Line #27 ComicBook/Zot


1	[[quoteright:324:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/97302_20070623134842_large.jpg]]
2	->''"Every night, I walk out here, just to wait... I know he's not up there... not exactly... it's just the only place to look... And I know it hasn't been that long... Still... it seems like I've waited forever... Y'see... there's this guy I know... like no one you've ever met... from a place... you would not believe".''
3	-->-- '''Jenny Weaver'''
4
5	''Zot!'' is about Zachary T. Paleozogt or "Zot," a superhero from the far-flung future of 1965. He goes about fighting villains and righting wrongs, stopping crimes, and generally being a decent human being.
6
7	It's also about Jenny Weaver, a thirteen-year-old girl whose parents are on the cusp of divorce, whose brother is generally nice when he's not drunk, and who has a philosophy that the Earth is "wrong" and filled with "broken people".
8
9	The comic is a study in the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism, a love story, and a SliceOfLife story about a group of teenagers trying to make their way in the world. It just so happens that one teenager comes from a very different world.
10
11	Written and drawn by Creator/ScottMcCloud (of ''ComicBook/UnderstandingComics'' fame) in 1984 and then from 1987-1991, (and as an [[http://scottmccloud.com/1-webcomics/zot/index.html online comic]] in 2000), ''Zot!'' was a mainstream comic that played around with superhero tropes and generally brought to the mainstream what had previously only been seen in manga or underground comics. There is now a giant, 500+ page {{omnibus}} edition with all the issues of the 1987-1991 black & white run in it.
12
13	----
14	!!Tropes:
15
16	* AIIsACrapshoot: Zybox.
17	* AffectionateNickname: Butch tends to call Zot "Blondie". It starts as an insult, but soon becomes good-natured.
18	* BattleButler: Peabody, Zot's butler robot. Only after several modifications though. His default mode has no combat capabilities beyond ejecting unwanted dinner guests.
19	* BettyAndVeronica: Jenny is torn between Zot (Veronica) and Woody (Betty). Unusually, both acknowledge that it's Jenny's choice and they genuinely like each other. Also, Zot's blonde, while Woody's brown-haired.
20	* BrilliantButLazy: Jenny sums up George this way; he's smarter than anyone but doesn't seem to bother to do well in school. [[spoiler: In reality, he's actually working pretty hard to get straight Ds, because acing every subject would be ''too easy'' for him.]]
21	* ButtMonkey: Butch -- with the "monkey" part being quite literal for much of the series.
22	* CharacterDevelopment: Most of the characters show some growth during the course of the series, though none more than Butch. He starts the series as an obnoxious, immature {{Jerkass}}, but during the first story arc develops into a JerkWithAHeartOfGold. Over the course of the rest of the series, he matures greatly and becomes downright heroic in his own right... even if he still has a bit of an obnoxious edge.
23	* ChekhovsGun: Chekhov's ''Pie''.
24	* CorruptCorporateExecutive: the Blotch comes from a ''planet'' of these.
25	* CreatorCameo: Scott [=McCloud=] shows up in and narrates the final few pages of ''Zot''.
26	* CuckooNest: In "Season of Dreams", Jenny gets trapped inside gigantic robot called Zybox, which induces her into an artificial dream in which Zot and all her adventures with him were just mere delusions caused by a severe depression after the divorce of her parents.
27	* CrystalSpiresAndTogas: [[spoiler: Sirius IV]] in the future version seen [[spoiler: through the Door At The Edge Of The Universe]].
28	* CyberneticsEatYourSoul: Dekko to a tee.
29	* ADayInTheLimelight: The "Earth Stories" focus more on Jenny's friends from school. Issues 30 through 34 all have a different viewpoint character: Jenny's mother, Ronnie, Brandy, Terry and Woody.
30	* DigitizedHacker: 9-Jack-9.
31	%%* DeconstructorFleet
32	* DemotedToExtra: Vic, who's a major character in the color series, and plays semi-major parts in the early black-and-white series, gets moved increasingly OutOfFocus as the series goes on.
33	* TheDitz: Brandy is introduced as one. The truth turns out to be... a little more complicated.
34	* DoggedNiceGuy: Woody, who loves Jenny, even though he knows Jenny will probably choose Zot in the end.
35	* {{Flanderization}}: Not within the comic itself, but Matt Feazel's parodic back-up stories, ''Zot in Dimension 10 1/2,'' features it in spades, with most of the characters becoming extreme caricatures of their normal selves.
