Comic Strip / Nancy

tvtropes ^ | 1933 | Ernie Bushmiller

[DallasBiff]

Nancy is a long-running Surreal Humor Newspaper Comic strip originally created by Ernie Bushmiller. The strip centers on a precocious 8-year old girl, her Aunt Fritzi, and her best friend Sluggo.

The character first appeared in 1933 in Fritzi Ritz, a strip that had been created in 1922 by Larry Whittington (Bushmiller took over in 1925). Nancy proved to be so popular as a character that, in 1938, the strip was retitled to her name.

Bushmiller continued to draw the strip until his death in 1982. It was subsequently taken over by Al Plastino (on the Sunday strips) and Mark Lasky (on the dailies), only for Lasky to pass away just a year later at age 29. Jerry Scott, later known for Baby Blues and Zits, took over the strip in 1984, drawing the characters in a much more broad, cartoony style. Scott also modernized the world of Nancy. Scott's run lasted until 1995, when he was replaced by the sibling team of Guy and Brad Gilchrist, who created a hybrid art style that was part Bushmiller and part superhero comic. After a few years, Guy Gilchrist became the sole artist, continuing until early 2018. The strip is now drawn by Olivia Jaimes, making her the first woman to draw the strip. Jaimes returned to a style more reminiscent of Bushmiller's work (including re-inserting his famous fourth wall breaks) and further modernized the comic

[DallasBiff]

Along with "Peanuts", "Nancy" was my favorite comic.

For you younins out there, there was once a time, where every household got something called a "newspaper", and the kids would tear apart the newspaper to find the comic section.

And from you old geezers out there, I know Aunt Fritzi was hot.

[ifinnegan]

Jaimes is not good and is not a return to Bushmiller style.

It’s horrible.

They’re all bad after Bushmiller.

Ernie is great.

[ryderann]

” I know Aunt Fritzi was hot.”

Hot? I wanted to grow up and be like the Dragon Lady from Terry and the Pirates.

[cyclotic]

I once came to know a guy who did a daily cartoon and was also a Christian missionary. His strip was called Downstown and was one of my favorites. He quit the strip before I met him. I asked why and he told me that he found that having to be sarcastic for the strip was making its way into every aspect of his life.

[Dr. Sivana]

I think she qualifies as a beauty. For a decade that was the point of her comic strip. Gilchrist slutted her up a bit, though, which was a mistake. Ernie Bushmiller defined the comic strip's greatness, and he cannot be replaced.

He would joke about the people who said they wouldn't read the comic strip because it was too simple. He rebutted that by the time you resolve not to read it, you already had.

I have a collection of Nancy strips, and was a regular reader during the Bushmiller years. One section included a portion of "How to Read Nancy". I think they are purposefully reading too much into it.

Certainly the readership at the time did not see this as a surrealist dada-ist or Dali-esque strip (despite some creative illusions and optical art). Bushmiller certainly went to extremes in his minimalism, and he was unconcerned about anachrronisms or whether Sluggo's background was Bowery Boy or Country Bumpkin. Whatever it took to deliver the joke. I think he would be amused by attempts to rationalize long-running comic strips into a consistent canon.

I think he wanted to earn a good living (check.) and give people a light chuckle for 5 seconds. That was enough for him. At the same time, he created the indelible characters of Nancy, Fritzi Ritz (Nancy-fied version), Sluggo, and Rollo the RIch Kid (Irma was a regular, but quite delible).

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

I remember when our local paper (Tulsa World) carried both the NANCY and FRITZI RITZ cartoons in the 1960s.

I haven’t looked at newspaper cartoons since Calvin and Hobbes ceased being published.

[DallasBiff]

Well I did not know the strip "Nancy" was so cerebral.

All I remember is getting a laugh, and when a newly adopted dog decided to pee on the strip, while I was reading the comics on the floor.

I was pissed.

[Larry Lucido]

Little Lulu was better.

[Larry Lucido]

I loved Downtown!

[Larry Lucido]

Downstown

Stupid autocorrect.

[GaltAdonis]

VOTE SLUGGO IN 2024!

[metmom]

I never cared for Nancy. Never got the point of the comic.

My grandmother, however, LOVED it. She would crack up over some of what I considered some of the most inane strips.

I would try to read it trying to figure out what she saw in it. I never did get it.

[Blurb2350]

Yeah, “Nancy” always seemed like a very lame strip. Do you happen to remember Major Hoople and “Our Boarding House”?

[EvilCapitalist]

Calvin and Hobbes is my favorite.

[Tijeras_Slim]

I used to pray for Brenda Starr and Mark Trail to die in a firefly plane crash.

[Verginius Rufus]

My mother was a teenager when Nancy first appeared in the strip. I remember her making a comment to the effect that she never thought much of the strip.

[Vermont Lt]

I was able to get a Gilchrist, hand drawn Fritzi. While not my most valuable possession, it’s one of my favorites.

[EEGator]

Reminds me of...

[ProtectOurFreedom]

I know Aunt Fritzi was hot.

Yeah, but she was no Betty Boop...

Of course, there was always Daisy Mae...

Then there was Blondie. Sigh...

[piroque]

Isn’t that Moonbeam McSwine ? Daisy Mae has blonde hair ..