Media Credit: Peter Franklin Scott McCloud, cartoonist and author of "Understanding Comics," discusses the history of comics and the effects of technology at the Carothers Dormitory Thursday night.

Cartoonist and author Scott McCloud explored the history of comics, showing everything from Egyptian wall paintings to online comic strips, demonstrating how technology affects art.

McCloud went through more than 700 slides, showing the breadth and depth of the comic medium at the Thursday night event in the Joynes Reading Room in Carothers Dormitory.

He used his five choices of moment, frame, image, word and flow to show how comics have changed and the new form it is taking in the Internet industry. He used the last 13 years to study the difference between print comics and Web comics, he said.

"I try to test the boundaries," McCloud said. "I hang on to comics' original identity but also grasp new technologies to adapt in the world we are in. I am trying to anticipate what could happen down the road."

McCloud has had a huge importance over the years in helping students in areas such as creative writing, photography and even math leagues, said Matt Valentine, program coordinator for the reading room.

"We have been trying to get him [for] a while," said art and art history assistant professor David Shields. "He introduces us to complex ideas on how we see things. I think he cares about the future of the realm itself. He is not just talk, but do."

Alex Diamond, a radio-television-film sophomore, said he believes McCloud's belief in creator's rights and his simplicity made him popular.

"He has made interesting strives and is ahead of the curve in showing what the possibilities are," said Diamond, who is also president of the University Comic Book Enthusiasts.

McCloud grew up on the same street as the famous children's book illustrators the Dewan Brothers and well-known comic artist Kurt Busiek. He used their views of comics and expanded on them for his art, he said.

McCloud has been designing superhero comics since 1980 and wrote many works to discuss the history and methods of comic book writing. He is most famous for his graphic nonfiction book "Understanding Comics," which is what he bases his presentations on. He recently completed a year-long tour to all 50 states with his family, touring the world of comics and giving presentations to his fans.

"I have been taught that this is more than making a pretty picture," McCloud said. "It is an opportunity to tell a story."

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