Zot! (The Complete B&W Stories, 1987-1991)

[Chris Fluit]

More reactions and reviews:

#16, Call of the Wild: After a big, dramatic story (hey, three issues was a long story for 1987), McCloud comes back with an intentional change of pace.  It's supposed to be a humorous story in which the devolutionists revert everyone back to their ape-like forms.  I say "supposed to be humorous" because I didn't find it funny.  It's not that I object to silly.  Silly can be a good thing.  But this is just... dumb.  McCloud never really explains the point of the devolutionists (another point against his claim that issue 11 works as a starting point, since this is their second appearance and they simply show up).  And we don't really get any humorous hijinx from the main characters in their monkey forms.  They simply run away from the bad guys, pretty much what they'd do if they were still human.  McCloud makes an attempt at pathos when Jenny complains that Zot doesn't like her anymore now that she's a monkey, but it seems a little forced.  I was impressed a couple of issues ago.  Not so much anymore.

#17: The Eyes of Dekko, Pt. 1: The next story starts out pretty well.  McCloud does a good job of playing with different art styles representing the way that Dekko looks at the world.  Dekko's introduction is suitably creepy.  But the best part is a little bit later, as Uncle Max gives Jenny an art lesson.  It's a quiet moment, which is often when McCloud is at his best.  I wouldn't say that the entire issue worked for me.  The scene of Max destroying his paintings was a little over the top, though it did make his later advice to Jenny that much more surprising.  Also, even though we had seen Dekko a couple of times throughout the issue, his appearance at the end seemed like it came out of nowhere.  There hadn't really been an indication that his course was heading towards Zot's in any way.

#18: The Eyes of Dekko, Pt. 2: Unfortunately, as much as I enjoyed the story set-up in Part 1, the story pay-off in part two didn't work for me at all.  I know that McCloud was playing with art styles and the possibilities of the comic book page.  But his transitions within the party scenes were often odd and confusing.  At times, it seemed like it was supposed to be the same night.  At other times, it seems as if a lot of time had passed.  Perhaps that was intentional confusion on his part.  Perhaps the characters are confused in the same way.  But it just felt bewildering.  Plus, for the second story in a row, Dekko ended up being an unclear, vague threat.  Near the end of the story, we're given a reason why the others should be afraid of him.  But for most of the story, he's a threat with no purpose to it.  It wasn't all bad.  I liked Dekko's visual look.  And I enjoyed the use of blank space during the climax.  But overall, I haven't completely enjoyed Zot for several issues. 

[Chris Fluit]

I didn't generate any responses last time.  Let's see if we can do better this go-round.

First up, Chuck Austen is more known at this point for his controversial runs on Uncanny X-Men and Action Comics that had fans calling him all kinds of nasty names.  Before that, he had worked in television.  And before that, he had tried breaking into the comic book biz.  Fellow independent, Scott McCloud even had him draw two issues of Zot!  McCloud doesn't include those issues here (the complete black and white collection indeed!) but he does include the thumbnails that he gave to Austen to work with. 

Now, back to the story...

#21-22 Can't Buy Me Love: After a couple of disappointing stories, this one worked a lot better for me.  The story starts with Zot shooting a television commercial for a brand of pop.  I liked the variety of reactions, from those who fully support Zot in this endeavor to those who are selfishly hoping to cash in from Zot's success to those who are concerned about Jenny's reaction to Zot's innocence.  The variety of reactions meant that this series had a bit more depth to the "selling out" story than most.  I also liked that, in the resolution at the end, Zot did a different kind of commercial more because of Jenny's feelings on the matter than because of any moral imperative.

McCloud does a good job of introducing the villain this time around, too.  Again, it's a villain that McCloud had created earlier, but this time McCloud spares time to introduce Blotch and update us as to his status quo.  He also does a good job of preparing us for the inevitable crash between Zot and Blotch, something he didn't do as well with Dekko when Dekko's seemingly separate story suddenly inserted itself into  Zot's.  The one thing that Dekko had going for him was his interesting look and unique character.  McCloud gets that right this time around, too.  Blotch has a good look, even though it's a little comical- though that's intentional as this story is partly played for laughs.  Peeking ahead, it seems like McCloud will make it three in a row with 9-Jack-9, another villain with a great look. 

I also like the way that Zot's commercial contract backfires on him.  And I enjoyed the scenes in which Zot tried not to criticize his new boss, Blotch, publicly before admitting that he's a hero and he has to stop Blotch even if it means a breach of contract.  Overall, this was a good story.  There were a few flaws yet, but they're certainly outweighed by the things that worked.

