Radiant Comics

I’m back from the comic shop this week and I got five new comics.

This week’s comic book cover to look at and examine is “Zot!” number 23 by Scott McCloud. We’re going back in time once again for a cover. If not to my childhood than to my youth. This comic is dated from November 1988 which puts me at 22 and in my last semester of college. I didn’t distinctly remember this cover as I had some others from my childhood but I gave a quick glance through my selection of Zot! Comics and this one jumped out at me.

The first think I like about this cover is the color. It’s dominated by a light silver blue with some red thrown in. I don’t think I’ve sen many covers with that color combination but it works here. I’m going to have to go back and read these comics again someday because though I remember the basic story I have no memory of what happens in the individual issues. I like the visual on the villain a lot and he has a good name 9-Jack-9. The whole scary but subdued in color carnival barker thing works for me. Normally you’d see an outfit like that in bright red but the understated light blue is nice.

This is the classic type of comic book cover that tells a story. It’s not a complicated story but a simple one. Our hero Zot and his girlfriend are being menaced by 9-Jack-9. They’re being menaced in a real world was as they are no in a futuristic landscape but what looks like some grasslands in Brooklyn. 9-Jack-9 is casually emitting lightning so you know things are bad. Will Zot be able to save Jenny? Stay tuned.

The cover copy is pretty bad. Nothing wrong with the Zot! Logo or the Eclipse trade dress but the yellow burst and the 9-Jack-9 logo are not very well done. Eclipse was a small publisher so I guess some things had to slip through the cracks.

In general the drawing on the cover is solid. There is nothing but the design of 9-Jack-9 that really stands out for me but I like it overall. If I saw this cover today I’d pick up the comic and give it a look.