Comics Are Just Myths

In Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art, Scott McCloud suggests that the simplicity of comics allows readers to better understand reality. McCloud writes, "The ability of cartoons to focus our attention on an idea is...an important part of their special power." McCloud argues that cartoons allow us to better grapple with ideas by representing them without the confines of reality or specificity. He highlights the simplistic drawing techniques of comics as key to emphasizing certain ideas and characteristics over others. This ability to simplify allows comics to have a greater control over the messages they convey. Myth works in a similar way by creating a simlpified reality that seeks to highlight and amplify certain ideas about the cosmos. Comics, and the myths they depict, are able to use symbols and icons to "strip down an image to its essential meaning." 

The Book of Genesis Illustrated and The Manga Bible used the simplicity of myth to highlight  the repercussions of temptation. After the Adam and Eve eat the apple they lose they are filled with anxieties, such as nudity. Nudity is depicted, in both comics, as something Adam and Eve aren't ashamed of, instead, nudity was simply a natural state of being. In the end of The Manga Bible, Adam and Eve are burdened with personal anxieties after they commit original sin. In the last frame of The Manga Bible, Adam states, "I think I'm going to cover up."  These two basic myths highlighted the anxieties that the original sin “redefined creations destiny.” From these comics I realized that Comics are depictions of myths that allow us to focus on ideas without the specificity of individual circumstance.