(There are two redundant images for this piece.  Please scroll down and read the comments afterwards.)

TITLE: "Mr. Man Takes a Walk"

By: Sharif Shakhshir

TITLE: "Night of the Clones"

By: Sharif Shakhshir

Creator Comments:  The purpose of this piece is to put into perspective or at least refocus upon a claim made by (my hero) legendary comic theorist Scott McCloud and to do so using McCloud's own theory.  When McCloud defines the word "Comics" in his book Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art he claims that he is separating form from content (p. 5.19).  This seems essential because comics have the reputation for being something for children.  McCloud separates the form from content in order to show that comics do not have to be about super heroes or other kid stuff.

The problem as I see it is that form IS itself a piece of the work's content.

McCloud says that no types of subject matter are affected by his definition (p. 22.1).

What "Mr. Man Takes a Walk" and "Night of the Clones" show is that a comic's content can cause it to be excluded from his definition if only in rare cases.  In other words, "Mr. Man Takes a Walk" is a comic and "Night of the Clones" ambivalently is a comic and isn't a comic (according to McCloud's definition of comics).  The fact that a change in title can throw the form into question shows that McCloud's definition of comics is not purely independent of the content.

How is "Mr. Man Takes a Walk" a comic?  We'll bring in Scott McCloud's theories on comics to prove that it is a comic.

First off at first sight "Mr. Man Takes a Walk" should not appear to be a comic by McCloud's definition.  He defines comics as being "Juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or to produce an aesthetic response in the viewer" (p.9.5)  This means that a comic is anything that has multiple images that were purposefully placed next to each other for an audience.

"Mr. Man Takes a Walk" is 1 panel.  So it should not be a comic.  However, McCloud says that even when there are no panel divisions, if there are clear divisions then it can still be a comic (p. 13.1).  The title implies that this image is about Mr. Man taking a walk.  This is one character walking and the panel divisions (if I would have elected to draw them) are in between his steps.  Therefore this an example of comics despite a lack of drawn panel divisions

I imagine someone trying to debate my reasoning using the background.  As McCloud describes this technique is a polyptych (p. 115.1-115.4) where a background is static but the character moves across it.  This conveys a sense of motion.

Therefore "Mr. Man Takes a Walk" is a comic of a single man walking down a street.

Is it not possible to see that it is a still picture of multiple men who look a-like are moving down a street?  Of course.  This is the point!  This picture is ambivalently a still picture of three men walking down a street and a comic of a single man walking down a street.

It is entirely the title which guides one's interpretation of the work causing the work to be comics or to be a still picture.  Form decided by content.