Scott's McCloud's Understanding Comics Anyone communicating using mixed text and graphics should read this book! As a design book, it is unparalleled in its ability to fluidly intertwine text and graphic image in the exposition of a theme. As I read this book, I was reminded of two other books I consider groundbreaking: Edward Tufte's Envisioning Information, and Radio Shack's (I kid you not!) series on learning electronics that are drawn/written by hand in a notebook by Forrest Mimms. For instance, in this panel, McCloud is explaining various methods of expressing the passage of time. You're reading the text, not even aware that the medium (this comic strip) is a vivid example of the point the text is making. What I like so much about this book is its ability to transparently move between text and graphics, so that both convey the same point, and the argument moves as an organic whole. Compare this to the typical argument, with its intrusive "see figure 23A" notations, that jar you back and forth between the text and graphic. In such a case, the graphic is rarely there when you need it, or is so overbearing that is squeezes out the text. Here, McCloud explains Magritte's famous Pipe painting, making his point with text, a pause, and a joke. After reading this book, you'll never look at Comics the same way again!