Rough Trade Friday: Zot

Its hard for me to explain the impact Zot had on my views of the role of comics in society and their overall value as art. Named after its titular character, Zot was recommended to me by an English professor who was exploring the world of pop-culture and was holding Zot to be an example of graphic novel as literature (along with Maus, but that's another story). Zot occupies parrallel versions of Earth, one is his native utopia, the other is our world, flawed yet promising. Zot and Batman share a similar backstory, but whereas Batman chose to become a dark avenger, Zot chose to be archtypically heroic.

Created by Scott McCloud, Zot lives in a paradise of Golden Age making, flying cars, platinum spires. Zot himself uses a rocket belt and ray gun, evoking aspects of both Flash Gordon and the Rocketeer. Several social issues (such as the role of religion, revenge, loneliness, teen sexuality, homosexuality, and bigotry) are covered in all four of the trades, but the primary tension arises in how Zot deals with a distopian "real" world, and how Jenny from the real earth deals with seeming paradise.

Though started in the eighties, artistically, Zot owes a lot to both Golden Age style and manga and has a timeless sort of quality. I strongly endorse Zot: Book One for a good quality weekend read. Its deep and light at the same time, and maybe, just maybe, it'll make you proud to be a comic book nerd.