Zits: Chillax by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman
Review by Lauren
Source: copy from library; all opinions are my own
Official Summary: In Zits: Chillax, Jeremy Duncan, high school sophomore and
future rock god, offers up a comedic outlook on teenage life, including
school, parents, chores, bands, and friends.
Jeremy and his best
friend, Hector Garcia, are planning to achieve a lifelong dream…going
to a rock concert! Without parental supervision. But the Gingivitis
concert falls on the same night their friend Tim is donating bone marrow
for his mom, a cancer patient. Not a problem: Jeremy and Hector are
determined to go to the show…for Tim.
Review: To be honest, I’ve never read a Zits comic, but I still wanted to check out this first Zits novelization because it looked pretty fun. Jeremy is very much a typical guy. He wants to hang out with his friends and girlfriend, Sara, playing music and generally avoiding anything too emotionally taxing. Things change when one of his friends, Tim, announces that his mom has cancer and he has to donate bone marrow. Sara thinks Jeremy needs to stop being such a “guy” and talk to Tim, but instead, Tim and his best friend Hector decide to go to a concert in honor of Tim…in the hopes of getting an awesome piece of merchandise to take home for him.
 |
| source |
This is a really quick read, full of full page comics and illustrations throughout the book. It’s definitely something I could see guys enjoying more than girls, as the idea of being a guy is talked about a lot in the novel. I love that Jeremy’s parents, and even some of his friend’s parents, get a lot of page time. It makes the book more realistic. Zits might be about a group of teenagers but that doesn’t mean their parents just disappear. After all, they have to get permission somehow to go to this epic concert. There is even some cool mentions about one of their teachers, showing Jeremy and Hector that not all teachers are alike and they have lives outside the walls of a school.
Overall, Zits was fun. I think I might enjoy some of the actual comics a bit more than the book, but I’m glad to have read the novel. If you like the comic strips or have a guy in your life that could use a push to start reading more, I’d recommend checking this out!
Glad this was a pretty good read. I love the art you posted for it. Looks fun!
I have never read something about music I think wether it's a novel or a comic, I should try!
Glad it was a good read.
Zits is one of my favorite strips.
Yay for funny and a main character being a normal guy who is easy to relate to.
It's been a really long time since I've read the comics, but I vaguely remember this one. Glad you enjoyed it!
Hmm it looks and sounds fun but I am not so sure about the cancer part.
I haven't seen many books that are like this. I do like it but I don't think I'd enjoy it that much. It seems fun though. 🙂
To be honest, I actually thought this would be a fun one to read – the cover and title seems to show that!
Funny enough, I've grown up around music, but haven't read many books involving music. I think I need to remedy that. Great review Lauren! 🙂
I think I used to enjoy seeing the Zits comic. It's so cool to see something I'm actually familiar with.
I think my son will enjoy this one in a few years. Thanks for the review, Lauren!
I had one that I got but I wasn't really into it and I just gave it to a school class actually. But that's cool you were to reading this one. Glad you enjoyed!
I remember reading this comic in the Saturday morning comics of my local newspaper! That's kind of cool that they made a novel out of it, which I can't think of any other examples from a comic before. To take discrete little comics and turn it into a full length story is an interesting idea, for sure!