Not being a particularly big fan of comics, or what I had previously perceived as comics, I was not very excited about diving into this book. After getting a quarter way through the reading; however, my mind had changed. The direction of the writing was different than I had originally anticipated, I was expecting more of a focus on what we now think of what comics are, but I got much more than that. The history, though I thought it was a bit stretched, as well as the building blocks of comics and then the make up and structure of comics was intriguing. McCloud did a really good job of incorporating humor to keep me interested, he was able to relate many of the aspects of comics to what I’m used experiencing in reality, and I found that the way he relates the aspects of how I percieve art, pictures, and finally comics to many facets of my everday experiences.
I won’t necessarily say I’m going to be more interested in comics, and that I’m going to start reading them, but the way that McCloud conveys comics, and the way that he explains their complexity as well as their versatility and uniqueness makes me appreciate the artform quite a bit more than I had in the past. I will no longer think of comics simply as superhero tales, but a more intricate art that incporates many many layers that I would have never considered had I not began this book. I rarely say this, and though I don’t really consider this a textbook, this is one of the few readings that I have had that I really look forward to completing, which is saying quite a bit considering my prior disdain for both comics, and assigned readings.