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The New Nancy

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Jeff Karnicky draws on Olivia Jaimes’s 2018 remake of Nancy to show how successful daily comic strips are flexible and relatable in the 21st century.

Image courtesy of interviewee. February 2, 2024

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This video video discusses the history and evolution of the comic character Nancy, created by Ernie Bushmiller in 1933, who initially appeared in the comic strip "Fritz Ritz." Due to her popularity, Nancy received her own strip in 1938, which continued under Bushmiller until the early 1980s. After that, various artists continued the strip with less publicity, until Olivia James revived it in 2018, marking a significant change, as it was the first time a woman took the helm.

The speaker highlights key differences in the new Nancy, focusing on how contemporary comic creators, like James, operate within a different cultural and economic landscape compared to the past, when newspaper comics were hugely popular and financially lucrative. James, for instance, balances her comic work with a full-time academic career.

The digital shift in comic consumption is also explored, as fewer people read comics in print newspapers and instead access them online. The new Nancy incorporates modern themes and humor relevant to current society, like technology and online schooling, reflecting cultural changes. As the comic evolves, it embraces diversity and adapts to contemporary audiences, using elements from both the past and the modern world.

The narrative emphasizes the ongoing relevance of daily comics and argues for their importance in contemporary society, despite the decline of newspaper comics since the 1960s. It also calls attention to the need for scholarship on newspaper comics, which have been overshadowed by studies focusing on graphic novels and superhero comics.

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Nancy was a comic character, created all the way back

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in, in 1933

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by the cartoonist Ernie Bush Miller.

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Um, and he just briefly,

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Nancy was a character in another strip

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that he was doing called Fritz Ritz, who is Nancy's aunt.

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But she first appeared in that comic in 1933,

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but became very popular,

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so got her own comic strip in 1938

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and, Ernie Bush Miller did Nancy until

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the, the early eighties.

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Um, and then over the last, you know, like, well

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between the eighties and 2018, what Olivia James did,

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and a bunch of other people did it to really like,

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I don't know, no great publicity

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or not a lot of press about the comic changing

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because they kept it very similar.

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But when they rebooted it in 2018 with Olivia James,

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a lot about the comic was different.

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Um, and there's a lot I can say about that.

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I mean, the, the most obvious difference is this is the

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first time that a woman, was doing the comic strip.

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Some of the research was actually quite easy

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because I started, I guess I started this in early 2020

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or maybe late 2019,

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but, Olivia James' comic started in

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April, 2018.

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So for one, it was easy to read all

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of the primary sources, right?

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I mean, it's not that it doesn't take that long

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to read a year and a half of daily comic strips.

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So that was, I mean, that's the primary research.

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But then besides that, it was, you know,

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researching other comics, scholarship.

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Um, there's a lot of stuff

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or there has been a lot of stuff online about

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the new Nancy comics.

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So I was looking at a lot of Facebook groups

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and I'm doing sort of research about how, you know,

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how scholars write about Facebook groups and group formation

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and all that kind of stuff.

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So, you know, the research wasn't necessarily

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incredibly difficult.

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Um, like I said,

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because the primary source was relatively new without a lot

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written about it, part of why I was, I was drawn to the new,

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to Olivia James' Nancy, is that her comic,

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in lots of ways embodies these changes.

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So, one of the primary ones is, is actually labor

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and work related in that comics creators,

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in the 21st century don't have the kind of, well,

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I mean, they don't have the kind of cultural cachet they

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used to way back in the thirties

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and forties when comics were incredibly popular

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and actually drove the sale of newspapers.

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Um, but they also don't have the same kinds

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of labor conditions.

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So Olivia James, which I should note is,

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is a pseudonym,

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where she's kept her her real name private, even though,

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I won't say it, but

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It's very, very easy to sort of figure out who she is.

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But, the point is that I wanted to make about

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that is that right?

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She has another job, she has a PhD in mathematics

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and is a professor,

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and so writes Nancy, I guess you could

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say, as sort of a side job.

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Whereas, you know, back in the thirties

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and forties,

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newspapers would outbid each other for comics creators.

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So Ernie Bush Miller, you know,

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drawing Nancy from the thirties all the way to the eighties

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made his living just from that

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and made a very comfortable living.

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He, you know, he grew up in the Bronx and

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after Nancy became popular, he moved to the,

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the suburbs in Connecticut and had this nice house

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and, you know, comics artists were paid, you know, 150,

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$200,000 in the 1940s,

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which obviously was a ton of money then.

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So one of the big changes is that, you know, again,

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I don't what comics artists get paid today,

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is it really publicized,

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but it's more like a freelance gig, almost even for

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a really famous comic like Nancy.

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Um, the other big change is that,

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for the most part, people barely read comics in newspapers

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anymore and read them online.

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And part of the reason for this is that, you know,

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newspaper circulations since say like the 1990s,

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have just gone way down in the United States.

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Um, and

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so most people access the comics from just a couple websites

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online and read them online,

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but, the comics still do appear in print.

