Connection?Zits is a relatively new strip distributed by King Features Syndicate. It began in July 1997 and now appears in over 700 newspapers. It details the life of 15-year-old Jeremy through home and school.
Zits is a great comic on its own: warm, realistic, and down-right hysterical at points, it became an instant favorite. The creative team managed to capture the high school years briliantly. Considering Zits along with Calvin and Hobbes, however, brings to light some eerie coincidences.
Zits is drawn by a pair of national-known artists. Jerry Scott has been writing comic strips since the early 1980's. Jim Borgman, the artist, is a pulitzer prize-winnning editorial cartoonist who: Attended Kenyon College (like Bill Watterson) and drew political cartoons for the school paper (Like Bill Watterson). In addition to the Pulitzer, he has also won a Reuben (Watterson has two). "So what?" you say, "they went to the same school; it is a big school." Yes, but Scott and Borgman know their audience. Their strip, appearing a year and a half after "Calvin and Hobbes" stopped, came in as comic readers were still trying to find a strip to connect with. The jump from 6-year-old to 15-year-old came naturally.
The relationship between the two comics has been brought to a point in Zits itself. The following strip is from September 13, 1999:
It is undeniable that there is a similarity between Zits from July 1999 and Calvin and Hobbes from The Days are Just Packed, page 43.
What do you think? Coincidence? Is Bill Watterson influcencing the comics once again? Email me!.