McCloud explores how in comics, the expectation of the literature stands that each panel is the present when being viewed currently, the future when it hasn't been reached yet, and the past after the reader has read it. The reader is expected to read the panels in a left to right fashion; truthful expectations across all literature. But through the use of illustration and format, the author of a comic may bend that expectation and open up oppurtunity for different approaches to the literature.
Illustration
McCloud portrays the power of illustration within comics. While words are useful tools to develop a scene or story with narration or dialogue, the benefit of comics is that the focus on illustration allows for the art to do the talking. Scenes are set up with elaborate sketches of the background or character actions. Illustration's go hand in hand with the words of a comic and may provide context to determine the meaning of the words that may have otherwise been overlooked