As you may have noticed, the reboot of Nancy has been in the news, oh, just a handful of times (cough) in the past year. This article from yesterday outlines some of the key achievements for the 81-year-old comic strip over the course of 2018.

But perhaps the biggest honor came on Monday, when The (Comics) Beat named Nancy creator Olivia Jaimes its "Comics Newcomer of the Year." That's pretty high praise for a pseudonymous artist who has single-handed infused Nancy with topicality, humor and a playful take on our technology-obsessed world (The Beat's 2018 "Person of the Year," by the way, was none other than Stan Lee, so Olivia is in pretty elite company).

Here's what The Beat's editor, Heidi McDonald, wrote about Jaimes in yesterday's award announcement:

Although Stan was the overwhelming pick, one other figure garnered enough support to earn the Comics Industry Person of the Year, Newcomer Edition: Olivia Jaimes. The pseudonym of a person still unidentified, Jaimes trod boldly onto comic book scripture with a re-imagining of the Nancy comic strip that was not just updated but relevant, timely and insightful. She redefined the meaning of legacy comic strips and gave the world of webcomics a jolt as well.

And after nearly a year, she still hasn’t been outed – perhaps the greatest achievement of the year in a world without any privacy!

Reached for comment, Jaimes noted “I’m touched and honored— thank you. Please continue to give me many awards.”

And via her syndicate, we have the first Olivia Jaimes' self-portrait:  

Wow, that image is ... really revealing (and looks just a little bit like Aunt Fritzi, in this writer's humble opinon). Congratulations, Olivia, on this huge honor, and we can't wait to see what kind of trouble Nancy gets into in 2019!