Zits is a comic strip written by cartoonist Jerry Scott and illustrated by Jim Borgman about the life of Jeremy Duncan, a 17-year-old high school junior (he was 15 when the comic started). The comic debuted in July 7, 1997, in over 200 newspapers, and by 1998 it was included in "more than 1,700 newspapers worldwide in 45 countries and is translated into 15 different languages." Zits has received multiple awards and continues to be syndicated by King Features.
Set in Ohio, possibly in the town of Bucyrus in the northern part of the state (going by the Hard Rock Cafe T-shirt worn by Jeremy’s father on Aug. 14, 2026), the strip centers on Jeremy as he tries to balance his family life, social life, the academic demands of high school and his plans for the future, often with a heavy dose of surrealism, making it stand out from being just a typical teenager cartoon strip.
On March 19, 2026, it was announced that the comic strip will end in 2026. Jerry Scott will also be ending Baby Blues.
Origin In 1996, Jerry Scott was drawing Baby Blues, a comic strip about raising children he co-wrote with Rick Kirkman. He realized, however, that his profession as an independent cartoonist was limited to whatever joke he could conceive next. A friend suggested he begin a strip about a teenager. Scott heeded the proposition but was unsatisfied with his character's sketches, finding them similar to those of his existing strip. After Scott discussed the issue with his artist friend Jim Borgman, the two corresponded with one another over the next few months and eventually collaborated on the characters that would become the Duncans. King Features, already distributing Baby Blues and Borgman's editorial cartoons, began running the new comic strip in 1997 with Scott writing and Borgman drawing.
Charles Schulz liked the new strip, but added, "Zits is the worst name for a comic strip since Peanuts." Said quote would later be printed on the back of the compilation book Humongous Zits, along with a ripped-out piece of paper with multiple different names considered (such as Jeremy, Yo., and My So-Called Life and Stuff), with Zits circled last as the final choice.
To create each installment, Jerry Scott comes up with an idea and then writes and sketches a fully scripted layout, which Jim Borgman draws finished art for, occasionally embellishing or replacing Scott's layouts if he feels he can make the strip's visual more lively. Content at 34:21-38:08.
Main characters
Jeremy Duncan Jeremy Michael Duncan is an intelligent, 17-year-old high school junior (earlier a 15-year-old freshman) who aspires to be a rock musician. He is named after Jeremy Clyde of the 1960s rock duo Chad and Jeremy (although one strip shows his parents named him after a lyric in "Joy to the World" by Three Dog Night, "Jeremiah was a bullfrog") and was once mentioned to have an older brother named Chad, who is away in college. Jeremy spends much of his time with his friends and trying to impress love interest and part-time girlfriend, Sara Toomey. Jeremy was once told by his mother he was conceived to the Led Zeppelin song "Stairway to Heaven". When not at school or with his friends, Jeremy is often embarrassed and/or lectured by his parents, Walt and Connie Duncan.
He is shown as having an ability to tell who is calling on the telephone and for what reason when it rings (sometimes even before it rings).
He usually wears his purple shirt over a black T-shirt, blue jeans, and fat tongued Sneakers. He is extremely tall, even when slouching. Jeremy spent time restoring a 1962 Volkswagen Type 2 van with his best friend Hector Garcia, which they hoped to drive across the country when they turned 16. The van was in running condition but did not run very well considering its age. In the spring of 2023, the van was flattened by a speeding garbage truck. Jeremy barely fits in the replacement car his half of the insurance money bought him. Jeremy is also the lead singer and guitarist of his garage band, which goes by many names including "Chickenfist", "Goat Cheese Pizza", "Jughead's Hat", and "Angry Dwarfs". In May 2017, his band received their first business engagement,May 15, 2017 a 6-year-old's birthday party.May 17, 2017 In July 2017 the band had their first "adult" engagement at the Arthur C. Coachella Senior Citizen Center, where the geriatric audience gave them a much better reception, with them constantly shouting "Turn It Up!". After the band debuted in a Battle of the Bands competition, Jeremy received his first kiss from Sara and the relationship took off. Since then, Jeremy and Sara have gone through many arguments, breakups and reconciliations. For all of Jeremy's flaws, however, he retains a high sense of morality and integrity as can be seen in the story arc where he steals a signpost with his name on it, only to return it to the police to free himself of the guilt he feels (although he uses Hector's name when turning it over). On another occasion, Jeremy is overwhelmed by a school essay he has to write and all the other commitments he has made. A fellow student, Phoebe, suggests he use a website to pull a bootleg essay off the Internet. In the end, however, Jeremy's sense of ethics overcomes the desire to plagiarize, and he spends the night writing the essay himself. In late 2000s strips, Jeremy received his learners' permit. In September 2007 strips, Jeremy's mother refers to his being a sophomore in high school. As of 2009 strips, Jeremy is claimed to be 16. On the August 23, 2009 strip, his driver's license was shown.
Running gags in the strip include depictions of Jeremy's room as being so messy that Connie has to dig a tunnel to reach him, his height and growth spurts, and his ability to consume vast quantities of food in seconds (either by literally inhaling or shoveling it in; one strip even showed him unhinging his jaw to eat a large sandwich). Whenever the telephone rings, he knows instantly who it is.
