Zits (comic strip)

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Zits
Author(s)	Jerry Scott, Jim Borgman
Current status	Running
Syndicate(s)	King Features Syndicate
Launch date	July 7, 1997
Genre(s)	Humor

"Zits" redirects here. For the skin condition (of which "zit" is a slang term), see Acne vulgaris

Zits is a comic strip about a teenager named Jeremy Duncan and his relationship with family and friends. The strip began in July 1997. At the time of its debut, the strip had the widest newspaper release of any comic strip in America (the previous record was set by the Muppet Babies comic strip in 1985).

Contents 1 Information 2 Characters 2.1 Primary Cast 2.2 Supporting Characters 3 Frequently Visited Places 4 Jobs 5 Zits books 6 External links

[edit] Information

Zits is put together by Jerry Scott (writer) and Jim Borgman (artist). Scott is also known for writing Baby Blues, a popular comic strip about a family with young children. Borgman was a political cartoonist for The Cincinnati Enquirer when Scott asked him to help create the strip. Borgman recalls that the two stumbled upon the idea while stuck in an airplane as they returned from a cartooning retreat.

Stylistic similarities to Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes have been noted by readers familiar with both strips. Watterson attended Kenyon College during several of the years that Jim Borgman did. In fact, Watterson replaced Borgman's position drawing cartoons for the college's newspaper after Jim's graduation. Both "Calvin and Hobbes" and Zits use a full panel for their Sunday strips instead of the traditional block format. Watterson is credited as the first artist to insist upon this format. Once adopted, Calvin and Hobbes took on a style that has been compared to that of a comic book layout. Zits has followed this style closely, adopting dynamic layouts and large, detailed panels.

The National Cartoonists Society has awarded the strip the "Best Comic Strip of the Year" award numerous times and both artists have received the prestigious Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year.

[edit] Characters

[edit] Primary Cast

• Jeremy Michael Duncan: Jeremy Duncan, the main character in Zits is fifteen years old, a freshman in high school, and aspiring rock god. His favorite band is Gingivitis (a rock duo of whom both were revealed, much to his chagrin, to be orthodontists -- like Jeremy's dad -- on the side). His best friend is Hector Garcia. His on again-off again girlfriend is Sara Toomey. He is embarrassed by his mother and father and dedicated to restoring an ancient VW van with Hector, which they will, someday, drive across the country and not stop until they hit an ocean, notwithstanding the fact that it casts no shadow. He is more or less the de facto frontman on guitar/vocals for his local garage band (the name of said band changes regularly, and has been called Goat Cheese Pizza, Jughead's Hat, or Chickenfist, depending on who is naming it at the time). Noted for wearing absurdly large sneakers. Often has strong foot odor. Has an uncanny ability to know who is calling on the phone before picking it up, sometimes even before the phone rings (in his words, "Caller ID is for wimps"). Jeremy spends most of his spare time either trying to think of something to impress Sara or sleeping (or exchanging text messages with friends). In recent strips he reveals that he posts his whole life on several web blogs. Also, he started painting (mostly with blue paint) after he and Sara broke up. He also likes to sleep in late, once telling his mother not to disturb him because "I'm growing" He also dreads going to the pediatrician because he is 15 years old. He also appears to be a fan of the Power Rangers because when he was in the pediatrician's office, he said that he had a much more mature personality, until he looked up at a T.V. in the office and said, "Hey, Power Rangers!" Views his parents mainly in the same manner as vending machines.
• Connie Duncan: Jeremy's mother, a bit of an airhead at times but a great mom for all that. What Jeremy thinks is something else. A child psychologist, aspiring writer, and stay-at-home mom, she has become so frustrated with Jeremy's one-word answers that she describes a conversation with him as "Trying to coax a smile out of a clam full of Botox". She seems to have a minor case of road rage, which is why Jeremy would rather have her teach him how to drive than his father. Also, she tends to have the annoying habit of talking all the time. Connie may or may not have attended Kenyon College (she was once seen sporting a Kenyon shirt, a subtle nod at the artist's alma mater). She does not appreciate Jeremy's messy habits, as evidenced by his cluttering up a kitchen drawer she painstakingly worked to re-organize, cleaning up after him repeatedly, and once, going on strike for cleaning, hoping to get her son to start picking stuff up (mostly futile attempt). Also complains that Jeremy sleeps too much, once telling him in the August 20, 2006 strip, "Why do kids your age like to sleep that much?"
• Walt Duncan: Jeremy's father, an orthodontist. Jeremy carefully records all of Walt's actions, expressions, and mannerisms, on the theory that if he does the opposite he's bound to be cool. Completely helpless with technology until rescued by Jeremy, he is the official Family Laundry Master. After Walt watches a TV commercial advertising weight machines, we find out that he has been known to butter his cheese. He is a fan of old-time rock and roll, with some of his favorite bands being Moby Grape (he's often seen wearing t-shirts with their name), Led Zeppelin (son Jeremy was conceived to the song "Stairway to Heaven") and possibly Chad and Jeremy (he and Connie blame each other for the naming of their sons after them, which they both now regret). Sports an obvious comb-over and- surprisingly- has a 'Peace' symbol tattooed on his rear end.
• Hector Garcia: Jeremy's best friend, who is a guitarist/vocalist in Jeremy's band. Slightly overweight and wearing thick glasses, Hector is a bit more sensible than Jeremy. His first girlfriend, Mandy, was a parasite who controlled him until Jeremy told Hector that the girl was bad news. He's currently dating Autumn, a radical vegetarian who refers to Jeremy as "Vampire", "Carnivore", "Assassin", and "Murderer" or the like whenever she sees him with meat. Hector has become a vegetarian as well to support Autumn, but is not quite as devoted as his girlfriend (he has been seen eating beef jerky bookmarks in study hall, and for lunch one day had yogurt with meat sauce, and pretty much still has meat anyway when she's not around.). Hector is from a Mexican, Spanish-speaking family and lives with his parents, grandparents, and multiple younger siblings. Jeremy's opinion of this is summed up in this quote:

