When Scott McCloud tries to explain Understanding Comics to people, he invariably gets asked if it is a “how-to” book because the overview “[a] comic book about comics that explains the inner workings of the medium and examines many aspects of visual communication along the way” may not resonate with too many people not already interested in the inner workings of comics.
Since the release of his first book, McCloud has kept busy in the lecture circuit, with seminars and workshops on comics & technology and the art of comics storytelling. These visual lectures have culminated in a new book, Making Comics, his answer to the “how-to” manual for creating comics.
In the spirit of Will Eisner’s Comics and Sequential Art, McCloud’s new work will focus primarily on storytelling by examining and focusing on the elements that are unique to comics, applicable to both those in print and on the web.
Making Comics will be released early in 2006, published by HarperCollins.
Totally. We need something new now that we’re not all up in micropayment tizzies.
Funny that this is posted under the aspect of “theory” when it’s all about McCloud switching over to praxis.
I doubt the book is going to be like, “This is how you draw a tree.” More likely, it will explore the ‘why’ you would want to do something a certain way when telling a story in comic-form.
This is great news!
It should give webcartoonists something to bitch on message boards about well into 2010…
-William G
“But Mr. McCloud, why would I want to draw a tree?”
“I’m glad you asked that, Timmy!”
~dreamshade