Scott McCloud (born Scott McLeod; June 10, 1960) is an American

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and g ...

and comics theorist. He is best known for his non-fiction books about comics: ''

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 ...

'' (1993), '' Reinventing Comics'' (2000), and '' Making Comics'' (2006), all of which also use the medium of comics. He established himself as a comics creator in the 1980s as an independent superhero cartoonist and advocate for

creator's rights In the United States, creator ownership in comics is an arrangement in which the comic book creator retains full ownership of the material, regardless of whether the work is self-published or published by a corporate publisher. In some fields o ...

. He rose to prominence in the industry beginning in the 1990s for his non-fiction works about the medium, and has advocated the use of new technology in the creation and distribution of comics.

Early life

McCloud was born in 1960McCloud, Scott. (2000), ''Reinventing Comics''. Paradox Press. p. 92 in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, Massachusetts, the youngest child of Willard Wise (a blind inventor and engineer) and Patricia Beatrice McLeod, and spent most of his childhood in

Lexington Lexington may refer to: Places England * Laxton, Nottinghamshire, formerly Lexington Canada * Lexington, a district in Waterloo, Ontario United States * Lexington, Kentucky, the largest city with this name * Lexington, Massachusetts, the oldes ...

, Massachusetts.Albert Boime and David Dodd (August 22, 2000)
"PROFILE INTERVIEW: Scott McCloud"
. PopImage. Retrieved March 15, 2021. He decided he wanted to be a comics artist in 1975, during his junior year in high school. He attended

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

's Illustration program and graduated with a

Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases. Background The Bachel ...

degree in 1982.

Career

Fiction

During his high school years, he collaborated on comics with his schoolmate

Kurt Busiek Kurt Busiek ( ) (born September 16, 1960) is an American comic book writer. His work includes the ''Marvels'' limited series, his own series titled '' Astro City'', a four-year run on '' The Avengers, Thunderbolts'' and '' Superman.'' Early life ...

. While still teenagers, the two of them, together with fellow teenagers

Christopher Bing Christopher is the English version of a Europe-wide name derived from the Greek name Χριστόφορος (''Christophoros'' or '' Christoforos''). The constituent parts are Χριστός (''Christós''), "Christ" or "Anointed", and φέρει ...

(a 2001 Caldecott Medal winner) and

Richard Howell Richard Howell (October 25, 1754April 28, 1802) was the third governor of New Jersey from 1794 to 1801. Early life and military career Howell was born in Newark in the Colony of Delaware. He was a lawyer and soldier of the early United States ...

, created the first licensed Marvel/DC crossover comic ''Pow! Biff! Pops!'', a one-shot sold in conjunction with a 1978 Boston Pops performance of comics-themed music. While working as a production artist at DC Comics, McCloud created the light-hearted

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...

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 ...

series '' Zot!'' in 1984, in part as a reaction to the increasingly grim direction that superhero comics were taking in the 1980s. His other print comics include ''Destroy!!'' (a deliberately over-the-top, oversized single-issue comic book, intended as a parody of formulaic superhero fights), the 1998

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

''The New Adventures of Abraham Lincoln'' (done with a mixture of computer-generated and manually drawn digital images), 12 issues writing

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 ...

' ''

Superman Adventures ''Superman Adventures'' is a DC Comics comic book series featuring Superman. It is set in the continuity (and style) of '' Superman: The Animated Series''. It ran for 66 issues between 1996 and 2002. Writers on the series included Paul Dini, Mark E ...

'' in the late 1990s and the 2005 three-issue series ''Superman: Strength'', and the 2015 graphic novel '' The Sculptor''.

Creator's Bill of Rights

McCloud was the principal author of the

Creator's Bill of Rights The Creator's Bill of Rights (officially, A Bill of Rights for Comics Creators) is a document drafted in November 1988 by a number of independent comic book artists, writers, and publishers, designed to protect their rights as creators and publish ...

, a 1988 document with the stated aim of protecting the rights of comic book creators and help aid against the exploitation of comic artists and writers by corporate work-for-hire practices.Coogan, Pete (September, 1990). "Creator's Rights". ''

The Comics Journal ''The Comics Journal'', often abbreviated ''TCJ'', is an American magazine of news and criticism pertaining to comic books, comic strips and graphic novels. Known for its lengthy interviews with comic creators, pointed editorials and scathing re ...

