Summary Of Show And Tell By Scott Mccloud

Are Comics just for Kids?

What do you think of comics? Are they just pure fiction with no real story and static characters? In the graphic essay Show and Tell the author Scott McCloud introduces the reader to the true world of comic books. He brings up big questions on what we consider art and how comic books use many forms and shape to create the same effect a novel would. Through the ingenious text and the captivating drawn out figures, McCloud proves that comics are not just for kids and that words plus pictures working together can establish a new and innovative way of storytelling. He shows that ancient art has evolved in our society and has been adapted into memes and emoticons which continue to evoke a powerful influence on young

It was targeted towards adults and aspiring young scholars. In the very first few pages into the essay Scott dives into the written world and delineates the view of comic books in society. He goes onto philosophize that comic books today are seen as nothing more than advertising promoters and a diversion for the masses. In the article Adult Fans of Comic Books: What They Get Out of Reading by Stergios Botzakis it states “At best, they have been seen as childish diversions and, at worst, as texts that deaden intellect and moral reasoning….”(Page 50) As stated by the article comic books are considered an inferior level of storytelling that only kids can understand, however what people don’t understand is that comic books, like novels, have compelling, heart wrenching, and powerful characters. For example the comic book Identity Crisis by Brad Meltzer, pencils by Rags Morales, explores mature and thought provoking themes such as murder, rape, and finding ones identity; such themes and ideas are not as childish as we think. Later on in Scott’s essay we see him talk about more intellectual ideas on how words and pictures can create an infinite amount of storytelling. Scott goes on to explore the skeleton on what makes up a comic book and how it sticks together. He talks about scenes that was created by word specific, picture specific, duo specific, additive, parallel, montage,

In ancient times cave paintings, sculptures, and reliefs were used to tell legends, tales, and folklore. The art used back than created a simple form of storytelling. For example in the article Reviewed Work: The Lascaux Cave Paintings by Fernand Windels, C. F. C. Hawkes by Hallam L.Movious, Jr. we are introduced to the Paleolithic cave painting known as Lascaux, located in France. Hallam states that the work is tremendous in details and size, and the painting stretches throughout the cave and the art was by no means static. The painting showed vigorous bulls running through the plains and hunters moving slowly through the grassy area hunting for their next meal. From this painting we get a story about the people that lived there at the time and what some of their culture was like. A comic book takes that visual aspect of the painting and adds words to buttress the scene. As we look on page 745 on Scott’s essay we see a man stepping on another man’s shoe. Now if we see this scene alone we would have questions on what the scene is it about. We would than start to infer as many meanings as possible. But with the addition of the words on the top we can clearly understand what is happening in that one slide. The man stepping on the other shoe represents the relationship between words and pictures. If they both try to outdo each other there will be a mix up in the story. With the combination and the