[.ca] Random Zits: A Zits Treasury (ISBN 0740746693)

Random boy:
What is it like to be a fifteen-year-old boy? If "Random Zits," the anthology of the sixth and seventh "Zits" books, is any indication, then it's not exactly fun and games. Jim Borgman and Jerry Scott (of "Baby Blues") continue to chronicle teenage angst, and the angst that comes with raising a teenager, as Jeremy continues to struggle with high school, romance, and the crippling embarrassment that comes with having parents. In this treasury, Jeremy encounters new problems: his mother's birthday and only twenty-five bucks to buy a present with, time on the beach with his pals, an illegal jaunt with Hector in their run-down van, reading "Moby Dick," and a forced family vacation where he spends the whole time playing video games. On the home front, Jeremy also has to deal with the hopelessly uncool parents he's stuck with: clashes with his parents on dating, curfews, laundry, and surfing on the ironing board. On the other side is Walt and Connie, who try to interact and communicate with a son who acts in strange and inexplicable ways (such as storing the relish on his computer). And the supporting characters have a few life changes as well. Hector is still with his militant vegetarian girlfriend, while "perforated American" Pierce finds his soulmate and performs "decorative" orthodontia on himself. And the Posse (three superficial airheads) finally get taken to task for their weird manner of speech. "Zits" shows no signs of wearing out its welcome in this latest treasury; Scott and Borgman perfectly capture the angst of a teenager who has no real right to angst. But they don't just have contrived teenagerhood, but also his confused parents, weird friends, and perpetual struggle to be an adult, but still burdened with the mind of a kid. And they perfectly capture the surreality that can come with different generations, such as Walt wailing, "Who ordered a pizza at 7 am?", only to have Jeremy say, "Ahhh! Breakfast!" But they also include the sweeter side, with Connie bringing back an old kitchen rug, because of Jeremy's fond childhood memories of it. Borgman and Scott's strip is kind of reminiscent of "Calvin and Hobbes." Not just because of the blonde protagonist with an active imagination, with a deadpan pall, but the funny imagery. When Jeremy's excuses "don't hold water," we see water dribbling out of his speech bubbles. Though Jeremy should by now be in his early twenties, the perpetual fifteen-year-old slogs through more of the trials of teenhood in "Random Zits." Funny, surreal and very true to life.