Connie Duncan Connie Duncan is Jeremy's mother, born about 1955. She is a child psychologist, but works only part-time after Jeremy's birth, and her profession is rarely mentioned except in early strips. On January 20, 2025, Connie found out she got a job as counselor at Jeremy's school. She is also an aspiring writer, having begun work on a book titled: Coping Effectively with Your Teen. Jeremy constantly interrupts her work with menial requests or by being too loud and she has yet to even finish the first chapter. Besides being the family homemaker, Connie acts the disciplinarian for Jeremy. She is frequently seen waking him up for school, berating him for not following directions, and driving him to various destinations. Though Jeremy does not share much with his parents, Connie is always more than willing to listen to him. She describes a conversation with him as "coaxing a smile out of a clam full of Botox". In the strip, she is portrayed a few times as a forgetful airhead.
While Connie means well for Jeremy, she has the tendency to be over-controlling. She consistently reads personal items in Jeremy's room, gets upset when Jeremy makes any hint of wanting more privacy, and wants to do everything for him (except homework, which neither of his parents can do).
Walter "Walt" Duncan Walt Duncan is Jeremy's father, an orthodontist who, like Connie, finds it almost impossible to hold a conversation with his son. Walt is portrayed as clueless and old-fashioned about technology, especially computers and video players. Despite Jeremy's attempts to explain how to use devices, Walt is unable to comprehend even the most basic functions. Walt is shown as having problems with math, as all he knows is the Pythagorean theorem. He has been shown to think that a fan belt is part of a search engine and that "Googling" somebody means having sexual intercourse with them. His interactions with Jeremy's peers cause intense embarrassment for his son, as Walt makes comments such as "What's up, dood?", not knowing the meaning behind them. He is the designated clothes launderer, often getting into arguments with Jeremy over notes in pockets, socks inside-out, and other pet peeves. Overweight and balding, Walt wears oversized blue pants, a plain white T-shirt, black vest, and combover (Jeremy has commented that this makes him look like a Wal-Mart greeter). Walt occasionally reveals memories that attest to a wilder youth, but most of these anecdotes are nonsense. According to Connie, his army jacket which "holds awful memories" was picked up by Walt at a thrift shop on a day when "the traffic was terrible", left Woodstock to paint his aunt's house when it began to rain, and when dating Connie, he once gave her a bong, mistaking it for a flower pot. In one instance, Walt recalls how uninhibited he felt one night at a Moby Grape concert. This shocking recollection causes him to forbid Jeremy from attending a similar concert. Another time, Walt reveals he has had a peace sign tattoo since the late 1960s, which has expanded along with his rear end, and is described to now be the size of a stop sign.
However, at times, he has been as cool as he can be to his son, like when he got a guitar pick from one of Jeremy's favorite bands who turned out also to be orthodontists.
Hector Garcia Hector Garcia is Jeremy's Latin best friend and is a guitarist/vocalist in Jeremy's band. The two spend a lot of their time hanging out, much of it trying to restore the VW van and dreaming about where their future road trip will take them. In practice, the two have not gotten far toward restoring the van past making it run, as the boys usually end up lying on the roof of the van, talking. Hector used to date Autumn, a militant vegetarian who refers to Jeremy as "carnivore", "predator", "vampire", and "flesh-eater" or the like whenever she sees him with meat. He has the ability to grow facial hair on command. Hector is from a Spanish-speaking family and lives with his parents, grandparents, and multiple younger siblings and is apparently Catholic. Around the same time Jeremy learned he was conceived to "Stairway to Heaven," Hector revealed he learned that when his parents conceived him, blueberry muffins were burning in the oven.
Over the course of a story arc in 2011, Hector received a complete makeover from the Posse. The makeover has stuck since, ultimately giving him a new character design.
Sara Toomey Sara Toomey is Jeremy's on-again/off-again girlfriend. Although Jeremy thinks the world of her, she apparently likes Jeremy a lot, but has thought of him as a "salvageable male". Her parents are divorced and her behavior wavers between kindness and aggravation. She and Jeremy have broken up many times, but they always seem to make up sooner or later. Sara's genuine kindness and generosity is evident in one story arc where she cuts her hair short and donates her ponytail to a charity for children undergoing chemotherapy. In the January 15, 2008, strip, Jeremy revealed he did not want to date Sara exclusively anymore, but was upset when she readily accepted this change.Zits, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, January 15, 2008 Sara has a locker next to Jeremy in their second year.9 April 2018 One running gag is whenever she opens the door to leave the house, the external conditions tend to be the polar opposite of how she is dressed.
Pierce Pierce is another of Jeremy's close friends, and the drummer of Jeremy's band (after the old drummer, Y.A., quit the band) who, as his name implies, has much of his body pierced; in a 2008 storyline, Jeremy learned that when not in the presence of his friends, Pierce finds himself compelled to remove his piercings and dress like a preppy. Unlike most of Jeremy's close friends, Pierce's last name has not been revealed. He explains this early on, before realizing he has to get braces: