Varsity's Play

I really enjoyed the latest FYS reading (even though I’m pretty sure I missed some of its main points….) But that’s ok.

It was refreshing because it was a different type of reading than the normal essays and was a good change of pace. There is so much about the interworkings of comics and the abstract thinking involved in making them that McCloud understood. Maybe that’s why the intro calls him the “Aristotle of comics.”

I found it fascinating that simply lengthening or shortening the panel or using “bleeds” can insert a different sense of time in the comic to the reader. It kindof reminded me of color associations. (For example, green is associated with calming, and red is associated with aggression.) (That was kindof random.) ANYWAYS…

My favorite part about this piece was on page 722- “But, UNLIKE other media, in comics, the past is more than just MEMORIES for the audience and the future is more than just POSSIBILITIES! Both past and future are REAL and visible ALL AROUND US!” I found that statement cool because you can look at the past, present, and future all at one time because theyre right next to each other. In a movie for example you rely on memory to remember the past events and you have to guess the future till it presents itself. In a comic you can look at three panels at a time and see them all at once. Cool.