36	* ForcedTransformation: Butch is turned into a monkey by the De-evolutionaries at the end of the first issue. Though he can still talk in English thanks to a translator chip invented by Max, he stays a monkey throughout much of the series; while he turns back to human when returning to his own world, the moment he sets foot in Zot's world a second time he's a monkey again. He gets used to it after a while.
37	* GenreShift: the first 11 issues are fun, superhero-y stuff. The next 16 issues mixes the superhero stuff with nice deconstruction and some interesting stories in Jenny's (our) world. The last 8 stories take place entirely in our world and are all narrated by different characters. They don't feature any superheroics (besides Zot himself), focusing instead on smaller, individual stories about the characters themselves.
38	* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Zot is blond, and pretty much the nicest guy in the universe.
39	* HarmlessVillain: Ignatius Rumboult Bellows, a steampunk-powered supervillain.
40	* HiddenDepths: Just about every single character from the "Earth" stories.
41	* IJustWantToBeNormal: Terry. An unusual variant in that she ''is'' a very normal girl and would like to stay that way, thank you very much... [[spoiler:then, in the "Earth Stories" we discover that she is actually a closeted lesbian and her distaste for anything "too weird" was mostly her own denial and fear that she wasn't as normal as she felt she should be.]]
42	* IWantMyJetpack: Zot's world is currently in "the far-flung future of 1965". [[ParodiedTrope Parodied]], though, since the series was originally published in 1984.
43	* {{Jerkass}}: Zot's friend Dick Digger, who according to a poll that ran for a while in the series, holds the unique position of being ''nobody's'' favorite character.
44	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold:
45	** Butch. He's loud-mouthed, obnoxious, rude and occasionally plays BigBrotherBully to Jenny -- but he ''does'' care about her, and over the course of the series he [[TookALevelInKindness Takes Several Levels In Kindness]] and becomes a good friend to Zot.
46	** Terry. She very seldom has a kind word to say to anyone, and can get directly verbally abusive towards the likes of Woody, but she isn't a bad person, and she always tries to look out for Jenny.
47	* KidHero: At the beginning of the series, Zot is only fourteen.
48	* KissingDiscretionShot: The end of ''Zot! Online''.
49	* KnightOfCerebus: 9-Jack-9, who is nasty enough to inflict CerebusSyndrome on ''Zot's'' world. As per WordOfGod, his appearance was what led to the Earth Stories, since the other world was no longer innocent enough to serve as a proper contrast to Jenny's.
50	* LargeHam: Bellows. Zot tells him that he makes a great villain because of all his hammy dialogue and flair for dramatic confrontations.
51	* LotusEaterMachine: Zybox uses one, which leads to a disturbing story in which Jenny is in a reality where her memories with Zot are hallucinations based on a cartoon.
52	* MadArtist: Well, Dekko's completely off his rocker, and just happens to be an artist. His art became more popular as he became less human, though.
53	* MadScientist: Uncle Max has a bit of this. He's also a Mad Musician.
54	* MeaningfulName: Arthur "Art Dekko" Dekker, an artist who eventually became a cyborg whose head looks like the top of the Chrysler building, which has Art Deco-style architecture.
55	** Dr. Bellows, beside being a steampunk-inspired villain, [[NoIndoorVoice can't seem to be quiet for a moment]].
56	* MuggleAndMagicalLoveTriangle: Jenny's having to choose between Zot and Woody.
57	* NewYearHasCome: A New Year's party reveals a major plot point when the year ticks over from 1965... to 1965. Only the visitors from Jenny's Earth see anything unusual about this; everyone from Zot's Earth says before midnight that next year will be 1966, and after midnight insists that last year was of course 1964.
58	* NiceGuy:
59	** Zot is the ''epitome'' of this trope, to the point of being a WideEyedIdealist. He's cheerful, polite and friendly to a fault, always trying to help people out and wanting to see the good in everyone. He ''can'' get angry with people, but you really have to be a colossal douche to get that reaction from him.
60	** Woody, though far more troubled and less of an idealist than Zot, is nevertheless a thoroughly decent guy who always tries to do the right thing.
61	* NoOneCouldSurviveThat: Dekko, more than once, as well as Zybox. 9-Jack-9 however ''didn't'' survive - physically. Too bad his mind was already hooked up to a computer at the time.
62	* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname:
63	** Only Peabody calls Zot by his full name, Zachary. Most others just call him "Zot," though Max, Vic, Digger and Hacker tend to call him "Zach".
64	** Butch's real name is "Horton," but nobody excepts his mother calls him that.
65	* ParentalAbandonment: Zot's parents disappeared when he was fairly young. It's not until later that he finds out [[spoiler:they were killed by 9-Jack-9]].
