"The New Nancy" by Jeff Karnicky

Most of us are familiar with Nancy, the comic strip penned for decades by Ernie Bushmiller, but what about the new Nancy now produced by Olivia Jaimes?That's the focus of Jeff Karnicky's new book, "The New Nancy."Bushmiller died in 1982 but Nancy has been sustained by the syndicate that owns the rights to the character and she just keeps going.Despite fears--with newspapers in decline--that the daily comic has become an endangered species, a new digital reordering is underway, says Karnicky.Those of us accustomed to perusing the funny pages to find Beetle Bailey, Blondie or Peanuts lament some of the changes that have come about but Karnicky, an English professor at Drake University, sheds light on the new age of the funnies, sharing some of the pros and cons of web comics.It's a new ballgame for comic artists, said Karnicky. While a fortunate few (Bushmiller, Charles Schulz, Mort Walker and others) made a good living producing daily comics, the internet is a different master, he said."Comic creation has become part of the gig economy and can rarely be seen as the lucrative career it sometimes was in the 20th century," said Karnicky.But there's still a world of comics about, he said. Sites like Gocomics.com are alive with comic strips, old and new. There are always new features and fresh characters that may not be in your daily paper--if you have a daily paper at all, that is.Karnecky dissects some of these changes, providing background on how Jaimes approaches the challenge of keeping a cartoon character (originated in the 1930s) alive and relevant.Taking over Nancy in 2026 is cartoonist Caroline Cash.