Drawing on experience

The reason for these platitudes is McCloud’s 1993 book “Understanding Comics,” the first book to explain the theory of comics and how words and pictures work together to tell a story. He followed that with “ Reinventing Comics” (2000) and “Making Comics” (2006), creating a triptych that is used in virtually every comic book class taught in the world.

Among comic book readers he is better known for his textbooks than he is for his own comic books, which include “Zot” and the kid-friendly “Superman Adventures” series.

Randy Scott is curator of comic books in MSU Libraries’ Special Collection, which holds more than a quarter-million comic books. “No question about it, (“Understanding Comics”) is the default book,” he says. “I use it as a Rosetta Stone, looking up definitions.”

McCloud, 54, recently published his first adult fiction graphic novel “The Sculptor,” putting his principles and theories of what makes a comic work to the test.

“The Sculptor” is about a young artist who cuts a Faustian deal with Death; he will trade his life for artistic immortality.

“It explores a young man’s ideas about life, death, art and love,” McCloud says. “But with the broader perspective of an older me. I couldn’t have written this book as a younger man. I had to look through the lens of an older man.”

At first, everything seems to go well with the protagonist. After his contract with Death, the artist has the ability to sculpt anything he can dream of, but Death will return for his life in 200 days. As the deadline approaches, the artist finds himself in an unexpected dilemma: He falls in love at the 11th hour.

The author-illustrator, speaking by phone from New York, where he is on a book tour, says he has been thinking about this graphic novel for decades, but “I still had one foot in the superhero world.”

McCloud calls his artistry “writing with pictures,” and he creates the graphic experience by drawing the story, panel by panel, even in the rough drafts. He says that process also helps his drawing.

“I’m not a naturally gifted draftsman. I have a good eye, and the revisions improve my drawing,” McCloud says.

Like many comic book artists, he began drawing in junior high school. He and a friend even created their own comic. McCloud went on to Syracuse University, where he majored in illustration.

“At the time there wasn’t a degree in comic illustration,” he says.

After college he worked in the production department at DC Comics, and soon after he began spending all of his free time drawing his own comics and studying how comics work on multiple levels.

“I was engaging with the challenges of writing for the very first time,” he says.

While McCloud learned to draw with ink and paper, he now uses a Wacom Cintiq pen & touch display. This combination monitor and tablet allows him to draw directly to a computer screen. While the technology has made the process easier, allowing the artist to control many layers at a time, it still took him five years to complete “The Sculptor.”

As McCloud’s approach to comics matured he began to appreciate Japanese comics and their unique style. He said he plans to visit the MSU Special Collections for the first time while he is in Lansing, where he will be able to peruse the approximately 7,000 Japanese comics in the collection.

Interest in Asian and African comics is “growing like crazy,” says Scott. “There is something universal about comics and drawn literature that works in all cultures.”

McCloud’s next project will take him back to a more theoretical assessment of visual communication. “This time”, he says, “I will be looking at the common principles and best practices of infographics.”

Anyone who has endured an impenetrable PowerPoint presentation knows that this book is long overdue.

Scott McCloud book signing and talk

7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 16 Schuler Books (Eastwood Towne Center) 2820 Towne Center Blvd., Lansing (517) 316-7495, schulerbooks.com