The Zen of Nancy

Ernie Bushmiller’s “Nancy” was one of the most innocuous yet ubiquitous comic strips ever. It was never funny or clever, it was just odd, and it ran in hundreds of papers for decades. There are many Nancy afficionados/analysts out there, just google ’em. One of the best taps into the zen of the strip, with a game called, “Five Card Nancy,” and it’s not funny either.

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Although Nancy didn’t have a mom or a dad in the strip, her Aunt Fritzi took care of her. Fritzi was a babe, and better looking than Blondie. Honest.

Nancy’s best friend Sluggo was odd in his own zen-like way:

sluggo.jpg

There are so many pointless, humorless comic strips around today that try to be funny. At least Bushmiller’s “Nancy” was deliberately pointless and rarely humorous, but it was drafted in a tight recognizable style.

Sources: Nancy panel clipped from the Sunday funnies years ago; Aunt Fritzi from here; Sluggo panels from here and here.

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Author: Bunk Strutts

Boogah Boogah.

2 thoughts on “The Zen of Nancy”

  1. nancy is zen b/c she cannot be described. she just can’t. as much as you write about her, you can never pin her down. she is infinitely simple and endlessly complicated. she is transcendent. she is a reflection, but of what, i dont know.
    i wish there were a place where all the nancy drawings were stored.

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  2. ncba–

    We’ve been posting Nancy stuff sporadically for years [Nancy Archive].

    You might find the link you’re looking for embedded in the posts; otherwise you might search here, or maybe here. Nancy was and is a mindtrip.

    She went “BANG” without explosives or explanation, never blew up anything, yet blew up everything at the same time. Pure Zen.

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