What Was That All About?: 20 Years of Strips and Stories

Zits Treasury #16

by Jerry Scott, Jim Borgman

What Was That All About? looks back at the 20-year whirlwind life of the Duncan family, the inhabitants of the popular, modern family cartoon Zits.

What Was That All About? is the perfect celebration of Zits' twentieth anniversary! Always spot-on, sometimes chaotic, and often messy comic moments are immortalized by the true-to-life give and take between Jeremy and his often befuddled parents.

Authors Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman have sifted through the highlights (and some lowlights!) over the life of the strip and have created a unique behind-the-scenes, insightful view into the history of Zits. They have selected their all-time favorite cartoons to fill the collection along with special features, including stories about:

• How they met in Sedona, Arizona, and came up with the crazy idea of creating Zits

• The teenagers in their own lives

• Choosing the title Zits

• Strips that newspapers declined to publish, or words they censored, etc.

• Creating a Zits Sunday strip

• Sucks, bites, and blows: staking out territory on the comic page

• Fish paste and other reasons our kids don't want to travel with us anymore

Excerpts from their sketchbooks will also be shown.

This is the book every fan of Zits has ever wanted!

Genres: Comics, Humor, Graphic Novels, Comic Strips

264 pages, Hardcover

First published October 17, 2017

About the author

Jerry Scott is an American cartoonist. He is the creator of Baby Blues and co-creator of Zits.

Reviews

[Marion · Rating 5 out of 5]

Laugh out load funny strips about teenagers and how they relate (NOT) to the "older" generation. Especially funny are the strips with Jeremy and his High School Guidance Counsellor - hilarious!

[Gigi · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best comic strip of all time. Jeremy could very well have been my son when he was a teenager- so relatable.
It was also interesting (and sometimes humorous) reading the anecdotes of Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman and about the creation of the comic.

[Sadie-Jane Huff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 161 of 300 ~ 2024

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

I absolutely love Zits, and I so wish that the local library had more volumes of it... well, maybe they do as I have only focused on the e-comics.

I know I said the exact same thing in other Zits reviews, but I still feel the same.

I love reading about the creators of the strip and seeing photos, too:) I'd love to meet them and get some comics signed... for Jerry Scott, I'd get him to sign my other fave series Baby blues too

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[are we there yet · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really into Zits years ago, and it's nice to see Jeremy and his family haven't aged a bit (well, maybe by one year) and are still up to the same old antiques. I thought Jeremy looked a little different, more subdued somehow. Still rude on occasions, but not to the level it can get in real life.

After learning that Dilbert's creator is avidly pro-Trump (although even before 2016 I did notice his mockery of diversity/inclusivity and his generally condescending tone that one might expect from a right-winger), it's a relief to learn that the Duncan family listens to NPR.

I do want to point out I didn't appreciate Jim's reference (I think it was Jim and not Jerry) to "skanky girls" in one of the essays. I can let go of the tired female trait stereotypes in the actual strips, but there's just no excuse for a grown man to describe girls that way--especially keeping in mind this book was published in 2017, not the 90s. Two stars off just for that.

[Jenni V. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a quick, enjoyable read for me as a longtime fan of the comic but it was definitely more comic strips and less actual writing/memories. I probably would've been disappointed if I had purchased this but I received it as a gift and know many others in my family that it will be passed along too now that I've read it.

Find all my reviews at: https://readingatrandom.blogspot.com

[Tim Field · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zits: What Was That All About? is a hardcover collection of comic strips and reminiscences by the creators of Zits celebrating twenty years of the popular comic strip. I enjoyed reading the origins of the strip, behind the scenes looks how it is written and drawn, and answers to burning alike “Whatever happened to Chad?”
Nice selection of classic strips for both new and longtime fans.

[Tracey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zits--always 5 stars!!! With only sisters, I knew little about raising boys, especially teen boys, but Zits reassured me that my boys were normal. Thanks, Jerry Scott & Jim Borgman!

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome to see the behind-the-scenes...

[Tessie · Rating 4 out of 5]

2018 - Book #48 of 100

[Jaymie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the backstories in this collection as well as the look at how things have changed over the life of the strip.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always Zits! Zits Always!

[N Dorville · Rating 4 out of 5]

This made me realise that I missed a bunch of strips between 2008-2010

[Scotty · Rating 5 out of 5]

So very funny and so much truth in all of it.

[Bunny · Rating 3 out of 5]