Zot!

Zot 23-27

The rest of the “Heroes and Villains” section.  Scott McCloud introduces another sweet villain with 9-Jack-9, who has the power to control machines.  (I’m positive someone has that ability in the Marvel universe, but I can’t remember who it is for the life of me.)

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Zot 28-36

The “Earth Stories” issues.  McCloud makes the bold choice of spotlight lighting one person per issue here, including a number of supporting characters who haven’t had more than a couple of lines up until now. 

Sobering insight from McCloud; Race relations are so bad today that someone from a parallel world can only draw one conclusion...

This is definitely the stronger part of the series, headlined by the classic “Normal” issue (33).  Terry struggles with the realization that she’s gay, and McCloud handles the story with a sensitivity and acceptance that was sadly rare in 1991.  It’s an excellent piece, and I’d buy the whole trade again just for these 19 pages.  (McCloud really gets me with the false ending.  I’d totally forgotten about it, and I fell for it again.)

It's chilling that people have to feel this way about themselves.

I've definitely done this.

McCloud inserted his letter page right here...

...making the reader wait for the reveal.  Sneaky bastard.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good (Nice for 31-32, Really good for 33)

Zot!

Zot 11-18, 21-22

I must have bought this collection because I wanted to see what the creator of Understanding Comics was capable of.  (Though as he says in the forward, Zot! was created before that.)  I was not looking forward to the re-read, because having no memory of how good a 576-page volume is is not a good sign.  

Thankfully, Zot! is eminently readable.  While there’s nothing super standout about anything, there are a lot of little things that McCloud does decently well - The high school drama between Jenny, Woody, and Zot has its moments; the occasional standout page of art; the random spectacular villain like Zybox or Dekko.  There isn’t magic on every page, but it shows up often enough to keep things from dragging.  

Sigh.  Never give them hope.

This has to be a Lichtenstein parody.

Dekko is really an inspired creation.

Is Zot a good guy, or just so confident that Jenny will choose him?

Gorgeous, and so unlike the rest of the series.

I’ve got about half of the trade to go.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice