Understanding Comics

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Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art is a 215-page non-fiction comic book by Scott McCloud, widely considered the definitive text to date on the theory of comics (or sequential art) as an artform and a communications medium. It explores the definition of "comics", the historical development of the medium, its fundamental vocabulary, and various ways in which these elements have been used.

The book received praise from notable comic book and graphic novel authors such as Art Spiegelman, Will Eisner, and Matt Groening, and was called "one of the most insightful books about designing graphic user interfaces ever written" by Apple Macintosh co-creator Andy Hertzfeld ^{[citation needed]}. Although the book has prompted some debate over many of McCloud's conclusions (in particular his exclusion of single-panel cartoons from his definition of "comics"), its discussions of "iconic" art, and the concept of "closure" between panels, have become commonplace reference points in discussing the medium. It is also noteworthy as one of the most extensive uses of the comics medium for non-storytelling purposes.

It was first published in 1993 by Tundra Press; reprintings have been released by Kitchen Sink Press, DC Comics' Paradox Press, DC's Vertigo line, and most recently HarperPerennial. McCloud wrote and illustrated the book; the lettering was done by Bob Lappan.

Scott McCloud has written two follow-up books in the same format. Reinventing Comics: How Imagination and Technology Are Revolutionizing an Art Form, in which he suggested ways for the medium to change and grow, was published in 2000. Making Comics, was released September 5th of 2006; More in the vein of Understanding Comics, it studies the elemental methods of how someone constructs a comic.