"I've never seen a house so completely happy and bursting with life. I don't know how you stand it."

"It isn't easy."

• Sara Toomey: Jeremy's ex-girlfriend/girlfriend (depending on present time- signs indicate they were back together as of late-2006); although he thinks the world of her, she apparently likes Jeremy a lot, but has thought of him as a "salvageable male." Also a patient of Jeremy's dad, a situation which has caused Jeremy a certain amount of irritation and embarrassment. Her parents are divorced and she lives with her mother, visiting her father every month or so. She is very nice but incredibly temperamental. She has two turtles: Peaches and Mordac, Lord of Unholy Fury. She explains this by saying they were bought at different times of the month. She and Jeremy have apparently broken up several times (One time by e-mail, other times while watching various TV shows), but they always seem to make up sooner or later. Has a tendency to go to extremes to get the 'perfect hairstyle', has a bathroom full of hair things, including a tub full of shampoo bottles, spends roughly an hour each morning on her hair, and can't stand the fact that Jeremy has better luck with his hairdo (and he isn't even trying). Sara once had her hair cut short and donated her ponytail to a charity that made wigs for children undergoing chemotherapy; she has since apparently grown her hair long again despite the fact that- at the time- she loved her new shorter hair.
• Pierce: a member of Jeremy's band who has had about every part of his body pierced (he even likes having braces because his orthodontist, Jeremy's father, tells him to think of it as "getting his smile pierced"). He has a pet rat (the care of which has tended towards the ridiculous, including one or more organ transplants), partially deaf parents, and is the only person Walt has ever treated who wanted to get braces: "More metal attached to my head? I'm psyched!" He joined the band when their previous drummer (Y.A.), got bored and quit; Pierce's hyperkinetic drumming style made him a more than suitable replacement. Despite his rebellious habits, Pierce is actually very courteous and often tries to help out, but usually fails due to his interests and ideals. Once, when Jeremy asked him to purchase a necklace for Sara for him, Pierce bought a necklace with a pair of jeweled skulls with intertwined snakes in the eye sockets, framed by a barbed-wire heart. Pierce's interests include X-Treme Skydiving and Machete Frisbee and a unique fashion sense, such as practicing foot binding briefly, going to school with a funnel on his head thinking it was a hat, and once wore a spork on his nose. He says his family life "is like a symphony. But there aren't any musical instruments, and the musicians just yell at each other." He is also, to his dismay, an incredibly courteous driver. He is currently D'ijon's boyfriend, since she watched him get his tongue double-pierced. (She has hers tattooed with Edvard Munch's "The Scream".)

