SKETCH A DAY 265: ZOT

Zot was created in 1984 by the critically acclaimed Indie creator, Scott McCloud. Light-hearted and a mix of science fiction and superhero, Zot was ahead of it's time and one of the first great Indie comic characters. I thought it was only fitting that I include Zot in my "sketch a day" project. Not just because of his being a great character and an influential one in Indie comic history, but also because of how important Scott McCloud is to comics. If you haven't heard of Zot, maybe you've heard of the book "Understanding Comics" or it's follow-up, "Reinventing Comics", or the follow-up to that, "Making Comics". All of those books are great books to read for anyone thinking of creating their own comic or anyone just wanting to understand comics. In fact, Understanding Comics is considered by many to be THE book to read on how to create a comic. I read it, loved it and always tell anyone thinking of getting into the biz to read it. In addition to all this, Scott is also very important because he was the principle author of the Creators Bill of Rights in 1988 with the stated aim of protecting the rights of comic book creators and help aid against the exploitation of comics artists and writers by corporate work-for-hire practices. The bill includes inportant rights, such as "The right to full ownership of what we fully create," and "The right to prompt payment of a fair and equitable share of profits derived from all of our creative work." How's that for making an impact on comics? Pretty big I think. Learn more about Scott (and Zot, of course) at http://www.scottmccloud.com/ .