Last night at the University of Houston comics artist Scott McCloud's public lecture floored me. To tour the country not to hock a product, but to just talk about comics requires a passionate vehicle, and to hear the vast role comics play in human communication was staggering.Photo by Jason Poland

Last night's topic was "Comics & Visual Media." Projected behind him on a 40 foot high screen was the menu of the best Power Point presentation I had ever seen. Not one single bullet point. Twenty-six menus filled with more than 700 images awaited his choosing. He said that he had just revamped the entire presentation the night before, tinkering with it the way an inventor might, just to see how fast he could get it going.

McCloud shared a story about traveling the country with his family during a comic-book tour. His family spent half their time tuning out with books, music, or portable videogames, while the real world was whizzing by them across 50 states. Some fathers might see the irony in this, or even frustration, but McCloud recognized it as a basic human need.

"We didn't choose what world to be born into," he said.

Media provides an escape into worlds of our choosing. Upon our return, we have new eyes for the real world. Without invoking images of an apple-biting Bastian from "The NeverEnding Story," the best media will step away from its presentation, off the page, out of the screen, away from the sheet music, and captivate us. An excellent play will dissolve even the most ornate stage when the actors appear.

McCloud explained that in comics, the panel is not a box bound to the page, but a window. Often, the most can happen in a comic between panels, between time, when our imagination connects adjacent images. As new technology merges all media, comics have the most opportunity for innovation with the comic artist's manipulation of this window. Comics, he argued, are the only medium of expression where past, present and future are simultaneously present to the viewer.

However, the future of comics is uncertain. As new media emerges, comics have struggled to find what Scott calls a "durable mutation." I asked McCloud what he thought about a Hi and Lois comic strip in which syndicate strip creators Brian and Greg Walker take a stab at the apparent futility of independent web cartoonists hoping to monetize their work: "I don't know how to make a living at webcomics. Right now, I'm working on a graphic novel."
Hi and Lois

More information about Scott McCloud's work, his inventions, and his presentations can be found at scottmccloud.com.