Chapter 3, Blood in the Gutter Summary and Analysis

In this chapter, Scott discusses the idea that one relies on sensory perception in order to experience the outside world. Scott says that one's perception of reality is an act of faith based upon mere pieces of the world. Scott introduces the concept of closure, the "phenomenon of observing the parts but perceiving the whole". Closure allows film and television viewers to "transform still pictures into a story of continuous motion". Scott explains that the space between panels in a comic is known as "the gutter." Closure allows readers to connect the events occurring in each panel in order to form a story.

Scott points out that although the closure of electronic media is "continuous, largely involuntary, and virtually imperceptible...closure in comics is far from continuous and anything but involuntary". Readers must...