[edit] Supporting Characters

• Richandamy: Richard and Amy started hugging each other in seventh grade and rarely let go, and are now referred to as though they were one person (when people even remember they're different). They spend much of their time coming up with millions of new ways to say "I love you" and claim to have bonded on a molecular level. In the 2 November 2006 strip they are shown breaking up, resulting in a rare instance of them being drawn apart. (Earlier strips showed each alone while the other was in the bathroom.) However, as of the November 9, 2006 strip, they were back together.
• Chad Duncan: Jeremy's older brother by four years (this supposedly makes him 19 since Jeremy is 15, but his age has never been stated). Attends college at Notre Dame. In his first few appearances, Chad was said to be the "perfect" child, and his face was slightly obscured because of his "perfect" looks. He was later redesigned to look like an older and bearded version of Jeremy. Rarely seen (a semi-recurring character), but often shows up during the holiday seasons, usually leaving as Jeremy never notices that he has been home for two weeks. Would get all the academic attention if it weren't for Jeremy's third place trophy from the sixth grade spelling bee.
• Phoebe: One of Jeremy's classmates. She consumes a great deal of caffeine, and dreams of high grade achievement. She is under the impression that school is about points and not education, possibly a satire on the current American education system. She constantly pads her college resume ("Here Jeremy, have my apple. ORGANIZED A FOOD DRIVE FOR MALNOURISHED STUDENTS! YES!!!"), and now has no pupils in her eyes, which she claims is due to selling her soul for a 4.3 GPA. It was also noted that Phoebe downloads her school essays from the internet and once tried to get Jeremy to do so.
• D'ijon: Pierce's girlfriend, and a friend of Sara's. Typically more level-headed than Sara, which is shocking given that she's the one who goes out with Pierce. She has a copy of Edvard Munch's The Scream tattooed on her tongue, and occasionally wanders around with Pierce after connecting their respective earrings. Her real name is Dionne, but claims to have started doing an "apostrophe thing" in 7th grade.
• Autumn: Hector's girlfriend. Known for her extreme political and environmental views. She is a radical vegan and activist for any other cause you care to name. She once prompted Hector and Jeremy into releasing, during the passing time between classes, the 50,000 live crickets that were going to be massacred(dissected) in the science lab in school. Apparently has armpit hair.
• Brittany: Another one of Jeremy's classmates. Being the information pipeline for the freshman class, Brittany is famous for having every rumor in the school originate with or pass through her, and giving somewhat helpful advice and occasional relationship counseling (Jeremy has come to her several times for this). She tends to get on both Jeremy and Hector's nerves (especially Jeremy's) by critiquing them on the size of their feet, head, nose, and ears, and occasionally their fashion sense. In spite of this, Jeremy often seeks her advice.
• Tim Olsen: Another one of Jeremy's classmates, and the electric bass-guitar player of the band (he took up the bass because it sounded cool- and looked easier to play, having only four strings). The shy Tim apparently shaves the majority of his head, leaving only very long bangs hanging over his eyes. He is currently taking a cartooning class. His mom once had breast cancer; thinking the chemo would make her hair fall out, Jeremy and Hector shaved their heads as a token of empathy and comfort. It wasn't until afterward that they discovered she still had all her hair- but the sight of their shaved heads did get her laughing again.
• Zuma: Jeremy's classmate. An excessive cellphone talker. Known to have a cellphone melt in her hand and to use up her unlimited minutes. In one strip, she used emoticons in an essay to convey more emotion.
• Mandy: Hector's ex-girlfriend, she was in Jeremy's words "a parasite". She started dating Hector after he performed battle of the bands, and they broke up after Jeremy told Hector he was acting like a jerk.
• Billy: A classmate of Jeremy's who is gay. Recently appeared as one of the people at his poker game.
• Redondo: A classmate of Jeremy's he encounters frequently.
• Amira: A girl that Jeremy met at a party and instantly fell in (mutual) love with. His dad took credit for this, having dragged a highly unwilling Jeremy there in the first place. However, Amira was dropped without explanation and Jeremy went back to Sara.
• Low-self-esteem girl: Name was never revealed but appeared in two strips.
• Slimer: Random punk at school early on in the strip, disappeared almost as quickly as he appeared. May have been an anti-social prototype of Pierce. Only purpose seemed to be to push Jeremy by 'accident'.
• Y.A.: Original drummer of Jeremy's band. He quit a short time after Pierce's introduction to the strip, and was replaced by Pierce shortly thereafter. Y.A.'s reasoning for quitting the band were because his parents would not let them practice at his house anymore, and Y.A. "thought it sucked".
• Albert Tang: He appears in the strip as a minor character. He also has a birthday close to Jeremy's. Wants to be a doctor when he gets older.
• Aunt Jojo: Jeremy's aunt who appeared once to check up on him when he was left alone. Jeremy, who had been strutting around the house naked at the time, had to duck out of sight so she wouldn't see him, because she was outside the front door. Eventually, she gave up and left.
• Tiffany: She has kissed Jeremy before at a spin the bottle party and is Sarah's worst enemy.

