Scott McCloud- Part 1

The comic I chose was one found on Scott McCloud's website entitled I AM THE MOST BEAUTIFUL DOG IN THE WORLD. The comic itself is very simply drawn with simple text. It tells the story of a man, I am thinking in his 20's, playing with his dog in the park. The man prompts the dog to play fetch and is convinced this is what the dog wants to do. So after a big toss of the stick the man expects the dog to go get the stick. However the dog does not move or change expression after the stick was thrown. The man starts off calm and tries to prompt the dog to get the stick. After realizing the dog will not move, the man gets frustrated and we see his expression change throughout each frame. Finally the man starts shouting at the dog to get the stick and starts to detest the dog because he is disobeying him. As the dog continues to stay immobile the man marches off and the dog continues to stand still. The last frame is the same as the first with the caption, "I AM THE MOST BEAUTIFUL DOG IN THE WORLD".

I think this comic exemplifies some concepts in McClouds book, Understanding Comics, The Invisible Art. This comic is the direct opposite of what McCloud describes as the typical notion of a comics usually are. He states that he thought comics were "usually crude, poorly-drawn, semiliterate, cheap disposable, kiddie fare (3). This comic is very simply drawn with few words that tells a story. The sequence of pictures within this comic build upon the previous allowing the reader to in a sense "read" the comic.

Another way in which I relate the concepts in McCloud's book to this comic is the simplicity of the drawings. As McCloud writes in the book, "there's something more at work in our minds when we view a cartoon-especially of a human face which warrants further investigation (31). The comic itself did not specify what age the man was in the comic nor his gender in fact. Because of the nature of the simple drawing I was able to apply my own thoughts and interpretations of the comic and not be told how to interpret the comic because of the drawings. The dog itself did not have any distinguishing features to warrant the type or gender of the dog. This, I think, is the art of interpreting comics.