Zot!

Zot!
#11 was the first black & white issue of Zot!, effectively a reboot of the series written to stand independently from the first ten issues in color.
Publication information
Publisher	Eclipse Comics
Format	Ongoing series
Genre	Superhero, Science Fiction, Romance, Drama
Publication date	1984–1990
Number of issues	36
Creative team
Writer(s)	Scott McCloud
Artist(s)	Scott McCloud
Collected editions
Zot!: The Complete Black and White Collection: 1987–1991

Zot! is a comic book created by Scott McCloud in 1984 and published by Eclipse Comics until 1990 as a lighthearted alternative to the darker and more violent comics that predominated the industry during that period. There were a total of 36 issues, with the first ten in color and the remainder in black and white. McCloud credited Astro Boy creator Osamu Tezuka as a major influence on the book, making it one of the first manga-inspired American comic books.

Zot and his friends faced a number of enemies, including:

Using a portal created by Uncle Max, a link is created from contemporary Earth to the alternate reality of Zot. It is a retro-futuristic technological utopia, reminiscent of imagery from Golden Age SF, flying cars, robots and interplanetary travel are common and nearly all of its inhabitants benefit from peace, prosperity and a marked lack of conventional social ills. There also seem to be subtle differences in the essential nature of the two Earths, as on Zot's world events naturally favor the "good guys" in any conflict. Still, there are several commonalities between Zot's world and the "real" Earth, such as the careers of several popular musicians.

In Zot's utopian Earth, years seem to not pass by as it is permanently stuck in 1965. The inhabitants of Zot's world are unable to notice this fact, but Jenny and her friends from our Earth realize it.

The true nature of Zot's world is never truly explained in the comic, and is left as a loose end, but it is hinted that Zot's world is a copy of our own.

Although the comic has been out of print, it was reprinted in several volumes. The first collection was Zot! Book One () from Eclipse Press which collected issues 1–4 and included an introduction by Scott McCloud. The series was then collected by Kitchen Sink Press in Book One (), which collected issues 1–10 and included an introduction by Kurt Busiek; Book 2 (), which collected issues 11–15 and 17–18; and Book 3 () which collected issues 16 and 21–27. Book 4, collecting the "real world arc" of issues 28–36, was a casualty of Kitchen Sink's turmoil.