Of course, the big thing to discuss is not the issue itself but the ideas that went into the issue.  There is the attitude that it is morally wrong for Zot to endorse a product or accept advertising money.  He's "selling out."  This seems to have been a prevailing attitude during the Reagan administration (sorry, don't mean to get political).  It's about this time that Neil Young is writing "This Bud's For You" as a parody of celebrity endorsements. In a couple of years, Marv Wolfman would write a similar story with the "Titans Sell Out."  There just seemed to be a big concern that a person was compromising their credibility.  And that just doesn't seem to be the case anymore, at least not to nearly the same degree.  I suspect that Michael Jordan had something to do with that.  Jordan became more than an athlete.  He became a brand.  And suddenly, this was the aim for almost everyone.  Not simply promoting somebody else's products, like OJ Simpson selling cowboy boots or Spider-Man selling fishing rods, but becoming an enterprise onto yourself.  And while Jordan and others may have taken this to an extreme, the general attitude is that it's okay to film a commercial every once in a while.  Even former presidential candidate Bob Dole made a commercial (and not for a non-profit agency like the one starring both Bill Clinton and the elder Bush).  It's not compelling for Booster Gold to simply be the corporate hero, he needs something more than that in order to sustain a series.  So, in many ways, the concern that's being bandied about in this issue is kind of out of date.  Jenny's absolute certainty that it's wrong to film a commercial is quaint.  But that's one reason why I liked McCloud's take on it.  Zot still ends up filming the commercial in the end, though he finds a compromise in which he doesn't have to lie.  And the one friend, Vic, who tries to talk Zot out of doing the commercial does so more out of consideration for Jenny's feelings that because he thinks there's anything wrong with it.  Maybe McCloud did have a clear opinion on the subject and Jenny is his spokesperson.  But maybe not.  And you certainly don't have to read the story that way.  Personally, I sided with Vic.  He seemed to have the most level head about the situation.

[Jeff of Earth J]

I didn't generate any responses last time.

You shame me. 

(Especially since this discussion was my suggestion in the first place!  )

On of these days (maybe this weekend while Tracy's out of town) I'll do the reading then catch up on this discussion.

[Doc Beechler]

I really should be jumping in here more than I am.  I have a confession to make...I bought the new collection and gave it away...unread.

In a ridiculous way, I was scared to read it.  I loved this series so much and I'm concerned that it may have had to do more with life events during the years I was reading them then the quality of the work itself.  Does that make any sense? 

I still intend to read the new material by McCloud one day...hopefully in the hardcover that's coming out in November at Christmas time  ... and I will certainly write more about the issues coming which really hit me close to the heart...the Earth-bound stories...those last few issues of the series ultimately changed my entire world view and, ultimately, my political feelings; but I'll probably write from memory rather than from reading them again. 

I'm way too chicken...

[Chris Fluit]

I really should be jumping in here more than I am.  I have a confession to make...I bought the new collection and gave it away...unread.

I'm sure the person you gave it to appreciates it. 

In a ridiculous way, I was scared to read it.  I loved this series so much and I'm concerned that it may have had to do more with life events during the years I was reading them then the quality of the work itself.  Does that make any sense? 

Oh yeah.  I've had that experience with other things.  Cartoons that I loved as a kid I can't bear to re-watch now.  A book that I loved when I was in junior high didn't hold up when I tried to read it again as an adult.  So I certainly understand that fear.

It's also true that a book or a movie may affect us as much as it does because of who we're like at the time we're reading it or what we're going through.  I don't know if I would have liked Starman quite as much as I did if I had been ten years older or ten years younger when I read it.  But when I did read it, Jack Knight and I were nearly the same age and going through a lot of the same things.  I internalized his stories more than I did for other heroes.  Which can be good: I learned a lot from Jack.  But it does have its bad side as well- taking things too personally when they happen to the fictional character, or discovering later the book isn't quite as good as you had thought at first.  I will say that Starman held up pretty well when I re-read it a number of years later.  And it even gave me insight as I realized things about myself that I hadn't noticed on a conscious level when I first experienced. 

I would hope that a re-reading of Zot would be like that for you, too.  But I certainly understand the fear that it wouldn't be.  All I can say is I'm enjoying it so far, even if I've been a little harsh on a couple of stories.  It's not like I stopped reading the book because of them (which I could if I wanted- it is Ana's book after all).

