From: wmorgan@stsci.edu (Windsor A. Morgan)
Subject: Re: Zot!
Organization: Space Telescope Science Institute
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 15:33:19 GMT

>In article <1jvmg6INN6p5@mozz.unh.edu> mre@kepler.unh.edu (Monty Python's Life of MikE) writes:

>   Could somebody please explain to me what Zot! (Is that exclamation mark a
>   part of the name?) is about?  I'm getting interested here, and I hear it
>   is/was a good book.  

In article <MJ1078.93Jan28213757@sol.taurus.cse.kyutech.ac.jp> mj1078@taurus.cse.kyutech.ac.jp (mmanuel pece) writes:
>Well, first of all, ZOT (without the exclamation mark) is the name of
>the main character (actually his name is something like Zachary,
>but he uses ZOT as his "superhero" name).

Zot's real name is Zachary Paleozogt.

>ZOT! (with the exclamation mark) is the title of the book.
>The author is Scott McCloud

>I could say that Zot! is about a young superhero 
>who lives in a parallel earth, in 1965 
>(even that 1965 looks more like our future).
>But the great thing is that it has very touching and human subjects, 
>such as high school students' problems, people's dreams, love, sex, etc.

I think it would be better to say that the book is about Zot and his
friend Jenny Weaver, from "our" Earth.  Personally, I think Jenny is
as important a character as Zot, and much more interesting.
Zot is also an overconfident jerk (I mean that in the nicest way) who
is almost always successful.

>The series first run in color for ten issues. 
>The ten of them form a complete story 
>(the saga of the key of the end of the universe).
>They are not so marvellous, more in the line of usual superhero
>(but nothing like "everybody hates me" mutant staff),
>with some humor.

I'm not sure what "usual superhero" means, but I think a good deal
of thought went into the creation of the stories, especially the writing.

>Eclipse said they were going to be collected in two books,
>but at the moment only the first one is out.

>Afterwards, the series started again in b&w, 
>with shorter stories (usually 2 comic-books).
>The action was mostly in Zot's earth, 
>but some times we got glimpses of "our" world too.

These were not the best of the series, in my opinion.  I started out
with #11 (the first B&W).  It was good enough to get me interested,
though, and I went on a search for the first 10 issues.

"Racing to 99", which McCloud didn't draw, was a giant video game, but
still very entertaining.

>The last 8 issues (or so) are the Earth Stories, the most intersting ones.
>Zot is all the time in our earth, 
>and he just observes the lifes of Jenny and her friends.

These *are* the best.  I think I like these best because I have always
liked "slice-of-life" stories without many superheroics.  Also, I can
relate to "our" Earth better than Zot's world.

>If you want to try it, i would suggest issues #11 and #12,
>the first two of the w&b series, which give an idea of the series.

That's what I did.  It even says on the cover of #11 something about
being made for new readers.

-- 
'Verily, there be no leader as wise as the Vision!'
                         Windsor Morgan (wmorgan@stsci.edu OR NHT@PSUVM.BITNET)
                         Space Telescope Science Institute
                         Baltimore, MD   21218
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc