I found Understanding Comics to be an extremely informative, as well as a delightfully charming method of explaining what we subconsciously pick up on. There’s so much that goes into graphic story telling— Specifically comics and graphic narratives, that we simply don’t think about. We go along with the story that the comic has tailored, and don’t think twice about it, and that’s due to the carefully designed structure of how the comic was put together.
One of the points made within Understanding Comics that particularly stood out to me, was the point about icons. In our modern culture, icons have been around for so long, that a great deal of information, and even complex concepts can be conveyed through only a simple image. I find this to be particularly evident in Manga and other forms of Japanese cartoons, such as anime. The icons used within Manga have been used for so long, we are now conditioned to know exactly what is going on in the story, just by seeing them. For example, when a character is angry, we see a red vein pop up on their forehead, but that icon has been around for so long, its gotten to the point where the vein simply looks like a few giant red lines that don’t even have to be on the characters forehead— and we instantly understand, that character is angry.
In western culture, we have our own icons to convey certain concepts and ideas as well. One of my favorite uses of a icon, is in Calvin and Hobbes, and The Peanuts, to name a few. When a character is frustrated, a jagged scribble appears over their head. I find this particular icon to be quite charming, because of how simple and clear the meaning is, as well as the fact that it could almost be considered a self-aware effect. The frustration scribble can be looked at as the place where the artist’s world and the comic’s world connect. As an artist, when I get frustrated with a drawing, I occasionally scribble aggressively, so when I see that icon, I can instantly understand that emotion. It amazes me how we are able to communicate extremely deep and specific concepts even with something as simple as a scribble.
I liked how you talked about icons and how often visual elements communicate ideas without us considering of how they work and why they are so effective. The fact that something as simple as a scribble can have meaning and give us insight on a character's emotions is fascinating, and you explored this idea very well. I also liked how you mentioned anime and manga and how they enter the equation of iconography because of how different cultures have put meaning into different symbols over time.
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