[Jeff of Earth J]

About 10 or 15 years ago, the high school I attended was gutted by fire. As the local TV news interviewed the "man-on-the-street" while it burned, every single one of them said something along the lines of, "That's a whole lotta memories going up in smoke there." I wished I could have been there to observe, "At least I've still got my memories." I say be daring, Bill. Try Zot! again. Chances are, not only willit live up to your expectations, but with 20 years more life experience under you belt, youmay be able to appeciate it on a whole other level.

And if not, "Hey, at least you've still got your memories!"

[Chris Fluit]

#23 The Ghost in the Machine:

Things I l liked: The continuing development of a possible relationship between Jenny and Woody, and the continuing development of Woody as a character.  When he first appeared, he was a geek cliche who Jenny was too nice to turn down.  But he's grown a lot from there, both physically (he hit his growth spurt) and as a character.  And now he really does seem like someone that the readers can identify with and that Jenny could fall in love with.  I also like that Woody still has a bit of an inferiority complex.  He can't see why Jenny could possibly be interested in him when she's got Zot. 

Things I didn't like: The superhero D&D session.  Went on too long, and wasn't funny.  Just showing Woody as a gamemaster for a panel or two would have been enough.

Things I liked 2: The admission that maybe Zot's world isn't as perfect as it seems on the surface.  McCloud writes about this in his essay piece (he includes one for each story).  Zot's world was supposed to be perfect and therefore serve as a contrast with our world.  But it didn't work out that way.  Earlier, I expressed appreciate for the way that Zot found things to love, enjoy and admire in our world.  Now, Zot admits that his world might not be perfect.  McCloud mentions that it wasn't intentional.  But it was something I had noticed before this story.  All of the villains come from Zot's world.  So obviously it isn't perfect.  It's nice to see Zot finally admit it to Jenny.  It gives the series a bit of veritas. 

Things I liked 3: I liked that the girl they were supposed to protect was already defeated mentally.  A lot of times the character in that situation doesn't have a personality.  They're just there for the heroes to move around (see the Keymaster in Matrix 2).  Not this time.  Plus, her personality actually makes it harder for the heroes to fulfill their mission.  And it's always good to have an obstacle or two in there, in addition to the main villain.

#24 The Ghost in the Machine part two:

Things I liked: I liked the team of commandos with no-tech weapons.  It was a nice touch.

Things I liked 2: 9-Jack-9.  Another good visual for a villain (making it three almost in a row with Dekko and Blotch).  And I like his calm demeanor during the battles.  It actually makes him more scary that he's not ranting and raving like most villains.  He thinks he's fully in control of the situation.  And both the heroes and the readers are scared he just might be. 

Things I liked 3: The heroes fail.  The girl they're supposed to save is killed.  Death is sometimes random.  This was something that I liked about the early seasons of Law & Order.  The good guys didn't always win.  And it's something that should happen in comics from time to time as well.  Zot failed in his main objective.  And not because of any fault of his own.  It's also surprising that this random death is so effective.  We don't actually like the character that dies.  She's annoying.  She's depressing.  Yet her death happens so quickly and randomly that you still feel bad for her.  Despite her flaws, she didn't deserve to die like that. 

#25 The Ghost in the Machine part three:

Things I liked and didn't like: I kind of liked the revelation that 9-Jack-9 is also Johnny from the jazz band.  It was a good connection.  But Max's attitude about the whole thing was a little off.  His defense wasn't that this was a Jekyll and Hyde situation- that Johnny doesn't have control over his other persona and therefore can't be held accountable for Jack's actions.  That's the defense I would have expected.  But it's not the one we got.  Instead, it was sort of a fatalistic shrug.  "He's a fairly nice fellow all things considered."  McCloud brings this up in his essay, noting that a lot of readers didn't get it.  He says that he thinks he knows where Max is coming from, but can't really explain it to us.  Comic books are a form of communication.  And if he can't communicate to us then in this case, the failure is on McCloud and not the audience. 

Things I liked 2: Throughout the story, 9-Jack-9 doesn't actually have a face.  But in his final confrontation with John, the face seems to take on a few features, almost as if 9-Jack-9 was becoming more real and more like John, even as John is becoming more like Jack.  I thought it was a real nice artistic touch. 

[Chris Fluit]

The next two issues, "Ring in the New," are two of my favorites. 

