Humongous Zits, 3: A Zits Treasury

As my children have gotten older, Zits has taken the place of Calvin and Hobbes in terms of how close to home it hits. The strips are funny and accurate, and this book shows the evolution of the characters from the beginning. I had a lot of laughs from this collection, and expect when I reread it again in a year I'll laugh again. First, I have to get the next treasury!

Zits. Funny name for a comic strip. Charles M. Schulz once said, "Zits is the silliest name for a comic strip since Peanuts." Still it's A MUST READ! 15 year old Jeremy Duncan is a freshman in high school and often complains, doesn't talk, and uses sarcastic remarks to his parents. Connie and Walt Duncan are only concerned parents, interested in their son's life even if he doesn't want to talk about it. Also complicating his life is his girlfriend, Sara Toomey, who doesn't exactly think of Jeremy as her boyfriend but as an experiment because he adores her and she loves that. Making things smoother is Jeremy's best friend, Hector Garcia, whose polite, gives words of wisdom, and the voice of reason. Zits is a hilarious look into the life of teenagers. Parents and teenagers will be able to relate to this strip and laugh about it after reading it. A MUST READ!

I'm not going to review the Zits comic strip itself. It's great. Enough said. I did want to point out that the Treasuries are a much better value than the Sketchbooks. The treasuries have color and although they repeat the exact comics from the sketchbooks, they seem to pull out the best ones and showcase them... Unless you can spare the money for all the sketchbooks, go for the treasuries. By no means is it necessary to buy both.

Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman have created, with "Zits," a terrific comic strip. In "Humongous Zits," a collection of the strips, we see the day-to-day life of fifteen-year old Jeremy, whose mom is a writer and whose dad is an orthodontist. Scott and Borgman are dead accurate when it comes to depicting the speech cadence, attitude, manner of dress, etc., of a modern American teenage boy. Witness this conversation Jeremy has with his mother when Mom appears in the bedroom doorway with a plateful of cookies:Mom: "Jeremy, would you and your friends like some Snickerdoodles?"Jeremy: "Feel free to embarrass me anytime, mom!"Mom: "All I did was ask if you wanted some cookies! What's wrong with that??"Jeremy: "I guess it isn't what you said, it's kind of how you said it."Mom: "I said it in a perfectly polite way!"Jeremy: "Okay, it isn't how you said it . . . It's that you sort of exist."For those of us who sorely miss Bill Watterson's "Calvin and Hobbes," "Zits" is a welcome treat--there are glimmers of Calvin in Jeremy. This is fun stuff!

This book brings a fresh, humorous look at the misunderstandings between teenagers and parents. Reading this book, it was almost like the authors magically got into my brain and wrote down everything they saw from my teenage years. (oh, for those of you who are mad because this is merely Zits Sketchbook #1 and 2 put together, it's called a "treasury")