Considering the Cartoon Man

I have never before read any comic book style novels and I have found “Understanding comics,” to be quite interesting. I enjoy Scott Mccloud’s conversational style of writing. It feels as though he is jumping about on the page, pointing at things while staring me straight in the face and systematically addressing every one of the preconceived notions I had concerning comic books. My biggest challenge as a reader is the fact that I feel a little overwhelmed, letting this cartoon man pull me into a new world is different but at the same time enticing. The fact that I am enticed surprises me. I have always loved books with no pictures, books in which you are left to your own imaginative devices. But I think comic books bring something intriguing to the table. Further exploration is warranted. I do feel (in light of the new concept of multimodality) that comic books offer a reading experience that is more multimodal than anything residing thus far on my literary repertoire. In “Understanding Comics” Scott Mccloud is animated and I mean this in more than just the literal sense of he manifests himself as a cartoon. He has a voice, it is neat to watch him as he interacts with his cartoon world.