'' p. 65-71 The group that adopted the Bill also included artists Kevin Eastman, Dave Sim, and

Stephen R. Bissette Stephen R. Bissette (born March 14, 1955) is an American comic book artist, editor, and publisher with a focus on the horror genre. He is known for working with writer Alan Moore and inker John Totleben on the DC Comics series ''Swamp Thing'' in ...

.McCloud, Scott (2000). '' Reinventing Comics'', New York: Paradox Press. Pg. 62 The Bill included twelve rights such as "The right to full ownership of what we fully create," and "The right to prompt payment of a fair and equitable share of profits derived from all of our creative work."

24-hour comic

In 1990, McCloud coined the idea of a 24-hour comic: a complete 24-page comic created by a single cartoonist in 24 consecutive hours. It was a mutual challenge with cartoonist

Steve Bissette Stephen R. Bissette (born March 14, 1955) is an American comic book artist, editor, and publisher with a focus on the horror genre. He is known for working with writer Alan Moore and inker John Totleben on the DC Comics series '' Swamp Thing'' ...

, intended to compel creative output with a minimum of self-restraining contemplation. Thousands of cartoonists have since taken up the challenge, including

Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon GaimanBorn as Neil Richard Gaiman, with "MacKinnon" added on the occasion of his marriage to Amanda Palmer. ; ( Neil Richard Gaiman; born 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, gra ...

; Kevin Eastman, co-creator of '' Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles''; Dave Sim, who published some of his work from this challenge in '' Cerebus the Aardvark''; and Rick Veitch who used it as a springboard for his comic ''Rarebit Fiends''.

Non-fiction about comics

In the early 1990s, McCloud began a series of three books about the medium and business of comics, all done in comics form. The first of these was ''

: The Invisible Art'', published in 1993, which established him as a popular comics theorist, described as the "

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ...

of comics" and the "

Marshall McLuhan Herbert Marshall McLuhan (July 21, 1911 – December 31, 1980) was a Canadian philosopher whose work is among the cornerstones of the study of media theory. He studied at the University of Manitoba and the University of Cambridge. He began his ...

of comics". The book was a wide-ranging exploration of the definition, history, vocabulary, and methods of the medium of comics, and is widely cited in academic discussions of the medium. In 2000, McCloud published '' Reinventing Comics: How Imagination and Technology Are Revolutionizing an Art Form'', in which he outlined twelve "revolutions" taking place, that he argued would be keys to the growth and success of comics as a popular and creative medium. McCloud returned to focus on the medium itself in 2006 with '' Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga, and Graphic Novels'', an instructional guide to the process of producing comics, which he followed with a promotional lecture tour with his family of all 50 U.S. states and parts of Europe. He is currently working on a third draft of layouts for an upcoming book on visual communication. McCloud has described the book as "a preposterously ambitious full color project covering the evolution and biology of vision; principles of visual perception; demonstrations of how visual elements behave in the mind’s eye; best practices for clarity, explanation, and effective rhetoric; and some personal reflections on yfamily’s experiences with blindness."

Technology

Beginning in the late 1990s, McCloud was an early advocate of micropayments. He was an adviser to BitPass, a company that provided an online micropayment system, which he helped launch with the publication of '' The Right Number'', an online graphic novella priced at US$0.25 for each chapter. Among the techniques he explores is the "

infinite canvas The infinite canvas refers to the potentially limitless space that is available to webcomics presented on the World Wide Web. The term was introduced by Scott McCloud in his 2000 book ''Reinventing Comics'', in which he suggested that webcomic cr ...

" permitted by a web browser, allowing panels to be spatially arranged in ways not possible in the finite, two-dimensional, paged format of a physical book. Google commissioned him in 2008 to create a comic serving as the press release introducing their web browser Chrome.

Personal life

McCloud lives in California. In 1988 he married Ivy Ratafia, and they had two daughters together. Ivy died in a car accident in April 2022.

Awards

*1985 Jack Kirby Award for Best New Series for ''Zot!'' *1985 Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award for ''Zot!'' *1994

Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are List of Eisner Award winners, prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, sometimes referred to as the comics industry's equivalent of the Acad ...

for Best Comics-Related Book for ''

''"1994 Will Eisner Comic Industry Award Nominees"
Hahn Library Comic Book Awards Almanac. November 16, 2011. *1994 Harvey Award for Best Writer for ''Understanding Comics''"1994 Harvey Award Nominees and Winners"
Hahn Library Comic Book Awards Almanac. Retrieved November 16, 2011. *1994 Harvey Award for Best Graphic Album/Original Material for ''Understanding Comics'' *1994 Harvey Award for Best Biographical, Historical or Journalistic Presentation for ''Understanding Comics'' *2001 Harvey Award for Best Biographical/Historical Presentation for '' Reinventing Comics''"2001 Harvey Award Nominees and Winners"
Hahn Library Comic Book Awards Almanac. Retrieved November 16, 2011. *2007 Eagle Award for Favourite Comics-Related Book for ''Making Comics'' *2007

Quill Award The Quill Award was an American literary award that ran for three years in 2005-2007. It was a " consumer-driven award created to inspire reading while promoting literacy." The Quills Foundation, the organization behind the Quill Award, was supp ...

for Best Graphic Novel for ''Making Comics''

Nominations

*1988 Harvey Award for Best Cartoonist for ''Zot!'' *1988 Eisner Award for Best Single Issue for ''Zot!'' #14"1988 Will Eisner Comic Industry Award Nominees"
Hahn Library Comic Book Awards Almanac. November 16, 2011. *1988 Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series for ''Zot!'' *1988 Eisner Award for Best Black-and-White Series for ''Zot!'' *1988 Eisner Award for Best Writer/Artist for ''Zot!'' *1991 Harvey Award for Best Writer for ''Zot!''"1991 Harvey Award Nominees and Winners"
Hahn Library Comic Book Awards Almanac. Retrieved November 16, 2011. *1991 Harvey Award for Best Single Issue or Story for ''Zot!'' #33 *1991 Eisner Award for Best Story or Single Issue for ''Zot!'' #33"1991 Will Eisner Comic Industry Award Nominees"
Hahn Library Comic Book Awards Almanac. November 16, 2011. *1991 Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series for ''Zot!'' *1991 Eisner Award for Best Black-and-White Series for ''Zot!'' *1991 Eisner Award for Best Writer for ''Zot!'' *1992 Harvey Award for Best Single Issue or Story for ''Zot!'' #35"1992 Harvey Award Nominees and Winners"
Hahn Library Comic Book Awards Almanac. Retrieved November 16, 2011. *1993 Harvey Award for Best Biographical, Historical or Journalistic Presentation for ''Understanding Comics: The Slideshow!''"1993 Harvey Award Nominees and Winners"
Hahn Library Comic Book Awards Almanac. Retrieved November 16, 2011. *1994

Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention and chosen by its members. The Hugo is widely considered the premier ...

for Best Related Non-Fiction Book for ''Understanding Comics'' *1998 Eisner Award for Best Single Issue for ''

'' #3 ("Distant Thunder"; with Rick Burchett and Terry Austin)"1998 Will Eisner Comic Industry Award Nominees"
Hahn Library Comic Book Awards Almanac. November 16, 2011. *1998 Eisner Award for Best Serialized Story for ''Superman Adventures'' #11–12 ("The War Within"; with Rick Burchett and Terry Austin) *1998 Eisner Award for Best Writer for ''Superman Adventures'' *2007 Harvey Award for Best Biographical, Historical or Journalistic Presentation for ''Making Comics''"2007 Harvey Award Nominees and Winners"
Hahn Library Comic Book Awards Almanac. Retrieved November 16, 2011.

Bibliography

* '' Zot!'' ** ''The Original Zot!: Book One'' (issues 1-4) (Eclipse Books, 1990) ** ''Zot!: Book 1'' (issues 1-10) (Kitchen Sink Press, 1997) ** ''Zot!: Book 2'' (issues 11–15 and 17–18) (Kitchen Sink Press, 1998) ** ''Zot!: Book 3'' (issues 16 and 21-27) (Kitchen Sink Press, 1998) ** ''Zot!: The Complete Black and White Collection: 1987–1991'' (issues 11-36, with 19 and 20 in layout form only) (Harper Paperbacks, 2008) *'' Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art'' (1993, ) *'' Reinventing Comics: How Imagination and Technology Are Revolutionizing an Art Form'' (2000, ) *'' Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga and Graphic Novels'' (2006, ) * ''The New Adventures of Abraham Lincoln'' (Image Comics, 1998) * '' 24 Hour Comics'' (editor) (About Comics, 2004) *
Destroy!! (Oversized Edition)
' (Eclipse Books, 1986) * '' The Sculptor'' (First Second, 2015) 978-1-59643-573-5 * ''

'' #2-13 (DC Comics, 1997) * '' Superman: Strength'' #1-3 (DC Comics, 2005)