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So comics creators now, I think need to think about both

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how something might look on a page of newsprint,

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but also how it's going to look, online on,

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on the couple of comic sites that, that publish comics.

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You know, it's interesting

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and one of the ways that, that if,

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if I could speak specifically about Nancy

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and has been able to do this, is if you think about the

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humor, and right, obviously most deli comic strips,

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if they're not sort of serial,

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like soap opera strips wanna be funny every day, right?

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They would have a joke every day. Um,

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and comics over, you know, over the,

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their lifetime obviously have developed a kind of group

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of objects that they use for their humor, right?

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So, if you look at a lot of early comics,

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their humor is based on a lot of household things

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and objects like cookie jars, people climbing up ladders

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and falling off and so on.

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Um, and what I think Nancy does really well is it uses

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what I call, what I call in the book, those old objects,

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but also uses new objects.

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So right, the new Nancy is all about screens.

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Um, Nancy always has a smartphone with her, all of her,

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her friends are on screen all the time,

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and we see that represented.

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So sort of the representation of,

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of space in the comic has changed a lot

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because it's a lot of, during the pandemic,

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for instance, the comic, that, you know,

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with school kids, obviously it takes place in school a lot.

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They went to online schools.

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So we got to see jokes drawn around the ideas of,

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you know, Nancy tries to arrange her screen so

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that her teacher can't see that she's not paying attention

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and all kinds of jokes like that.

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And we see visual representations of, you know, things like

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somebody having their mic on and getting feedback

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or somebody being muted on screen.

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So, I think comics have evolved

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to include a lot of that.

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Um, a lot of that new technology, you know, not

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to get into the business aspect too much,

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but there are now there are two main syndicators of comics.

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One, the one that publishes Nancy, it's the biggest one,

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and it's called Andrews McNeil.

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And they have a co a web, a website called Go Comics where,

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they publish their comics

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and you can actually read them for free if you,

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you can subscribe and, you know, you get benefits.

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Like you could pick your favorite comics, get them emailed

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to you every day.

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But, that seems like it's a relatively

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successful business model.

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And, you know, if a comic is relatively successful,

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like Nancy, they publish books every couple years,

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and sell that way.

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But it, it does seem like, you know, they're eventually

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going to disappear from newspapers

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because I mean, it seems like physical newspapers are

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clearly and unfortunately on their way, their way out.

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You know, one way that the main thing I hope to take away is

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that just that daily newspaper comics,

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and I'll still call 'em newspaper comics,

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but probably, probably could just call them daily comics,

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but, they're still interesting.

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They still have a lot to say about our society.

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Um, you know, one of the main things I try

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to do in the book is show how Nancy, as a comic

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has dealt with sort of changing cultural mos over the time.

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So, whether it's having a more racially diverse cast

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of characters because, you know, up

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through the 1960s at the very least,

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comics pages were just to put it bluntly,

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incredibly white in terms of creators and characters.

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So, I mean, the new Nancy is more racially diverse,

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but it also tries to be relatable in ways that I think

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that people who grow up online are much more connected to.

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So, you know, Nancy herself becomes a lifestyle

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blogger in the comics.

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So, the comics do have a lot

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to say about contemporary world,

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and I think it's, it's a form

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that could easily be forgotten

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because, you know, again, if you go back from say,

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I don't know, even the nine, even the early, you know,

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the turn of the 19th to the 20th century

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comics were incredibly popular newspaper comics,

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and it's just been sort of a downward slopes since

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say the sixties.

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But, you know, part of my arguments are still relevant

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and they're still interesting.

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Um, and from a scholarly perspective, I think

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that's important too because, while the field

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of comic studies has really taken off academically,

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in the late 20th and the 21st century, it focuses a lot more

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on graphic novels, and superhero comics.

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The graphic memoirs than it does on newspaper comics.

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So, you know, hopefully this is a way

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of drawing attention to, to newspaper comics as well

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as something that is really relevant

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to be thinking about today.

Evolution of Nancy: From Ernie to Olivia

00:00:00 - Nancy was a comic character, created all the way back in, in 1933 by the cartoonist Ernie Bush Miller. and he just briefly, Nancy was a character in another strip that he was doing called Fritz Ritz, who is Nancy's aunt. But she first appeared in that comic in 1933, but became very popular, so got her own comic strip in 1938 and, Ernie Bush Miller did Nancy until
00:00:35 - and then over the last, you know, like, well between the eighties and 2018, what Olivia James did, and a bunch of other people did it to really like, I don't know, no great publicity or not a lot of press about the comic changing because they kept it very similar. But when they rebooted it in 2018 with Olivia James, a lot about the comic was different. and there's a lot I can say about that.
00:01:07 - first time that a woman, was doing the comic strip. Some of the research was actually quite easy because I started, I guess I started this in early 2020 or maybe late 2019, but, Olivia James' comic started in April, 2018. So for one, it was easy to read all of the primary sources, right? I mean, it's not that it doesn't take that long to read a year and a half of daily comic strips. So that was, I mean, that's the primary research.
00:01:39 - researching other comics, scholarship. there's a lot of stuff or there has been a lot of stuff online about the new Nancy comics. So I was looking at a lot of Facebook groups and I'm doing sort of research about how, you know, how scholars write about Facebook groups and group formation and all that kind of stuff. So, you know, the research wasn't necessarily incredibly difficult. like I said,
00:02:10 - written about it, part of why I was, I was drawn to the new, to Olivia James' Nancy, is that her comic, in lots of ways embodies these changes. So, one of the primary ones is, is actually labor and work related in that comics creators, in the 21st century don't have the kind of, well, I mean, they don't have the kind of cultural cachet they
00:02:39 - and forties when comics were incredibly popular and actually drove the sale of newspapers. but they also don't have the same kinds of labor conditions. So Olivia James, which I should note is, is a pseudonym, where she's kept her her real name private, even though, I won't say it, but It's very, very easy to sort of figure out who she is. But, the point is that I wanted to make about that is that right? She has another job, she has a PhD in mathematics

