Overall, I really liked this reading. In an alternate universe, I would have become a comic book author / illustrator. When I was in primary and intermediate school, I took many classes in comic illustration and consider myself relatively knowledgeable in Western (mostly American) comics, so I really like the small juxtapositions McCloud included when describing traditions in Japanese comics and cartoons.

Abstraction levels of iconic representation I love the quote “One set of lines to see. Another set of lines to be.” This is in the context of the combination of cartoonish, abstracted character figures and realistic depictions of the background and environment. The lines “to be” are the simpler, abstract ones of the figure through which we can more easily resonate with and see ourselves being through what McCloud called “viewer identification”, and the lines “to see” are the more complex ones of the background so we can find ourself (as the cartoon figure) to be immersed in the physical world of the story. This concept, once put into words is very enlightening to me, because I had noticed it before when encountering Japanese comic art which I actually prefer to European or American comics / cartoons because they always seemed more naturalistic to me because of the detailed backgrounds. However, I had not considered the effect on me as a reader, where I actually felt more immersed in the storyline and the world-building seemed more real to me compared to Western comics.

Role and effect of lines, patterns, and shapes I love expressionism in art history, so I was very excited to continue reading this chapter, especially when Kandinsky was name-dropped. My key overall takeaway from this chapter is that lines, patterns, and shapes can signal to an audience certain emotions in a more immediate and accessible manner compared to words, which can of course also convey emotions and meaning more in-depth but in a more delayed method. One specific example of graphic representations conveying meaning is wavy lines. Wavy lines can mean different things depending on the context, such as if they are coming out from a pipe, it is pictorial (an abstraction of visible smoke from the pipe), but if they are around a person, it is a symbol of that person needing a shower. Furthermore, the second interpretation of the wavy lines as a stench has to be taught to the audience in order for them to understand what it is symbolizing. Perhaps in other cultures, wavy lines can symbolize other ideas (you need to look no further than in the math department, where “~” means “approximately”).