Chapter two, the vocabulary of comics, focuses on the use of the icon in comics and dissects how icons are registered and processed in our brains. Why is it that our brain can identify with a circle, two dots, and a line? Something so incredible simple is universally recognized. For a long while, I assumed this was so due to my exposure to such icons at a young age. Everyone in my generation watched simplified cartoons and knew about Walmart's smiley-face logo. But is it just because we grew up with these icons, or does it go deeper? It must--such cartoonery predates Walmart and Nickelodeon.
Scott McCloud addresses the matter from every angle. What happens in human's brains when they see it, Why we identify with it, how that identification of one's self can change as we similarly identify with others and objects, and why this simplification works so well with comics. The chapter was fascinating. His mention of how a realistic face, when viewed, is simply seen "as the face of another," the simplified cartoon can personally identify with the reader. An interesting phenomenon that comes naturally with the simplification of a face. The face can be stripped down to its bare essentials in a cartoon--The head shape with eyes and a mouth--and it is all we need.
A second interesting notion comes from the idea that we extend ourselves, that is, we extend our consciousness into objects around us. McCloud's example of us driving a car is a great example. "The vehicle becomes an extension of our body. it absorbs our sense of identity. We become the car." Everyone knows this, but to stop and think about it, to read it in a book, brings it to light. We identify with things quite easily. And our minds simplify these things quite easily. Ideas are cut down to the essentials, and a comic artist can use this to their full potential.
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