''Reinventing Comics: How Imagination and Technology Are Revolutionizing an Art Form'' (2000) is a book written by

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, ...

and

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

Scott McCloud Scott McCloud (born Scott McLeod; June 10, 1960) is an American cartoonist and comics theorist. He is best known for his non-fiction books about comics: ''Understanding Comics'' (1993), '' Reinventing Comics'' (2000), and '' Making Comics'' (20 ...

. It was a thematic sequel to his critically acclaimed ''

Understanding Comics ''Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art'' is a 1993 non-fiction work of comics by American cartoonist Scott McCloud. It explores formal aspects of comics, the historical development of the medium, its fundamental vocabulary, and various ways in ...

'', and was followed by ''

Making Comics ''Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga, and Graphic Novels'' is a book by comic book writer and artist Scott McCloud, published by William Morrow Paperbacks in 2006. A study of methods of constructing comics, it is a thematic sequ ...

''.

Publication history

''Reinventing Comics'' was released in 2000 in separate editions published by

Paradox Press Paradox Press was a division of DC Comics formed in 1993 after editor Mark Nevelow departed from Piranha Press. Under the initial editorship of Andrew Helfer and Bronwyn Carlton the imprint was renamed. It is best known for graphic novels like ' ...

and

William Morrow Paperbacks William Morrow and Company is an American publishing company founded by William Morrow in 1926. The company was acquired by Scott Foresman in 1967, sold to Hearst Corporation in 1981, and sold to News Corporation (now News Corp) in 1999. ...

. Paradox Press, formerly an imprint of

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. ( doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with the ...

, is now defunct; and William Morrow is now a division of

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News C ...

, so subsequent printings of the book have been released by HarperCollins.

Summary

''Reinventing Comics'' explains twelve "revolutions" which McCloud predicts are necessary for the comic book to survive as a medium, focusing especially on

online comic Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on a website or mobile app. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or comic books. Webcomics can be co ...

s. The book caused considerable controversy in the comics industry, McCloud famously noting that it had been described as "dangerous". As promised in the book, McCloud has offered

annotation An annotation is extra information associated with a particular point in a document or other piece of information. It can be a note that includes a comment or explanation. Annotations are sometimes presented in the margin of book pages. For anno ...

addenda An addendum or appendix, in general, is an addition required to be made to a document by its author subsequent to its printing or publication. It comes from the gerundive , plural , "that which is to be added," from (, compare with memorandum, ...

and his further-developing thoughts about the future of comics on his web site. In particular, he considers his web comic
I Can't Stop Thinking
' to be a continuation of ''Reinventing Comics'', though he has continued to write about the future of comics in many different forms, as he acknowledges ''Reinventing Comics'' is "a product of its time".

Development

McCloud drew ''Reinventing Comics'' digitally, using a small Wacom tablet. Because of the low power of the machine he was using, McCloud had a difficult time working on the book. In an interview with

Joe Zabel Joe Zabel (born July 7, 1953)Zabel entry
Who's Who of Amer ...

, McCloud stated that he was so eager to get to the second half of the book that he rushed through the first portion. A revised version of ''Reinventing Comics'' was released in 2009. Here, McCloud cited various successful webcomics that pushed the envelope, such as

Daniel Merlin Goodbrey Daniel Merlin Goodbrey is an English writer known for his work in webcomics and the British small press. Biography Goodbrey became known as a creator of experimental digital comics and hypercomics. He is the inventor of the Tarquin engine, an ...

's work with the "Tarquin Engine" and

Drew Weing Drew Weing is an American comic artist. Debuting in 2010 with the black-and-white graphic novel ''Set to Sea'', Weing went on to create the webcomic ''The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo''. Together with his wife Eleanor Davis, Weing has taught ...

's ''Pup Contemplates the Heat Death of the Universe''. Fantagraphics Books Inc. editor and publisher

Gary Groth Gary Groth (born September 18, 1954) is an American comic book editor, publisher and critic. He is editor-in-chief of ''The Comics Journal'', a co-founder of Fantagraphics Books, and founder of the Harvey Awards. Early life Groth is the son of ...

wrote a critique of ''Reinventing Comics'' in 2001.

References

Books by Scott McCloud 2000 non-fiction books Books of literary criticism Books about comics Comics about comics Paradox Press titles Non-fiction graphic novels {{lit-criticism-book-stub

Publication history

Summary

Development

See also

References