McLeod’s piece, beginning with an anecdotal story from his childhood allows readers to easily understand his definition of closure; which soon becomes the thesis of his piece. McLeod states that as a child we do not attain a sense of closure, thus things which do not appear directly within our surroundings are incapable to grasp. As we develop, we develop our sense of ‘closure’. A phenomenon in which we are capable of understanding and identifying with things outside our immediate perception of reality. This sense of closure allows various fragments of perception come together to form our own reality, based on experience and knowledge.
McLeod exemplifies the importance of ones sense of closure within the art of comic, as comic artists must work off a concise platform, they do not attain the ability to articulate every motion of the character, surroundings, actions and sound, thus they rely on the readers sense of closure. As readers, one is asked to draw on their personal experiences and knowledge to imagine the moments between panels, thus it draws heavily on closure.
McLeod articulates this with a range of different comics, he presents the reader with a two panelled comic. The first panel features a stereotypical villain holding an axe to a seemingly innocent man with the phrase “Now you die”. The second panel of the comic, pictures a birds eye view of the same city with the phrase “EeYaaaa”. Although the artist did not portray the death of the man in any way, one concludes that the villain undertook his killing by the screaming sound effect in the second panel. This exemplifies the importance of ones sense of closure in creating comics, as they have such limits space.
McLeod then articulates that it is in the space between the comics where the real magic happens. The ‘gutter’ is where the reader must transform the information given into a story and in doing so, the story comes to life. Although the comic is only a single sensory experience, within the ‘gutter’ one incorporates their imagination to bring the comic to life. Although the image may be solely visual, one can imagine the sound, smell and ambience of the story.