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Overview
Long before manga took the American comics market by storm, Scott McCloud (Understanding Comics, Making Comics) combined the best ideas from manga, alternative comics, and superheroes into Zot!—a frenetic and innovative exploration of comics' potential that helped set the stage for McCloud's later groundbreaking theoretical work.
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 worlds, Zot and Jenny's lives will never be the same again.
Now, for the first time since its original publication more than twenty years ago, every one of McCloud's pages from the black and white series has been collected in this must-have commemorative edition for aficionados to treasure and new fans to discover.
Includes never-before-seen artwork and extensive commentary by Scott McCloud
Synopsis
Long before manga took the American comics market by storm, Scott McCloud (Understanding Comics, Making Comics) combined the best ideas from manga, alternative comics, and superheroes into Zot!—a frenetic and innovative exploration of comics' potential that helped set the stage for McCloud's later groundbreaking theoretical work.
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 worlds, Zot and Jenny's lives will never be the same again.
Now, for the first time since its original publication more than twenty years ago, every one of McCloud's pages from the black and white series has been collected in this must-have commemorative edition for aficionados to treasure and new fans to discover.
Includes never-before-seen artwork and extensive commentary by Scott McCloud
Publishers Weekly
Understanding Comics' McCloud spent the first six years of his career on this lesser-known Astro Boy-inspired comic. This mammoth volume collects issues 11-36, along with lots of commentary from McCloud. The series stars Zot, a teenager from an alternate Earth where rocket-powered boots and laser guns are commonplace, and Jenny, a girl from our Earth who just wants to escape her humdrum high school existence. The zippy, pulpy stories feature Zot facing off against a multitude of villains, from robots run amok to thwarted, steampunk-style inventors. Looking through the comics peers through a window at the development of a comic writer's talents; as the art morphs slowly into McCloud's recognizable style, the stories take on more sophisticated subject matter-one later issue features Zot and Jenny discussing sex, like a scene from a soapy teen drama. McCloud's love of classic superhero comics is clear, even as he consciously contrasts it with the problems of the real world. The collection only suffers from the absence of the first 10 issues, leaving new readers confused at some unexplained plot twists, but it is sure to be a treasure trove for McCloud fans or lovers of intelligent retro comics action. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Editorials
for Largehearted Boy -
"Shows that [McCloud] is not only an avid student and chronicler of comics, but an incredibly talented cartoonist...illuminates McCloud’s genius as he blends Eastern and Western comics influences into a mesmerizing superhero tale."for Fleen.com -
"Honestly, comics just don’t get any better than this."for Eye on Comics.com -
"To suggest I was enthralled by McCloud’s pop commentary about hope and beauty in the world would be to embrace understatement…well crafted, entertaining and even challenging…9 out of 10."William Gibson
"The classic retrofit of the post-war comics gestalt."Samuel R. Delany
"Zot! is refreshing, lively, and truly entertaining."Greg Bear
"Zot! is wonderful…and should please readers of all ages.Richard A. Lupoff
"Zot! is a remarkable graphic narrative. "Comic Book Resources.com
"With a smart-looking trim size and a sharp design that includes cover flaps and a stark-but-beautiful cover, Zot!: The Complete Black and White Collection is an admirable addition to one’s bookshelf."Washington Post Book World
"Thoroughly charming...the series’s thoughtful joy spills over into its airy, bouncy design sense."Booklist
"[D]elightful...Zot! has aged surprisingly well, and now it seems prescient in being strongly influenced by Japanese comics well before manga was common in America."The Onion A.V. Club
"Essential...a stunning revelation...the packaging alone is fantastic...It’s long past time for a critical re-appraisal of these tender, delicate, overwhelmingly ambitious early stories, and what they tried to accomplish as well as what they actually did accomplish."Sacramento Book Review
"McCloud is one of the major talents in the comics world."Daily News
"A brilliant superhero series that still holds up to the test of time 20 years later."Edge Boston
"One of comics’ best written, and most overlooked, titles...a stylish, often light-hearted, and yet dramatically compelling comic."Publishers Weekly
Understanding Comics' McCloud spent the first six years of his career on this lesser-known Astro Boy-inspired comic. This mammoth volume collects issues 11-36, along with lots of commentary from McCloud. The series stars Zot, a teenager from an alternate Earth where rocket-powered boots and laser guns are commonplace, and Jenny, a girl from our Earth who just wants to escape her humdrum high school existence. The zippy, pulpy stories feature Zot facing off against a multitude of villains, from robots run amok to thwarted, steampunk-style inventors. Looking through the comics peers through a window at the development of a comic writer's talents; as the art morphs slowly into McCloud's recognizable style, the stories take on more sophisticated subject matter-one later issue features Zot and Jenny discussing sex, like a scene from a soapy teen drama. McCloud's love of classic superhero comics is clear, even as he consciously contrasts it with the problems of the real world. The collection only suffers from the absence of the first 10 issues, leaving new readers confused at some unexplained plot twists, but it is sure to be a treasure trove for McCloud fans or lovers of intelligent retro comics action. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Library Journal
Before the brilliant Understanding Comics , cartoonist McCloud created the much-loved Zot! starring an eternally optimistic, supremely self-confident, and genuinely decent teen superhero from a bright, advanced alternate Earth. This wonderful collection reprints all of McCloud's black-and-white Zot! work-not included is the series' initial ten-issue, full-color story, in which Zot first meets future girlfriend Jenny, a resident of our Earth. High-spirited, humor-laced heroics predominate in some early tales here; others are more dramatic, including Zot's disheartening first encounters with crime and disaster on our imperfect planet, and his battle against 9-Jack-9, the phantom assassin who killed his parents. Later stories present finely wrought character studies of Jenny's circle of friends, and here McCloud breaks down some barriers for superhero comics, dealing sensitively with issues of homosexuality and teen sex. As McCloud laments (rather too self-critically) in new commentary inserted between stories, his art style was still developing-but some work here, especially in stories involving the mad artist Dekko and his abstract visions, presages the style, invention, and concerns of Understanding Comics . Nominated for 12 Eisner and Harvey Awards in its initial serialization, this is highly recommended for teens and adults.-S.R.