Understanding Comics

I never thought that I would like or even think about reading a comic book until I read Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud. This book showed me that comics are not just pictures that go along with words, but that these pictures are part of the stories and that they even tell a story themselves. The development of comics takes a lot more thinking then I first thought it would. I found that McCloud explained the development and history of comics very thoroughly. Having the back round of comics I think helps people understand where they come from and the ideas they are based off of. Another thing I found to be interesting was that each human figure that has a visible face contains the standard smiley face. Each character that is drawn derives from one simple shapr that is internationally known. I have yet to pick up a comic book since reading Understanding Comics, but I feel that if I see one on the shelf at the library or at a book store, I will look at it differently and possibly give it a chance.