by Scott McCloud

isbn: 006097625X
subject: Graphic Novels, Nonfiction, Design
finished: Early Fall 1997

This book makes a great case for something that I've been telling people for years: comic books are a valid art form. Most comics are awful not because of inherent limitations of the medium, but rather because many paying customers demand crap and there are plenty of companies willing provide it.

People who aren't comic fans should also read Understanding Comics; it contains a clear, fascinating explanation of how we perceive a sequence of images as progressing in time, and a lot of useful design advice. This was an especially interesting book to read at the same time as The Society of Mind, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, and Understanding Media. It's intelligently written, beautifully drawn, and entertainingly self-referential. Highly recommended.