Is the syndicated comic strip Nancy coming to an end? It seems like it will. On January 2, 2018, Nancy writer and artist, Guy Gilchrist announced that he is stepping away from the strip on February 18, 2018. He also announced the strip finale will have Aunt Fritzi getting married to her long time boyfriend, Phil Fumble.
Guy Gilchrist has drawn the strip for 22 years, taking it over with his brother Brad in 1995. Under their stewardship, Nancy began to develop story arcs and the adult characters became something other than grownups shocked or surprised at Nancy and Sluggo’s antics.
Nancy debuted in the comic strip Fritzi Ritz by Ernie Bushmiller in 1933. Shortly, thereafter Fritzi adopted her orphaned niece, who soon became the star of the strip. The strip’s name changed to Nancy in 1938. After taking over the strip, the Gilchrists initially stuck to the Bushmiller style sheet and gag-a-day routine as evidenced below from 1996. (If you click on the strips, they will open up to another window on the Gocomics site.)
As Gilchrist continued to develop the strip he focused more on the adults and started showing them as more fully realized characters. Fritzi Ritz and Phil Fumble’s relationship was reestablished. Nancy’s friend, the orphan Sluggo, now has a family consisting of two uncles who are military veterans and professional truck drivers. As stated earlier, the strip is not afraid to step into the area of adult innuendo as evidenced by the strip below which appeared after Aunt Fritzi dressed as Wonder Woman (which had plenty of innuendo by itself) for Halloween 2016.
Over the last 22 years, Guy Gilchrist has done a lot to move Ernie Bushmiller’s creations boldly into the 21st century. Nancy is currently syndicated in 79 newspapers, but there is no word as to what will happen to the strip after Gilchrist’s final comic on February 18th. That said, Nancy has had a good run and I find myself saying something I thought I’d never say about this strip: “I will miss it when it’s gone.”
