Zot! and this month's Afterschool Charisma.

I bought Zot! on impulse. I was looking for manga at the ol' Barnes and Nobles, and wandered over to the American comics side. I hadn't found anything, and was going to wander away when I looked up. I thought I saw something on the top shelf. It was Zot!

Anyway, I've read it through already, and I loved it, but had a feeling that something was missing. That themes such as the historylessness of Zot's world or the slow demise of Jenny's parent's marriage, and Butch's change from a cheerful participant in the adventures(OK, often in the shape of a monkey, but still) to drinking a little too much, and not really being part of the gang anymore seem hinted at, but not really fully explored.

But then I realized something. This collection is less than 600 pages. That is slightly less than 3 volumes of manga. When I realized that, I'm now extremely impressed that Scott McCloud managed to create such a deep and moving story in so little space.

Now for this month's Afterschool Charisma. The expo is finally here! And Ikkuyu(whose background is finally explained here) talks about an interesting point- the fact that the original people acheived what they did in very specific environments and times. Genetics are only a small part of who people are. This chapter is also a good set up for a wham chapter next month(I hope it's not too delayed with the holidays coming up)