Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud

     In Scott McCloud's "Understanding Comics", many interesting points are brought up and through inventive visual cues, his points are clear and concise. Out of all the points he makes, my favorite is the apple analogy. McCloud mentions how there are six steps for an ideal comic, the idea/purpose, form, idiom, structure, craft, and surface. I find it interesting how he uses an apple to show the layers and their individual importance and how each layer compliments the follow layers. When he explains how the surface is the most noticeable at first glance, he bites into the most appealing apple, having nothing else to offer and therefore hollow. When McCloud goes further in detail by using various situations as examples, the easier these six steps' importance are put into perspective.
      When re-reading this part of his comic, I related it to other comics I knew of, like Hiromu Arakawa's "Fullmetal Alchemist", Shaun Tan's "The Arrival", and Andrew Hussie's "Homestuck", it adds a few more new layers of appreciation and admiration for their work. When thinking about all the points mentioned with the apple analogy, it feels like a life hack to know how applying these six steps is like the underlying skeletal structure of story structure. Seeing the visuals used in McCloud's demonstrations explaining these six steps, there's a sense of motivation. When the years show all these creators and their breakthroughs, it doesn't necessarily mean there aren't any more fresh takes on anything. On the last pages of his book, McCloud shows the variety of vegetables, suggesting the endless possibilities of ideas and inspiration, creating an endless cycle of creativity. This makes me want to find other comics with all six steps and analyse those, appreciating the medium all the more.