Making Comics

Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga and Graphic Novels by Scott McCloud

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
An interesting analysis of creating comics. It's a good starting point for discussing the theory behind comics, but in the end it was just sort of okay.

I am a big fan of McCloud's earlier work, Understanding Comics, and I would enthusiastically recommend that one to everyone, not just comic book readers. This new one, Making Comics, is more of a primer on the creative process behind comics. It doesn't delve as deep and is less thought-provoking. It is also riddled with references to that earlier work, so why not just stick with that one?

I do enjoy his informal writing style, which makes the book feel like an active discussion. I also like that it is written as a comic book, so that concepts are immediately and clearly illustrated as they are mentioned. But even the author admits that these are just his musings on comics, and they don't feel as deeply thought out as they did in the first book.

I'm glad I read it, and I don't mean to dismiss it entirely, but this book just didn't have the magic of his first one.

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