I've complained before that McCloud's attempts at humorous interludes didn't always work.  That's not the case this time.  Issue #26 is a great humorous interlude after the tension of the 9-Jack-9 story.  There isn't much of a plot.  Basically, Zot and Jenny are going around getting ready for a New Year's Eve party- making sure everybody knows they're invited, picking up decorations and refreshments, that sort of thing.  But the story reminds me of an Alfred Hitchcock lesson in story-telling.  If you just show two people having a conversation at a restaurant table, the conversation isn't that interesting.  But if you show a bomb under the table while the people are talking, the conversation suddenly becomes a lot more riveting- even if it's about nothing.  And that's the case here.  Though, in this case, it's not a bomb, but a cream pie.  You just know that somebody is going to end up with a cream pie in the face before we're done.  Regular readers at the time knew it because of the long-running poll that had been taking place in the letters pages.  I was aware of it because I happened to see the chart with every character being hit in the face with a pie before I read this story.  Yet, even if you hadn't known ahead of time, McCloud skillfully drops clues into the story, raising the humor and tension.  Characters keep passing the pie to another.  They joke about making sure not to drop it.  They try to guess what kind of filling is in the pie under the cream topping.  You know that the pie isn't just an incidental object but an important part of the story like Chekhov's gun above the mantle or Hitchcock's bomb under the table.  And it works brilliantly.  The anticipation of the joke keeps the reader riveted to the story.  And the story serves as a wonderful overview of all of the characters who have been part of the series so far- protagonists, sidekicks and villains. 

The second story is every bit as good but for very different reasons.  It starts out with the same humor that we saw in issue 26, as the pie plot comes to its unexpected conclusion and Zot has to defeat a double invasion from Bellows and Blotch.  But about a third of the way into the issue, the story turns surprisingly sad as Jenny prepares to move to Zot's world permanently.  I appreciated the melancholy tone of this issue as much as the humorous tone of the previous one.  Jenny's almost tearful good-byes to the things of her world, her quiet conversation with Woody explaining the reason behind her choice.  And it makes.  Who wouldn't want to escape to a perfect world?  Especially somebody who's 15, filled with teenage angst and devastated by her parents divorce.  And then there's the twist ending.  Just when Jenny is ready to leave her world for good, she and Zot become stuck in her world, unable to get back to Zot's futuristic paradise.  I also like the way that McCloud uses Woody to show us the impossibilities of Zot's world.  He lets us know that it's just wish-fulfillment writ large, but within the context of the story. 

[Chris Fluit]

I finished reading Zot a couple of days ago. 

Doc, I know you're not much of a re-reader, so it's okay if you don't get around to reading Zot again.   But I think it would also be okay if you did.  I'm finished with all of the Earth stories and I think they hold up really well.  Sure, some are better than others.  However, all together, they're really good. 

In fact, I think they hold up better than Scott McCloud does.  For every story (sometimes a single issue, sometimes for two or three together), McCloud includes a little editorial.  It's a nice touch.  I enjoy reading about McCloud's thought process while working on a story, or finding out about the other things that were happening at the time.  But I think that McCloud comes off as too apologetic at times.  He frequently apologizes for his artwork, which is no longer up to his standards.  And he apologizes for some of the stories as well.  Sometimes, I agree with him.  The first issue in which Zot goes looking for crime in New York City isn't that great.  Yet often I disagree with him.  He chastises himself for having this fantasy character floating around in otherwise real world stories.  Except that I think it works wonderfully.  It's like having Harvey the Rabbit or a guardian angel.  Some of the characters believe Zot's story.  Others don't.  But they all treat him as this near-perfect being and confide in him.  Zot's presence brings another level to the stories, one that might not have been available in a purely representational approach. 

Anyway, the series ends really well with "Sometimes a Direction," "The Conversation" and the finale.  McCloud has a nice bit about the finale.  Some people saw it as a defense of fiction.  His editor saw it as a defense of Zot.  I think those two go hand in hand.  McCloud obviously struggles with being a writer of superhero fantasy instead of being, I don't know, Cormac McCarthy.  But that finale is a great defense of Zot specifically and of imaginative fiction in general.  It's okay to want to escape into another world from time to time.  Sure, there are dangers in wanting to spend all of your time there and in neglecting the problems of the real world (which is why I especially liked that Zot refused to allow Jenny to move there permanently).  But there's also something wonderful and magical about these other worlds, and we shouldn't deny ourselves wonder and beauty which can enrich our lives.  It's okay to read Zot, and Lord of the Rings, and Star Wars and Superman and Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all the rest.  Despite the protestations of certain critics (Roger Ebert among them), there is something of value in writing about, reading about and exploring worlds that aren't exactly our own.   

[anacoqui]

Yeah...two years after I meant to join this conversation...I finally get a chance to read it both Zot and the discussion.

Doc, Thank you so much for sending me the book...it was a real treasure.