Happy Pride Month: Zot! #33: "Normal"

[alliterator]

Zot! is a quasi-superhero comic book that Scott McCloud wrote and drew from 1984 through 1990. I say "quasi" because the book changed a lot as it was published -- it started off as a pretty standard science fiction superhero story, starring Zachary T. Paleozogt a.k.a. Zot, a superhero from the "far-flung future of 1965" (or, rather, an alternate universe that's always stuck in a retro-futuristic 1965) meeting Jenny Weaver, a regular girl from the real world.

After some good-if-standard stories, the book shifted into being a bit of a deconstruction. It alternated between Jenny's world and Zot's, exploring the dichotomy of the "real" world with that of Zot's utopic world. And then, starting with issue 28, Zot is stuck in our world and the book, again, shifts to telling what McCloud called "Earth stories." Very little superheroics, basically just slice-of-life stuff.

And throughout the series, Jenny's friend Terry has been a part of the supporting cast. Issue #33 is her spotlight issue. It's called "Normal."

(TW: homophobic slur on the first page, sorry)







Jenny begins encouraging her friend Woody to write a story for the school newspaper about the incident with Harry and the bullies.











So Terry gathers up her courage to talk to Pam and...



She can't. It's too much. She just can't.

It's a bleak, downer ending. And to show it was the end, Scott McCloud ran the letters page...and then an extra page.



The world might not be so bleak after all.

Comments

[violetclm]

This is really nice.

[alicemacher]

I love Zot!, and of all its issues I love this one the most.

"Look what they've done to you" always makes me cry. As does -- for the opposite reason, of course -- the real ending that comes after the fake-out one.

[tinygaylaura]

:(

This was upsettingly relatable

[leahandillyana]

I love the art. It's somewhat minimalistic and very to the point.

[stubbleupdate]

There is a bit in Understanding Comics about how the less detailed a thing is, the more universal it is.

Using the examples of emojis








Each face has less detail, or less identifying information than the one before it, and more people can see themselves in it.

I don't read it religiously, but I do feel like reading understanding Comics really does help you to understand comics

[tripodeca113]

Hey I ready about this one, they added an essay to the trade collection in order to have the same impact.

[icon_uk]

I have a couple of ZOT! TPB's but none that were from this far ahead in the story.

That is some damn good storytelling.

[whatsmoothbeast]

I picked up a complete collection of the Zot! black and white stories at the used bookstore about a month ago and am enjoying it a lot. I haven't got this far in because I'm deliberately rationing it out, but I'm surprised I've never really seen people talk about it.

Also a little surprised there's never been any talk about adapting it. It'd probably make a better cartoon than Invincible, anyway.