Article originally written by Patrick Mitchell
Scott McCloud is a critically acclaimed comic theorist. He broke down comics to their most basic elements in Understanding Comics, foretold what comics must go through in order to survive in Reinventing Comics, and described the process of making comics in Making Comics. Now let’s take a look at at his first major work, Zot!.
Zachary T. Paleozogt lives in “the far flung future of 1965,” a utopian Earth of world peace, robot butlers, and flying cars. Jenny Weaver lives in an imperfect world of disappointment and broken promises – the Earth we live in. Stepping across the portals to each other’s world Zot’s and Jenny’s life will never be the same again.
This was Scott McCloud’s first attempt at making his own comic in 1984. It was a light hearted alternative to counter act the darker and more violent comics that dominated the industry at the time. He’s not reinventing the wheel of stories here but it was totally better than that stupid Watchmen or the ridiculous Dark Knight Returns. Am I right or am I right? …….Guys? …….. Where’d you go? ……… Please come back.
You know what, it wasn’t better than either of those, but I’ll still give Mr. McCloud props for pulling away from the mainstream and doing something different. Happy now?…….No?……Fine. Go! I don’t need you’re negativity…….Jeez, some people..Ya know. Now that we got that Negative Nancy out of here, let’s talk more about Zot!
With me, almost everything I look at has two sides to it. This comic book series is very similar. There are very good things about this series and there are very bad things about this series.
The characters of Zot!, in terms of quality, can go either way. Certain people, like Jenny Weaver, one of the two main characters, move the plot along, even though she whines about her life and how indecisive she is. But with other characters, like Zachary T. Paleozogt (a.k.a. Zot), the hero of the story, I feel like I’m reading Tom Sawyer in the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, where he’s no longer a cute and clever kid with a lot of imagination, but a teenager with too much imagination and doesn’t know when to stop. Tom Sawyer could have easily saved me from reading ten extra chapters if he had just told Huck that Jim was a free man. I mean, come on, I could be hanging out with my friends instead of reading about Tom thinking its cool that he got shot…Actually scratch that. I don’t have any friends…………… Anyway, my point is, some of the characters let the plot flounder creating unnecessary story lines, which makes a boring comic.
I know villains are also characters, but they deserve their own paragraph for two reasons. I found the villains in Zot! interesting and inventive. They reminded me of Golden, Silver and even Modern age characters. They have solid backgrounds and good evil intentions. Buuuut (and that’s a big but) no matter how much potential a villain could have, it’s up to the creator to realize that potential and Mr. McCloud unfortunately could not deliver in that department. I know he was going for a light hearted story, but villains can still be dark and dangerous. I’m not asking for them to rape innocent people or murder a city, just take a few people hostage once in a while. When a major villain knocks on the door during a party and the only reaction is “Who invited him?” with no terror in the eyes of the guests and the main confrontation between the hero and villain is a ping pong game, something is wrong with your story.
Now, don’t even get me started on the art…Oh you want me to? …Really? ….Alright, if you insist. The art of Zot! is not good. Don’t get me wrong, there are some beautiful panels through out the series. That’s the thing though. Mr. McCloud only puts care and detail in certain panels for greater impact, which many story tellers do, but the other panels around it are complete garbage, with little to no detail, mismatched lines and sloppy inking. His people are usually stiff and flat, especially in the last few issues. At times, I’m not sure if hands are animal claws or rocks with squiggles. His faces can be too simple and sometimes do not match up with the character that they are attached to. I will say that the scenery that Scott McCloud renders is incredibly imaginative and detailed and sometimes he even draws a good person or two. But for the most part, I am dissappointed with Mr. McCloud’s hastiness at the drawing board.
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This is a cute story revolving around love, adventure and teen angst. Though there are times when the characters seem fake and stories seem forced, if you forget all that and look at it as a whole, you’ll probably say, “This is a solid story, with an imaginative world and fun characters.” And it is. Though it took some time to hit it’s stride, it eventually comes around when it gets to the Earth Stories. Most of which were great and there were certain issues that really hit home with me, like the story of Ronnie. So even though I had some problems with this comic, I recommend reading it. And it may seem like I’m a little bit bi polar because I was just trashing Zot! but I think that comic fans should embrace all comics. You may even love it…What do I know? I don’t hate the Rulk.
If you do want to read it, issues 11-36 are available in a black and white collection (hardcover and trade paperback). The first 10 issues are out of print but there are used copies floating around the internet. And years after Zot! ended, Scott McCloud revisited the story as a webcomic, which is available on his website, scottmccloud.com. (For Free!)
