Week 2- Understanding Comics (3 pts.)

Growing up, I've always had a fondness for comic strips. I've even attempted to make make a few when I was little, and I'm striving to get better at it in more recent times. One thing that I really appreciate is when guidebooks strive to inform the reader in a fun and engaging way, rather than just simply being a wall of text. The guidebook itself being a comic made me feel engaged as I tend to be more of a visual learner. I even appreciated small bits of humor thrown into the mix. For example, when the creator is asking his "audience to help him find ways of giving comics a "dictionary definition," one person says it "should have Batman" somewhere in the definition, then begins to struggle after being forced to leave offscreen. My favorite gags are the ones that are quick and to the point.

One section I found the most interesting and appealing was the section that talked about the art of cartooning. I've always had a passion and love for cartoons, so I was most interested in seeing what it had to say. I found it interesting that our brains are more drawn to things that are more visually simplistic, which was made very clear with the example given when comparing the author's cartoon persona to his "realistic and rendered" persona.

For me personally, it's a bit hard to determine how much I agree with this author's mindset, mostly because it was released somewhere in the late 80's/early 90s. In some cases I feel the way comics and cartoons are viewed have changed, mainly due to the types of modern techniques used and how the general public perceives them. Of course, comics are still popular, but more-so on the internet rather than purely physical strips on newspapers or printed books. I view it as not a definitive guide in some cases, but rather an interpretation that can be tweaked in some ways to fit the current state of comics.