[...] of the format; its followup, Reinventing Comics, which examines technology; and a how-to book, Making Comics. But he originally started with this series, an homage to the things he loved: science fiction, [...]

[...] for example, Scott McCloud’s Making Comics or The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Creating a Graphic Novel. These books emphasize having a story [...]

[...] followed this book with Reinventing Comics and Making Comics. [...]

[...] was revolutionary; nothing like it had been done before in discussing the theory behind the art. Making Comics was needed; there aren’t enough good books about the practice of craft. But as I remembered [...]

His detractors often speak about things that are out of McCloud’s control and blame him for it. Some accuse him of pushing only his own agenda or perspective. As Dane suggests, McCloud goes out of his way to try to be inclusive of everything that he can think of (sometimes to his own detriment, re: the ancient tapestries being comics). Essentially, we cannot expect any theorist and author to NOT talk about his own beliefs and views. Furthermore, it’s not his responsibility to write dissenting theories. He can’t help it if other people are not writing contradictory papers and books. If anything, McCloud has shown the capacity to embrace contradictory views and at the very least place them on the table for discussion, so I’d think he’d welcome some “competition.”

Also, I hear Tania del Rio’s “American Manga-ka” book is supposed to be a great technical guide with industry insight, along with the “Webcomickers” book (did I get that right?), so there are other things out there that are getting good press. Usually these aren’t as comprehensive as a McCloud book, but every player must play to his/her strengths.

Best!

You seem to be under the impression that this is the first book of it’s kind. I’d advise you to go looking around the web a bit, I think you’ll find quite few other people cover this ground. The fact is, however, that McCloud does it better than most- which is why his work gets so much more attention.

[...] Johanna Draper Carlson reviews Scott McCloud’s Making Comics, giving me another excuse to use that panel at right as an illustration. (Right: from Making Comics, ©2006 Scott McCloud. Mmmmm… in-jokes…) [...]

Moreover, Scott encourages us all to keep looking for other tools to add to our respective kits. If that’s not one of his better aspects as a teacher, I don’t know what is.

No, if we all read this book, we will all have some of the tools in McCloud’s toolkit. That does not prevent us from getting tools from elsewhere, from seeing techniques from our own observations.

It would be a mistake to think that the only way we learn to craft comics is by reading a book.

I read the book because I found his other two books in the series interesting and you know what? I found his discussion in Making Comics so hopeful and inspiring that I’m now working on my first comic book – something that seemed too daunting before I read the book. And it won’t be a McCloud comic. It will be my comic.

I know nothing about the technical aspects of comics, but I think whether reading this book will cause people to write exactly like Scott McCloud depends on how well he served his role of comic art historian and synthesize what always worked and seperate that from his personal style. He might start from this knowledge, but there is likely room for creativity while aknowledging what did and did not work.

So while there might be room to criticize his technical observations, I think it is taking it too far to say that a single base line leads to repetitive work.