Books : Zot!: The Complete Black and White Collection: 1987-1991

Rating: - Those who teach can also do
Today Scott McCloud is best known as the author of Understanding Comics - an in depth analysis of how and why comics work. Understanding Comics and its sequels established McCloud as one of the premier comic book scholars. He really understands how sequential art (comic books, manga, comic strips etc) can work and can be made better.

But before all that, he was a struggling independent comic creator slaving away on Zot.

This is a love story between a fearless adventurer from a Flash Gordon-art deco world and an angst-filled teen from a small town in ours. The action moves from jet boots and laser beams to high school drama and both are very good.

This reprint collection is a bit odd because it skips the color issues of Zot, which set up the whole improbable situation and most of the characters. Yet it still works, thanks in part to McCloud's commentary after each issue.

So more than 20 years after it was first written Zot shows that McCloud is more than just a scholar but one of the premier comic creators of our time.

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Rating: - Something that doubtlessly will stand the test of time
I remember watching Castaway many years ago. It was the scene where Tom Hanks, now a lank savage figure, argued with Wilson the volleyball and then tearfully found him floating on the beach. It was light-hearted and serious at the same time. Most importantly, it had DEPTH. I felt the stranded years that were skipped over in the film heavily in how desperately Hanks held on to his friend. Never again, Wilson. Never again.

Reading Zot! gives me such an experience. As other examples of great art, it takes us places we can't go physically. It helps us see the world we see everyday in a new light. Also like other great art, revisiting it gives us a deeper appreciation each time.

Buy this book.

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Rating: - A long-overdue collection of a comic masterpiece
Zot!, in my opinion, is one of the true masterpieces of the 80s, one that deserves to be mentioned right alongside Watchmen and Maus. If for no other reason, he deserves credit for being one of the few artists to successfully combine manga-style storytelling with an unmistakeably American drawing style. But beyond that, the character portraits he created toward the end of the series are simply brilliant, among the best stories of their type ever produced. I can't recommend this collection highly enough.

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Rating: - Finally, a complete reprint of the B/W Zot issues!
(H. Bala gives a good detailed review, so won't repeat what he says).

I first encountered Zot! back when it was published by Eclipse during its color phase and got all the color issue (was initially put off by the comic until I really checked it out and liked what I saw).

When it went into hiatus and came back in black & white, I got it. Great stuff.

Then Kitchen Sink started to collect the comic in trade paperback (I think Eclipse had gone under by then). I got all the trade: #1 (first 10 issues in color), then the 2nd and 3rd (all black and white). We were just missing the 4th collection (covering the 'Planet Earth' storyline) when Kitchen Sink went under!! Arggh. For many years, we Zot fans awaited this to come out from SOMEONE.

McCloud, mean while, moved on to other things, like Understand Comics and the follow ups to that. Pretty much the only new fiction stuff he's done was the 'new adventures of Lincoln' and a new Zot webcomic.

Now, finally, ALL the black and white issues (except for the 2 parter done with Austen and the 1/2 issues by Frezel) are collected. I'll still keep my old KSP collections, especially the one of the first 10 color issues. (McCloud really shouldn't put down those issues. While they might not be as good as the later b/w, they are still pretty good.)

Now, if only McCloud would come out with more Zot comics...

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Rating: - McCloud Understands Comics
The old quip is that those who can't do, teach. It's a witty enough remark, but does it really hold true? The case I want to look at is Scott McCloud. He is best known for writing the classic Understanding Comics, which goes into the nuts and bolts of what makes comics work (along with the near classic Making Comics and the less memorable Reinventing Comics). But can he actually write comics? Zot! shows he can.

Zot! covers issues 11 to 36, all written and drawn by McCloud (an earlier ten issue run (in color) is not included, but #11 pretty much is a reboot in black-and-white). The principal characters are Jenny Weaver, a teenage girl in the "real" world and her friend (boyfriend?) from an idealized Earth, Zachary T. Paleozogt, also known as Zot. Zot, also a teenage, is a superhero in his world, but in a land where crime is minimal and the villains tend to be more silly than dangerous, Zot has developed into a pure idealist. Jenny, having to deal with family issues and the usual teenage pressures of school and peers, has a more jaded view of her own world.

The book is divided into two parts. In Part One - Heroes and Villains - we get somewhat standard superhero fare, with Zot contending with various bad guys. Some, as mentioned above, are silly, while others are far more dangerous. Part Two - The Earth Stories - take a radical turn. As these issues begin, Zot is stranded in Jenny's reality; it doesn't bother the eternally optimistic superhero, but it does shift the focus. Zot is almost pushed to the side as stories focus on Jenny and her friends as they deal with the mundane (but still significant) problems in their own lives. As Jenny is in the middle of a romantic triangle with Zot and her friend Woody, other characters must deal with issues such as poverty, gay-bashing and divorce. And though Zot may view things through rose-colored glasses, he is still savvy enough to provide an alternate, somewhat alien viewpoint to his friends.

For a comic to succeed, not only must the writing and the art be good on their own, they have to mesh perfectly together, and they do in this series. What makes McCloud stand out is not only good at writing comics, he is good at explaining how they work as well (and he provides a lot of commentary on his own work in this volume; in other works, not all who can do can teach, but McCloud can. But even if you've never read McCloud's more well-know nonfiction, this is still well-worth picking up.