Credible Comics

     McCloud breaks the stereotype of comics begin completely childish and goofy be establishing ethos.  In comics, there is not much room to establish credibility, so it is incredible feat that he is able to do so.  McCloud is able to do this by not only using words, but by using pictures and events as key points to hint at ethos.  He is able to establish ethos in both words and text, even if these are not the main focus of the comic.

     He first establishes his ethos by depicting himself as an outside narrator.  A narrator is typically a well educated person on the subject who is waiting to inform others of their message.  He goes on to explain his point, but the presence of the narrator figure adds to the credibility of the words he is saying.  While addressing the reader, the narrator is depicted separating words from pictures.  The titles on the books are famous writings and the pictures are famous works of art.  This shows that he is credible since he is educated in other fields besides comics.  In addition to ethos established through pictures, McCloud establishes his credibility through words as well.  On words that he wishes to stick with the reader and to be emphasized, he uses bold and italicized words.  This shows that he has confidence in what he is saying and is ready to point out the key points in his arguments.  

     McCloud also subtly includes the definition of comics.  Ethos is established through this inclusion since it shows that he took time to research exact definitions, making him seem more intelligent.  In one of the pictures, he also depicts the constitution, and the word box above it includes a specific summary of the constitution along with the year that it was created.  Including the specifics of the constitutions allows McCloud to seem much more credible in other respects instead of just comics.  At the very end of the comic, the last frame includes a reference back to the very beginning.  It states that comics are a story of show and tell, just like the young boy from the start of the comic.  The boy is showing and telling the class how is toy can change into different things, must like a comic does.