66	* ParentsAsPeople: Over the course of the series, Butch and Jenny's parents don't always come across in the best light. They seem somewhat neglectful and do questionable things at times, but they do have their own problems and are ultimately portrayed as trying to do the right thing, just not having a clue what the "right thing" is. Jenny is more forgiving of them than Butch is.
67	* PrefersGoingBarefoot: Jenny is barefoot frequently. The very first panel of the comic has her walking barefoot around her neighbourhood. Even after she travels to Zot's world, she doesn't put on shoes until several issues later when she changes her outfit entirely. In a later issue, a distraught Jenny runs out of her house barefoot during winter with snow on the ground. Her mom tells her to put on a ''coat'' but says nothing about shoes, evidently having come to accept that there's no point in trying to get her to wear any.[[note]]Also this scene was AllJustADream anyway.[[/note]]
68	* TheProfessor: Uncle Max.
69	* PsychoForHire: 9-Jack-9.
70	* RaygunGothic: Zot's world is a textbook example, except textbooks aren't usually so much fun.
71	* RetroUniverse: Zot's universe has an intentional {{Zeerust}} feel to it.
72	* RobotBuddy: Floyd. Peabody, sort of.
73	* RoboticReveal: Zot discovers he'd been turned into a robot by Dekko after a grenade goes off in his hand.
74	* SanityHasAdvantages: Dekko's biggest weakness. Dr. Bellows' second biggest (right behind "not being able to shut up").
75	* SarcasmBlind: Zot, he even directly gives the trope a former {{Trope Namer\|s}} of "Does Not Understand Sarcasm" in the penultimate issue.
76	* SerialProstheses: Dekko, to the point that his entire body has been replaced except for his brain.
77	* ShesAllGrownUp: Male example with Woody, who at first is short and kinda doofy-looking. Then, when he comes back after having been abroad for a few issues, he's hit a growth spurt and has become a tall, handsome hunk. Jenny is nearly speechless.
78	* ShoutOut: To one of Scott [=McCloud=]'s major influences, ''Manga/AstroBoy''.
79	* TheSixties: Zot's Earth is perpetually stuck in 1965, but it's a completely different 1965. There was no Vietnam, no World War II (although there still was a Civil War and a World War I).
80	* StepfordSmiler:
81	** There are hints, early on that Zot may be one -- though it's ultimately subverted. While he has a tendency to act happy in dire situation, it's just because he's a naturally upbeat and optimistic person. When life slaps him in the face, he more often gets dejected, sad or angry until he's worked through the issues.
82	** Brandy, however, is a straight example. The worse her life sucks, the more cheerful and ditzy she acts. It's not until Ronnie does something really nice for her that she breaks down and cries.
83	* StevenUlyssesPerhero: Zachary Paleo''zogt'' became Zot. Arthur Dekker became (Art) Dekko.
84	* StraightGay: [[spoiler: George. He's the calm, vaguely eccentric TheSmartGuy in Woody's gang, but you wouldn't guess his sexuality before he comes out to Woody in the Earth Stories.]]
85	* TechnologicalPacifist: The creator of Zybox didn't want it falling into the hands of the military, so he told it it could break the rules of its programming. Which was a very, very bad idea.
86	* TheirFirstTime: Zot and Jenny spend issue #35, The Conversation, the penultimate issue, talking about this. The end of the issue leaves it ambiguous whether they do end up having sex or not.
87	* VerySpecialEpisode: The issue where we find out that Terry [[spoiler: is a lesbian]]. The commentary even notes how it feels very "after school special"; that said, it's a very visually well-executed despite its {{Anvilicious}} nature.
88	* VictoryGuidedAmnesia: The result of traveling through the Door at the Edge of the Universe.
89	* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Dekko actually ''does'', thanks in part to how disconnected he is from his humanity. Pathetically, it's the only thing he has going for him anymore. When he tries to make other people into robots to turn them immortal, not a one of them accepts the change. Dekko rants that they have "chosen death", but it turns out that he simply means [[WarningMistakenForThreat they will age and die]], not that he intends to murder them.
90	* WhoWouldWantToWatchUs: In a slightly meta and ironic issue during the "Earth Stories" Ronnie, who's the viewpoint character for the issue, really wants to write superhero stories, but has problems getting anyone's interest. When his mother suggests he try to write something a little more familiar, and that his own life might be just as interesting as a superhero's, he responds by saying "who the hell would want to read about me?"
91	* {{Zeerust}}: Intentionally.

Context ComicBook / Zot