After creating the independent fantasy title Zot in the 1980s, Scott McCloud (b. 1960) wrote and illustrated Understanding Comics, an extremely influential treatise on the nature of comics as a medium, focusing on structural aspects such as panel-to-panel transitions. This was followed by Reinventing Comics, which discussed changes in comics publishing and explored the author's more recent interest in digital media.

McCloud has also contributed to the field of experimental comics by inventing formal games like the "24-hour comic" and "Five-Card Nancy," and drafted the original version of the Creator's Bill of Rights.