COMIC BOOKS. understanding comics

i just rediscovered a website that i used to visit fairly regularly. back when i used to teach art this one came in handy a lot for coming up with new ideas and interesting concepts.
its the homepage of a guy named scott mccloud. he is a comic book writer and illustrator who wrote a book called 'understanding comics'. it is a really amazing book, it looks at the structure and rules of the comic book art form. what makes it even more fun, is that it is actually a comic book itself! scott mccloud draws himself to the book as a guide through the world of comic art, its really quite ingenious! he goes into a bit of depth about the history of the illustrated cartoon. he discusses the real definition of art. he breaks down the rules of comic books, such as pacing, iconography, what happens between the panels, etc. it is an incredibly interesting read. it will totally change your view of what a comic book is and what it can be. in fact, when i used to teach art i would do a unit on comic books and i would use a chapter out of this book as a textbook of sorts.