Blog Seven -- McCloud

What I found especially interesting about the McCloud comic piece was that his argument and literal text contradicted themselves. While McCloud views images and text as potentially equal forms of communication, the images he includes in his comic are highly ambiguous without the accompanying words. Society has become increasingly technological and thus, more accepting of images. In fact, one might be hard pressed to find a website or digital interface that is not supplemented by or reliant on visual images. Unfortunately for McCloud, this particular comic-format only rebutted his argument. Without the text, the images seem relatively meaningless.

For the most part, I agree with McCloud's theory; words and images are equally poignant forms of communication. However, images must be used much more consciously and carefully to establish clear rhetoric. Visuals require more personal interpretation than text. Thus, ambiguity arises. When an image is very expressive and explicit in its meaning, then it can standalone. The comic worked well to solidify this, I believe.