Understanding Comics: Chapters 7 and 8

I like the chapters in which McCloud focuses on the purpose of art and what it means to be an artist because his theories can be applied universally rather than just to comic strip creators. In chapter 7 he claims that art is anything the human species does that doesn't involve our basic instincts of survival or reproduction. At first this seemed like much too broad of a definition. So often we go to museums and reject certain pieces because we don't consider them artistic, and here McCloud argues that even just the curves of our signature or tapping our fingers can be considered art. "Pure art," he argues, is tied to a purpose. Artists must decide what they want out of art before following the six steps (idea/purpose, form, idiom, structure, craft, and surface).

"When art becomes a job or a matter of social status the potential for confusing one's goals goes up considerably." - McCloud, 181.

Chapter 8 explains the impact of color on the comic world. As a kid I used to look forward to Sunday comics because that was the one day that the pages were flooded with bright hues. It was on Sundays that I was reminded of Luann's blonde hair, and that her world did in fact resemble mine. The rest of the week was filled with black and white images. But comics are not simply about reconstructing our own reality. Even the use of color in comics is not exactly like the way we perceive color in the real world because of the limited palette often utilized. McCloud asserts that color will never replace black and white comics entirely, regardless of technology, because comic readers are looking below the colorful surface for more substance.