Understanding Comics

          In Scott McCloud's comic Understanding Comics he explains the word and picture combination that create stories. He begins this story with a young child showing a toy at show and tell. He connects this idea of show and tell to comic books since they use both words and pictures. This establishes his ethos because it connects him, a comic book writer, to his entire audience since we were all once children.

          Next he goes on to explain comic book writers. The character that is narrating this story is in fact the writer himself. This is extremely effective in establishing ethos because we are hearing these facts directly from a comic book writer. He includes the counter argument that the combination of words and pictures was not the actual definition of comics. Here he even includes an actual definition of comics. This counterargument gives him human qualities in correcting possible misunderstandings of his argument and connecting him to his audience as a person rather than making himself seem like an all knowing entity. 

 

          He is very good at explaining himself throughout his work. He explains different combinations of words and pictures, different balances of each, and different dependencies they have on each other. He establishes his ethos through this by providing an example showing how he himself uses these techniques. Finally at the end of his work he connects comics to alchemy. This solidifies his argument as being more fact than opinion.

          McCloud titled his piece Understanding Comics which adds pressure to explain himself well. He lived up to the title and did an excellent job explaining word and picture significance and their use in comics. He made it easy for anyone, even someone who has never read a comic, to understand the techniques and uses of words and pictures in comics. He gives us a different light on comics and makes them seem less childish than the stigma that surrounds them.