'' 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).
''Zits'' is drawn 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.
''Zits'' is notable for its multi-cultural cast characters including African-American , Asian and Latino ethnicities. The strip also depicts a romantic relationship between a racially mixed couple, a rare situation in popularly distributed newspaper comics.
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.
- : Jeremy Duncan is fifteen years old, a freshman in high school, and aspiring Rock God. Favorite Band: Gingivitis. Best Friend: Hector Garcia. Girlfriend: Sara Toomey. Totally embarrassed by his father and completely dedicated to restoring an ancient VW van with Hector in 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 what they agree on at the time). Noted for wearing absurdly large sneakers, the size of which almost matches his age.
- : Jeremy's mother, a bit of an airhead at times but a great mom for all that, or at least that's how readers see her. What Jeremy thinks is something else again. 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. 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).
- : 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 Laundry Master. 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.
- : Jeremy's best friend, who is a guitarist/vocalist in Jeremy's band. Hector is a bit more sensible than Jeremy but can't choose girlfriends to save his life. His first girlfriend, Mandy, was a complete parasite who controlled him until Jeremy told Hector that the girl was bad news. He's currently dating Autumn, a radical Vegetarian who calls Jeremy "Vampire", "Carnivore", "Assassin", and "Murderer" 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.). Hector is from a Spanish-speaking family and lives with his parents, grandparents, and multiple siblings. His and Jeremy's opinion of this is summed up very well 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."
- : Jeremy's girlfriend; although he thinks the world of her, she usually thinks 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, but they always seem to make up sooner or later. Has a tendency to go to extremes to get the 'perfect hairstyle' 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.
- : a member of Jeremy's band who has had about every part of his body briefly and once went to school with a Funnel on his head thinking it was a hat). 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 eternal shame, an incredibly courteous driver and a decent person in his weird sort of way. He is D'ijon's boyfriend.
- : Richard and Amy hugged each other in seventh grade and never 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".
- : Jeremy's brother, older child 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 toothier version of Jeremy. Rarely seen (a semi-recurring character), but often shows up during the holiday seasons.
- : One of Jeremy's classmates. She consumes a great deal of caffeine, and dreams of high grade achievement. Constantly pads her college resume ("Here Jeremy, have my apple. ORGANISED 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 4.9 GPA . It was also noted that Phoebe downloads her school essays from the internet and once tried to get Jeremy to do so.
:Jeremy:"Are you aware that your eyes no longer have pupils?
:Phoebe:"Okay, I sold my soul, but my G.P.A is 4.3!"
- : 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 drop" in 7th grade.
- : 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. Has smacked Jeremy in the head at least twice with her hemp backpack.
- : Another one of Jeremy's classmates. Being the information pipeline for the freshman class, Brittany is famous for knowing every rumor in the school and giving somewhat helpful advice and occasional relationship counseling.(Jeremy has come to her several times for this) Although 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.
- : Another one of Jeremy's classmates, and the bass player of the band(he took up the bass because it sounded cool- and looked easier to play, having only four strings). Tim apparently shaves the majority of his head, leaving only very long bangs hanging over his eyes. He is currently taking a cartooning class.
Each ''Zits'' book (subtitled as ''Zits Sketchbook''s and numbered sequentially) contains approximately one year of collected ''Zits'' strips. Each of the ''Zits'' collections combines the material from two ''Sketchbook''s.)
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