[edit] Frequently Visited Places

Jeremy's house is known to consist of two stories plus a basement. Jeremy's room is considered messy by his mother, but the boy thinks his room is fine with various things in it to keep him occupied. Usually when his friends come over they immediately take off their shoes, backpacks, and coats, leaving them right at the front door.

In some early strips, the house is said to be five hours away from Notre Dame University, and in a town on or near Interstate 70. Also, In one strip, Jeremy stated that he was born in Nebraska, and in another, Connie and Walt are headed to a convention in Dayton, Ohio (the state name is used, making it unlikely that Jeremy lives in Ohio). It is stated in various strips that Jeremy lives in the Midwest, some 800 miles from the nearest ocean (obviating the need for Jeremy to have a surfboard).

Jeremy goes to a rather large school full of completely different people. Jeremy usually isn't always awake when he enters the school from staying up too late doing the assigned homework. Jeremy also claims to love the sixth bell the most, as he gets to sit by his girl friend, Sara Toomey. Jeremy also says that the seniors monopolize the stairs during the holidays.

The pool was a place Jeremy and Hector worked back in the early days of the strip. They had the "Seniors' Aerobics" shift and loathed every minute of it. They wanted to get off the "stupid cartwheels" and go do what they wanted to do. (Immediately afterward, they returned to Jeremy's house and plopped down on the couch and watched t.v.)

[edit] Jobs

Jeremy and Hector started a business as Koi Pond diggers. They were hired to do one job, but they failed on several attempts. In the end, they were paid, but were forced to give an AARP discount.

[edit] Zits books

Each Zits book (subtitled as Zits Sketchbooks and numbered sequentially) contains approximately one year of collected Zits strips. Each of the Zits collections combines the material from two Sketchbooks.)

Book	Cover	ISBN	Pages	Published	Type
Zits		ISBN 0-8362-6825-3	128 Pages	Tuesday, September 01, 1998	Sketchbook #1
Growth Spurt		ISBN 0-8362-7848-8	128 Pages	Thursday, April 01, 1999	Sketchbook #2
Humongous Zits		ISBN 0-7407-0013-8	256 Pages	Wednesday, March 01, 2000	Collection
Don't Roll Your Eyes At Me, Young Man!		ISBN 0-7407-1166-0	128 Pages	Friday, September 15, 2000	Sketchbook #3
Are We An "Us"?		ISBN 0-7407-1397-3	128 Pages	Tuesday, March 15, 2001	Sketchbook #4
Big Honkin' Zits		ISBN 0-7407-1854-1	256 Pages	Tuesday, August 28, 2001	Collection
Zits Unzipped		ISBN 0-7407-2322-7	128 Pages	Monday, April 01, 2002	Sketchbook #5
Busted!		ISBN 0-7407-2675-7	128 Pages	Sunday, September 01, 2002	Sketchbook #6
Zits Supersized		ISBN 0-7407-3307-9	264 Pages	Friday, April 04, 2003	Collection
Road Trip!		ISBN 0-7407-3814-3	128 Pages	Monday, September 01, 2003	Sketchbook #7
Teenage Tales		ISBN 0-7407-4144-6	128 Pages	Thursday, April 01, 2004	Sketchbook #8
Random Zits		ISBN 0-7407-4669-3	248 Pages	Wednesday, September 01, 2004	Collection
Thrashed		ISBN 0-7407-5117-4	128 Pages	Tuesday, April 30, 2005	Sketchbook #9
Zits 2006 Day-to-Day Calendar		ISBN 0-7407-5217-0	736 Pages	Friday, July 01, 2005	Other
Zits 2006 Family Organizer		ISBN 0-7407-5218-9	24 Pages	Friday, July 01, 2005	Other
Pimp My Lunch		ISBN 0-7407-5443-2	128 Pages	Saturday, October 01, 2005	Sketchbook #10
Crack of Noon		ISBN 0-7407-5684-2	256 Pages	Wednesday, March 01, 2006	Collection
Zits 2007 Day-to-Day Calendar		ISBN 0-7407-5951-5	736 Pages	Saturday, July 01, 2006	Other
Zits 2007 Family Organizer		ISBN 0-7407-5870-5	24 Pages	Saturday, July 01, 2006	Other
Are We Out of the Driveway Yet?		ISBN 0-7407-6199-4	128 Pages	Friday, September 1, 2006	Sketchbook #11
Rude Crude and Tattooed		ISBN 0-7407-6357-1			Sketchbook #12

[edit] External links

• Zits at King Features
• Zits at Seattle Post-Intelligencer
• Zits at ArcaMax Publishing