Connect the Zot!s: Scott McCloud's Zot!: The Complete Black and White Collection

So I've been in and out of town the past couple weeks, which means I've spent quite a bit of time on airplanes. One might think this would allow hours and hours of time to catch up on my reading, but one would be wrong: typically, I have a hard time reading for more than 30 or so minutes on a plane. After the drink service, all I want to do is stare at the back of the seat in front of me and try not to look at the time. Thank god for ipods, now I can at least listen to music while I slowly go bored out of my skull. I say 'typically' because every now and then (I fall apart! And I need you now tonight! ... whoa, Nicki French, where did you come from?) I'm able to concentrate on an exceptionally good book for the better part of a flight. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was one of these. And so was Scott McCloud's mega trade of Zot! 1987- 1991: The Complete Black and White Collection, which brings me to today's review.

Zot! follows the title character, a teenage superhero from a Utopian Earth in an alternate dimension, as he fights criminal masterminds in his world and interacts with his pals from ours. The first half-ish of the trade, "Heroes and Villains" focuses on superhero-y exploits and neato techy gadgets and places, while the second part, "Earth Stories," is more concerned with the characters and their backgrounds and stories. As an added bonus, McCloud includes a long introduction and commentaries after each story arc; these insights into the stories and glimpses into McCloud's life as he wrote them were hands down one of my favorite things about the book. I might be biased, because I, like scores of comic geeks around the globe, am Scott McCloud's number one fan (at least in the top 100?), so the biographical aspects of his stories are a real treat. Even for readers not familiar with his opus, the guy's just accessible and really funny. His prose reads like he's talking to you; it's better than a lot of his characters' dialogue. Now, if he had taken a page from Understanding/ Reinventing/ Making Comics and written his commentary in comic form- hm, that may have actually been too much... well, probably not.

The comics of "Heroes and Villains", like I said, mostly tell stories of Zot's adventures in his own dimension with his not-girlfriend Jenny (from our earth), her brother Butch (also a chimpanzee, depending on which dimension he's in), his Renaissance man uncle Max, and a handful of other not terribly developed friends and machines. There's some pretty good witty banter here and there, and some of the themes that come up with the villains invite further thought. In his commentaries, McCloud actually talks a bit about what ideas each of his villains represents, and really, I think the bad guys are the most interesting characters. 9Jack9 and Zybox bring up the subjectivity of morality- always a fun topic- and have probably some of the coolest names in the history of bad guy monikers. Dekko's perception of the world allows for some really neato visual possibilities- just one of the places where you can see McCloud's ideas from Understanding Comics coming into play. All in all, the visual aspect of "Heroes and Villains" is this section's strength- the settings and splash pages, all the neat futuristic gadgets and spaces on Zot's world, the villains, it's all great to look at. The story-telling is fun, but not outstanding, and the characters don't get much treatment as such. Truth be told, the promise of the next section to develop them kept me going.

And "Earth Stories" delivered. In this section, Zot gets trapped on Jenny's world (that is, ours), and so we get to follow the adventures of her friends, none of which are super-powered or fantastical. They're just kids in high school with angst and problems, and they happen to hang out with flight capable, visibility-optional Zot. See? Relatable! Pretty much each issue is told from a different character's point of view, giving the reader a peek into their lives, which mostly revolve around fears, insecurities, and self-delusion. Whoo drama! Even visually, McCloud gets a little more experimental in this second section. The two award winning issues- "Normal" and "The Conversation" deserve every bit of the praise they got. Within a story arc that takes homosexuality and tolerance as its main conflict, "Normal" tells the story of Jenny's friend Terry coming to terms with her own sexuality. Here, the story really grabbed me, and it took no time for me to get emotionally invested in Terry. And if Zot's trademark inherent goodness was a bit over the top in the previous section, in "Normal," I couldn't help loving him for it. The ending is a bit of a heart fuck (if I can invent a phrase), but it's glorious. "The Conversation" focuses on a story line that had been in the back of my mind from the onset- do, uh, Zot and Jenny ever get it on? The issue takes place over the span of a couple minutes, maybe ten, where Zot broaches the subject, questions are answered, and awkwardness ensues. McCloud NAILS this conversation, capturing the discomfort, hesitance, and honesty of the characters flawlessly in empty speech balloons, slow pacing (moment to moment transitions...!), and their gestures. He says in his commentary that capturing human "poses and expressions" was never his strong suit, but I think he's really outdone himself here. The final issue, "The Great Escape," was also stunning: McCloud begins by focusing on a character per page, then per half page, until finally, we're back to a more or less non-character specific perspective, where the story arc of Zot's stint on our Earth concludes. The issue becomes an apology for fiction, which really impressed me; it was a great way to end the book, in both the contexts of the fantastical tales of the "Heroes and Villains" as well as the character driven "Earth Stories."

I'd recommend the complete Zot! to any McCloud fans, for the commentary if nothing else. I know I'm singing the tune of all the reviews I've read, which I hate doing, but: "Earth Stories," look, everyone, just track them down and read them. Also there is this, which I haven't read yet, since I'm still all googly over "Earth Stories." That might have to wait until next week.