Today I discovered that Scott McCloud has published two other books related to comic art: Making Comics and Reinventing Comics - thanks to autolycus for pointing this out and wikipedia for filling in the details. I also spent a little while on Mr McCloud's rather tasty website which can be found here. (One of the joys of marking is finishing, and having time to do what one really wants to do. In fact, that is the sole joy of marking.)
Just a quick dip into McCloud's work is enough to get a sense of his burning enthusiasm for what he does. The rather cliched term for this in Singapore is 'passion' as we are continually being told to 'follow our passion' and all sorts of other positive-sounding but ultimately empty nonsense - nonsense because somewhere along the line the burning, dangerously radical nature of worthwhile enthusiasms gets extinguished and it all becomes rather safe, rather tepid, rather qualified, rather rathery.
And just the same quick dip into McCloud's work is more than enough to get an envious sense of how talented he is. It would be nice to be outstandingly good at something but I don't think it's necessary to be so to get a taste of the rewards of an enthusiasm for something that enhances life. That's been one of the (few) discoveries of my adult life. It's worthwhile making things, making art, if you like, even if you're not particularly good at it.
Blake: Energy is Eternal Delight. (Now there was a guy who knew something about making things, as opposed to marking them.)
I also read Gaiman & McKean's 'graphic novella' Violent Cases which I got from the library. I'm afraid I didn't particularly like it. A bit too clever for me.
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