

Unlike a simple How to Draw Manga or How to Draw Superheroes, book, it gives sophisticated tips that are useful for all comic genres.


McCloud provides incredibly useful tools for achieving realistic facial expressions and body language, constructing scenes, and building worlds, and he draws inspiration from North American, European, and Japanese comics, and more. The third book, Making Comics, published in 2006, explores the challenges that comic book creators must face, the options they have, and the many methods available to produce the comics they want. It is also fascinating to see the challenges and ideas that were around back in the dial-up Internet era, and how many of the predictions McCloud made became true. There are multiple examples of how economic ideas, subcultures, and tendencies develop within art. However, plenty of the content remains useful to this day. Many of its commentary has now become dated in many ways. The second book, Reinventing Comics, published in 2000, examines the - at the time - current comics culture, and looks towards the potential futures of the digital age. It’s fascinating stuff clearly explained through a perfect blend of words and pictures. If you were to pick up this book for the first time, either as a beginner or seasoned comics veteran, you would learn a lot about not just about comics, but also art and communication in general. It is an amazing tool for both comic beginners and those more experienced with comics.

The first book, Understanding Comics, published in 1994, focuses on the history, perception, and communication of comics, as well as a sophisticated interpretation of the medium as a whole. They are a great collection of essays entirely in the comics format, entirely about comics. Scott McCloud’s trilogy of Understanding Comics, Reinventing Comics, and Making Comics are all excellent works.
