Back in February, I posted that Nancy writer and artist, Guy Gilchrist was stepping away from the comic strip, he’d penned for 20 years on February 18, 2018.
Today, the new Nancy comic strip debuted with a new artist and writer, Olivia Jaimes. It marks the first time in the 85 year history of the strip that it will be drawn by a woman. Andrews McMeel Syndication president and editorial director, John Glynn announced that web-cartoonist Olivia Jaimes has inherited the iconic strip and will provide a “21st-century female perspective.” (If you click on the strip below, it will open up to another window on the Gocomics site.)
Personally, it’s too early for me to say whether or not I like the new strip. One strip is too small a sample size to call an artist a genius or incompetent. On the plus side, the drawings of the character Nancy are spot on the Ernie Bushmiller model sheet. On the negative side, I just didn’t get the joke (I won’t be offended if you explain it to me in the comments).
That said, I wish Ms. Jaimes lots of luck with this venture. She has big shoes to fill and her syndicate did her no favors in pushing the tagline that the strip will now have a 21st-century female perspective. The people who follow Nancy wants the strip to be good and won’t care who draws it as long as it is well drawn and funny and reminds them of the strip they grew up with over the last 85 years.
