June 22nd, 2017

Feature Spotlight:Zits

by Tea

This week we’re reading Zits, by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman.

Zits is the story of Jeremy Duncan, a seventeen-year-old high school junior, who lives with his mom and dad, Connie and Walt, and dreams of making it big as a rock star with his band, Goat Cheese Pizza. But, like many teenagers, schoolwork, slacking, dating, and a messy room often get in the way of his aspirations.

 

Jerry and Jim created Zits together after Jerry had already been working on Baby Blues with Rick Kirkman. He tells a story of being stopped by a bedragged parent at a party who implored him to create another comic about teenagers. He teamed up with Jim to bring the Duncan family to life, and now, nearly 20 years later (Zits debuted on July 7, 1997!), parents around the world are still telling stories about how the Zits team must have snuck into their homes and recorded THEIR teenagers at work and play.

 

Zits has a fantastic cast of characters beyond Jeremy and his parents. There’s his budding-feminist girlfriend, Sara, and her best friend D’ijon, and of course, where would Jeremy be without his best pals, Hector and Pierce? (He and Hector have part-stakes in a van that they will someday, someday finish completely restoring)

 

This summer, Jeremy is venturing into the world of volunteership with a job as a Zoo Teen, a teenaged zoo volunteer who helps clean up after the animals and gives tours to guests…but he’s a little slow on the pickup, so far. We’re excited to see how the summer plays out for Jeremy, and we’re hoping the animals survive.

 

But whether it’s at the zoo, in school, or breaking his parents eardrums one screeching high-decible guitar solo at a time, Jeremy and his friends can’t help but be just as endearing, lovable, and exasperating as the teenagers we know in real life.