In the chapter, McCloud defines the word ‘comic’ and their meaning. Or at least he tries to an extent that the English language allows him to, showing just how complex comics can really be and he acknowledges how hard they are to define. He also looks at the history of comics, illustrating these using historical examples of ancient art and scripture that fit the ‘comic’ definition, showing their usefulness as a story telling device.
Through a combination of these two factors McCloud is able to display comics in a way that destroys the common perception of them being childish and without meaning. By showing their complexity in definition and their similarity to highly praised artwork he is able to show them in a more mature and dignified light and that they can hold deep meaning underneath their exterior. This idea is similar to what we discussed with South Park in our lectures, that strong meaning (Both good and bad in the case of South Park) can often be hidden underneath a seemingly childish delivery system.
Although its being seen now more than in the earlier days, since episodes of South Park are so easy to create (Taking only a few days at a time for each episode) they are able to produce episodes on current events and thus deliver a message to the public much more quicker than other. They can focus on the script and message and not worry so much about what it will look like, and as the show is humourous people are able to more easily warm to it and accept the messages more readily. Yet people see it outrightly as crude and useless due to its look/format and humour style, much like how people will judge comics as child-like due to their association with children.
Overall McCloud aims to show that there is a lot more to comics might think, and wishes to leave the reader with an expanded mindset when reading into understanding comics.
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