Sequart Organization » Scott McCloud

Tracing Some of the Roots in Scott McCloud’s The Sculptor, Part 2

Greg Carpenter — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 11:00:05 +0000

The Sculptor, Part 2" title="Tracing Some of the Roots in Scott McCloud’s The Sculptor, Part 2" style="float:left;" />[A quick word of caution. What follows is an analysis of some of the literary antecedents for The Sculptor. As such, spoilers abound. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya!] If you read last week’s column,… [more]

Tracing Some of the Roots of Scott McCloud’s The Sculptor, Part 1

Greg Carpenter — Mon, 09 Mar 2015 11:00:25 +0000

The Sculptor, Part 1" title="Tracing Some of the Roots of Scott McCloud’s The Sculptor, Part 1" style="float:left;" />In the midst of this very Postmodern setting, The Sculptor winds up echoing some very old legends with roots tracing back through 19th century Germany, 16th century England, and 1st century Rome. [more]

Don’t Ignore the Art: Reviewing and Commenting on Comics, Part 2

Forrest Helvie — Tue, 15 Jul 2014 19:00:36 +0000

Line Work (Pencils / Brushwork) One of the first things I look at when opening up a comic is the style that’s being used. Is it more lifelike (realistic) or cartoonish (iconic)? Scott McCloud discusses… [more]

Don’t Ignore the Art: Reviewing and Commenting on Comics, Part 1

Forrest Helvie — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 11:00:38 +0000

What’s the difference between a comic book and a novel? The answer seems pretty obvious, doesn’t it? Yet, it still confounds me to no end that someone will take the time to write a review… [more]

Understanding Comics on the Wabash Cannonball

Greg Carpenter — Mon, 10 Mar 2014 11:00:22 +0000

I took the last “left” to Clarksville because, contrary to popular belief, there is no train. Driving up the Interstate from Nashville, I wondered idly how many other people had been disappointed to learn that… [more]

Writing About Comics the Will Eisner Way

Scott Cederlund — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 18:00:44 +0000

In 1985, decades after his first comic book, Will Eisner wrote Comics and Sequential Art, his treatise about how comic books work. The first of three books (Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative and Expressive Anatomy… [more]

Escaping the Cage: Martin Vaughn-James’s The Cage and the Question of Comics

Tom Miller — Wed, 01 Jan 2014 12:00:48 +0000

The Cage and the Question of Comics" title="Escaping the Cage: Martin Vaughn-James’s The Cage and the Question of Comics" style="float:left;" />In comics studies, there is a great interest in defining what exactly constitutes a comic. Scott McCloud famously begins his Understanding Comics by trying to define exactly what we can and what we cannot consider… [more]

On The New Adventures of Abraham Lincoln, by Scott McCloud

Colin Smith — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 11:00:45 +0000

The New Adventures of Abraham Lincoln, by Scott McCloud" title="On The New Adventures of Abraham Lincoln, by Scott McCloud" style="float:left;" />Scott McCloud’s The New Adventures of Abraham Lincoln reads as if it had been pieced together by a team of expert comic-book historians from a great mass of often incomplete and even contradictory notes, sketches,… [more]

Sequart Podcast #1: The Changing Format of Comics

Julian Darius — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 12:00:35 +0000

Guests Kevin Thurman and David Balan discuss the future of the comics form, and the implications of digital comics. File: Sequart Podcast #1: The Changing Format of Comics Host: Julian Darius Runtime: 59:09 File size:… [more]

Comics Journalism: Learning about Current Events through Funny Books

Forrest Helvie — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 12:00:53 +0000

It’s an exciting time to work in the field of comics today, even for those us—the comics critics and scholars—who possess far less artistic ability to create captivating images or weave spellbinding tales. As an… [more]

The Right Number – A New Reading Convention

David Balan — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 11:00:33 +0000

Scott McCloud’s The Right Number is a compact, experimental web-comic. It is also one of the most successful web-comics ever produced. This is primarily due to it questioning something that most creators take for granted… [more]

Super-Hero Comics and Reader Textualization: Participation and Narrative Construction

Tim Bavlnka — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 11:00:01 +0000

This is a piece that explores the idea of textualization in super-hero comics and how these stories are constructed. More than that, it is an introduction to exploring purpose — why are super-heroes so engaging… [more]

It Takes Two – Text & Image in Comics

David Balan — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 12:00:23 +0000

So, comics as an art form! A truly legitimate art form, unique and self-actualized, with debacles and triumphs all its own. Not the bastard child of film and literature, and not just for kids, male adolescents, or… [more]

Seduction of the Insolent (or, Retraction of the Innocent)

A. David Lewis — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 13:00:58 +0000

Know thy enemy. It is a long-standing idiom and one that is well-practiced by mainstream comics, most specifically the super-hero genre. Reed Richards and Victor Von Doom share a mutual past of promise and ambition;… [more]

Comics’ Identity Crisis: Claiming “Art” is a Misguided Quest

Neil Cohn — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 14:56:31 +0000

Comics have a bit of an identity crisis: our culture cannot decide what they really are, leaving them to pay the price both financially and legally. A common remedy for this is the insistence that comics are… [more]

Dissolving Comics’ Boundaries

Neil Cohn — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 01:00:08 +0000

Let’s face it: business has not been good in the comic industry during the last decade or so. However, despite this, there has been a swelling of diversification amongst genres, creators, and publishers, and maybe… [more]

American Thesis #2: What are Comics?

Jeff Tepper — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 14:35:47 +0000

It is easier to see how comics are related to their readers when the many different terms are understood. Defining comics is the first step. Several industry professionals offer their opinions of what the word… [more]

Why Comics Matter

Julian Darius — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 17:00:03 +0000

The following video consists of a lecture I delivered on 5 January 2006 at Glen Carbon Centennial Library in Glen Carbon, Illinois. The total runtime is 46 minutes. Because of its length, it has been… [more]

Tensions Between Text and Image

Julian Darius — Mon, 04 Apr 2005 17:00:01 +0000

The medium variously known as comic books, graphic novels, bandes-dessinés, manga, manga, sequential art, and sequart has been defined as the juxtaposition of text and image on the static page. Once can here recall Words… [more]

The Sequart Manifesto

Julian Darius — Wed, 03 Dec 2003 18:00:42 +0000

What do we call our medium? The most common answer is “comics.” Some would say otherwise, offering “comix,” “the ninth art,” or “sequential art.” Others abroad would say “manga” or “les bandes-dessinés.” All, however, are… [more]