koster was channeling Scott McCloud with his A Theory of Fun for Game Design.
I haven't read a lot of comics — pardon me, "sequential art" — in recent years. Actually, I probably never did read a lot of them. But a couple of weeks ago, I wandered into a local comic shop because I happened to park in front of it while it was open. I picked up the first two issues of Fell, which were freakin' marvellous. (Here's a review of Fell #1 that I'd write.)
My life being what it is (pressed for time), these events will probably not lead me to read a bunch more comics on a regular basis (save upcoming Fell issues), and will probably not lead me to re-enter said comics shop (can anyone recommend a decent online comics retailer?), but I may finally make a point of tracking down graphic novels like Watchmen that I've been meaning to read for years and have never gotten around to.
But, anyway, Understanding Comics and Fell. Recommended.
Comments
OMG!! Understanding Comics is great, and absolutely required reading for anyone with any interest in sequential art (a description not entirely unqualified for movies, either) or any sort of graphic design or expression - it eloquently shows how much untapped potential is there. And Watchmen is absolutely required reading for people who like things that are awesome. Knowing that you a) are amenable to awesome things, b) are a very bright guy, and c) can dig post-modern deconstruction and layers of meta-meaning, I compel thee: get to a comics retailer, posthaste! Finish Watchmen over the holiday weekend! Finish it before they make it into an inferior movie!
And, a comics retailer I'd recommend (one that's not online, but not entirely out of your way) is Meltdown on Sunset. I like it there because it's bright and friendly (even welcoming to someone like me, who's basically an outsider) and the people there are super-knowledgeable and the selection seems appropriately vast. In fact, I'm headed there now, because I've got to check out Fell based only on its being recommended in the same sentence as Understanding Comics, a book which absolutely changed my perspective on the world.
For fun, the original, longer version of the above -- without the squealing schoolgirl tone -- over at onebee.
McCloud's second book is a bit less essential. But yeah, Understanding Comics is a pretty much essential read for any comic fan.
Watchmen appeared on a recent Time magazine top-100 list of modern novels. The only graphic novel on the list. If you did not see the list, it is at http://www.time.com/time/2005/100books/the_complete_list.html