Scott McCloud, author and illustrator of Understanding Comics, made his name with his comic Zot!, which premiered in 1984. Written, illustrated and owned by McCloud (which was much less common then than it is now), Zot! began as a brightly-colored, quirky and light superhero comic. Zachary T. Paleozogt, also known as Zot, is a teenaged superhero in a parallel dimension where Earth is an Art Deco retrofuturist world with spaceships and flying cars. He accidently pops into our Earth and drags high school student Jenny Weaver and her obnoxious brother, Butch, into his world. Eclipse Comics published ten issues of Zot!, and then McCloud took a hiatus for a year and a half. When Zot! started again, it was in black and white, and McCloud started pushing the stories into new areas, focusing on supporting characters and exploring issues of relationships, heroism, depression and addiction.

The first ten issues are out of print now, but issues 11-36 have been collected in one big book, Zot!: The Complete Black and White Collection. I highly recommend it. Zot! is one of my favorite comics. These stories are fun, exciting, thought-provoking and moving, full of great characters and real emotions. There’s a great complexity to Zot!, but also a wonderful innocence. In addition to all of this great art and storytelling, the collection has “liner notes” from McCloud that give real insight into the creator and his comic.

Zot! is all kinds of wonderful. If you like superheroes, adventure, or real teen drama (not the fake drama of most TV shows), read Zot!. Now.

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