Evolution of Nancy Comics Through the Decades

00:03:12 - and so writes Nancy, I guess you could say, as sort of a side job. Whereas, you know, back in the thirties and forties, newspapers would outbid each other for comics creators. So Ernie Bush Miller, you know, drawing Nancy from the thirties all the way to the eighties made his living just from that and made a very comfortable living. He, you know, he grew up in the Bronx and after Nancy became popular, he moved to the, the suburbs in Connecticut and had this nice house
00:03:45 - $200,000 in the 1940s, which obviously was a ton of money then. So one of the big changes is that, you know, again, I don't what comics artists get paid today, is it really publicized, but it's more like a freelance gig, almost even for a really famous comic like Nancy. the other big change is that, for the most part, people barely read comics in newspapers
00:04:15 - And part of the reason for this is that, you know, newspaper circulations since say like the 1990s, have just gone way down in the United States. and so most people access the comics from just a couple websites online and read them online, but, the comics still do appear in print. So comics creators now, I think need to think about both how something might look on a page of newsprint, but also how it's going to look, online on,
00:04:48 - You know, it's interesting and one of the ways that, that if, if I could speak specifically about Nancy and has been able to do this, is if you think about the humor, and right, obviously most deli comic strips, if they're not sort of serial, like soap opera strips wanna be funny every day, right? They would have a joke every day. and comics over, you know, over the, their lifetime obviously have developed a kind of group
00:05:17 - So, if you look at a lot of early comics, their humor is based on a lot of household things and objects like cookie jars, people climbing up ladders and falling off and so on. and what I think Nancy does really well is it uses what I call, what I call in the book, those old objects, but also uses new objects. So right, the new Nancy is all about screens. Nancy always has a smartphone with her, all of her, her friends are on screen all the time,
00:05:49 - So sort of the representation of, of space in the comic has changed a lot because it's a lot of, during the pandemic, for instance, the comic, that, you know, with school kids, obviously it takes place in school a lot. They went to online schools. So we got to see jokes drawn around the ideas of, you know, Nancy tries to arrange her screen so that her teacher can't see that she's not paying attention and all kinds of jokes like that.

The Evolution of Comic Strips in Modern Society

00:06:23 - somebody having their mic on and getting feedback or somebody being muted on screen. So, I think comics have evolved to include a lot of that. a lot of that new technology, you know, not to get into the business aspect too much, but there are now there are two main syndicators of comics. One, the one that publishes Nancy, it's the biggest one, and it's called Andrews McNeil.
00:06:53 - they publish their comics and you can actually read them for free if you, you can subscribe and, you know, you get benefits. Like you could pick your favorite comics, get them emailed to you every day. But, that seems like it's a relatively successful business model. And, you know, if a comic is relatively successful, like Nancy, they publish books every couple years, and sell that way. But it, it does seem like, you know, they're eventually
00:07:23 - because I mean, it seems like physical newspapers are clearly and unfortunately on their way, their way out. You know, one way that the main thing I hope to take away is that just that daily newspaper comics, and I'll still call 'em newspaper comics, but probably, probably could just call them daily comics, but, they're still interesting. They still have a lot to say about our society. you know, one of the main things I try to do in the book is show how Nancy, as a comic
00:07:58 - So, whether it's having a more racially diverse cast of characters because, you know, up through the 1960s at the very least, comics pages were just to put it bluntly, incredibly white in terms of creators and characters. So, I mean, the new Nancy is more racially diverse, but it also tries to be relatable in ways that I think
00:08:29 - So, you know, Nancy herself becomes a lifestyle blogger in the comics. So, the comics do have a lot to say about contemporary world, and I think it's, it's a form that could easily be forgotten because, you know, again, if you go back from say, I don't know, even the nine, even the early, you know, the turn of the 19th to the 20th century comics were incredibly popular newspaper comics,
00:08:58 - say the sixties. But, you know, part of my arguments are still relevant and they're still interesting. and from a scholarly perspective, I think that's important too because, while the field of comic studies has really taken off academically, in the late 20th and the 21st century, it focuses a lot more on graphic novels, and superhero comics. The graphic memoirs than it does on newspaper comics. So, you know, hopefully this is a way