“Sequential art is the act of weaving a fabric.”

“In writing with words alone, the author directs the reader’s imagination. IN comics the imagining is done for the reader.”

Will Eisner, pg. 127

I imagine this is a book I’ll be revisiting for years to come. I finished reading this book like I “finished” beating Pokemon Scarlet months ago, yet I still come back to it for all the post-game content. There’s a lot of “post game” content contained within these pages.

Eisner is a bit of a living myth within the realm of comics. If you only know him because his name was attached to that terrible Spirit movie from 2008 (which I foolishly dressed up as, thinking it was going to be some kind of revolutionary standard in comic books filmmaking), then you only know the barest amount. This was the man who revolutionized what the funny pages could do and, by extension, what sequential art could do.

Any comic creator worth their weight will talk the standards set by this book, what it details, the philosophical quandaries it presents, and how, even decades later, the lessons and guidelines it lays out are still relevant. After all, what is a comic book if not a series of pictures with words attached to them trying to tell a story?

If it gets any more complicated than that, then I don’t know if you’re doing it right.

I wish I had more to say, but the book speaks for itself. A bit dry, not hokey or gimmicky in any way. It straight up tells you how comics work, why they work, and what you can do to keep making them.

I keep a series of books like these, reference books I mean, next to my pillow to look at every so often. This one is joining the crowd.

Thanks for reading,

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