Funny Pages : Zits - Part Three: Comic Strip by Brett Matthew West Artwork by cleo85 at FanArtReview.com |
Set in Cincinnati, Ohio's suburbian living, "Zits" is often filled with a heavy dose of surrealism. This contributes to the cartoon standing out from being just another typical teenager strip.
"Zits" centers on 17-year-old Jeremy Michael Duncan as he attempts to balance his family existence, his social happenings, his high school academic demands, and his plans for the future. The cultural movement known as Surrealism began in Europe after World War One concluded. Surrealist artists depicted unnerving, illogical, scenes in their artworks. They further developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Surrealism produced mostly paintings, writings, theatres, filmmakings, and photographs. Andre Robert Breton, a French writer and poet credited as the leader of surrealism, defined the movement's aim to be "resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality into an absolute reality, a super-reality, or surreality." Surrealism displays elements of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions, and non sequitur. This is a literary device used for comedic purposes. These statements are something said that lacks apparent meaning relative to what preceded the comment, making it sound so absurd it becomes humorous or confusing. As detailed in my previous posting entitled Zits-Part Two: Strip Writer, in 1996 "Zits" writer Jerry Scott became dissatisfied with the character sketches he had drawn for his newest strip. After several months, "Zits" illustrator Jim Borgman redrew them to Scott's preferences. In 1997, King Features, who published Scott's editorial cartoons, and his "Baby Blues" cartoon strip, began posting "Zits". The new strip debuted in July of 1997 in more than 200 newspapers. "Zits" has grown to become extremely popular and has received several awards of recognition. The "Peanuts" comic strip writer Charles Schulz enjoyed "Zits," but referred to the cartoon as, "Zits is the worst name for a comic strip since Peanuts." In the "Zits" compilation book entitled Humongous Zits, there is a piece of paper containing multiple different names considered for the strip. These include Jeremy, Yo, and My So Called Life And Stuff. A circled "Zits" was the final choice for the strip's name. Intelligent, Jeremy aspires to become a famous Rock musician. The source of his name has been attributed to at least a couple possibilities. One is English actor and musician Jeremy Clyde of the 1960s Rock duo Chad and Jeremy. They were part of the British Invasion. Their style was a soft, mellow, Folk-inspired one characterized by hushed and whispered vocals. An early "Zits" strip showed Jeremy's parents named him after a "Joy To The World" lyric by Three Dog Night. That being "Jeremiah was a bullfrog." Jeremy spends the vast majority of his time socializing with friends or attempting to impress his part-time girlfriend Sara Toomey. He is also frequently being embarrassed or lectured by his parents. Jeremy's mother once told him he was conceived to the Led Zeppelin song "Stairway To Heaven." Jeremy possesses a unique talent of being able to tell who calls on the telephone, and for what reason, when the phone rings, or even before it does. Extremely tall, Jeremy's attire is frequently a purple shirt over a black tee shirt, fat-tongued sneakers on his overly large feet, and blue jeans. Jeremy spent a huge amount of time restoring a 1962 Volkswagon van with his best friend Hector Garcia. In a strip during the Spring of 2023, a speeding garbage truck flattened the van. The Lead Singer, and guitarist, of his many-named garage band, Jeremy's first professional gig was a six-year-old's birthday party. Among the band's names have been "Chickenfist" and "Goat Cheese Pizza". Possessing a high sense of integrity, Jeremy was shown in a strip stealing a signpost with his name on it. Later, Jeremy returned the post to the police to free himself of the guilt he felt for the theft of the post, although he used Hector's name when he did so. Running gags for "Zits" have included Jeremy's bedroom being so messy his mother had to dig a tunnel to reach him (what teenager do you know of who's bedroom isn't like Jeremy's?). Others have been Jeremy's many growth spurts, and his ability to consume large amounts of food in seconds, usually by inhaling it or shoveling the food inside his mouth. Once, Jeremy unhinged his jaw to swallow a large sandwich. Old-fashioned, and an Orthodonist who has difficulty holding a conversation with Jeremy, Walter and Connie are Jeremy's parents. Four years older than him, Chad, who is Jeremy's brother, attends college. An over-achiever, Chad is also the object of much of Jeremy's jealousy. Chad makes rare appearances in the "Zits" Comic Strip. There appears to be somewhat of a slight disagreement between Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman as to the future direction "Zits" should go. Borgman is on record saying he prefers to see complicated issues like AIDS, premarital sex, and drugs covered in the strip. On the other hand, Scott prefers, as he stated, "Not to see the 6 o'clock news on the funny pages." So, who knows? Stay tuned... Next Time: "Baby Blues" Coming Attraction : "Family Circus" Writer Jeff Keane
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Brett Matthew West
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