Nancy by Olivia Jaimes for January 16, 2013

this strip is getting weirder by the day

Where is the old nancy? this comic has become a soap opera!

Charity work has no religion. Helping those less fortunate than you is something we all have an obligation to do. Maybe what’s going to creep in is a real family for Sluggo. He is comfortable with Phil. And remember, the comics have a history of long courtships, even longer engagements and (sometimes) short marriages.

Oh yes ……. very weird! Heaven forfend we allow any old fashioned values seep into the comic strip! (Sarcasm ON)

@SUSANWho ever heard of unisex socks?

For the record, I’m an atheist who loves this strip. I have no problem with stories that take a religious angle. What I like about the way Guy handles religion is that he doesn’t proselytize. Just presents the characters’ religious beliefs as an important part of their lives.

Indeed

What is on Phil’s sweatshirt? Mission?

In 1938, the title of this comic strip was changed from “Fritzi Ritz” to “Nancy,” when the youngsters became the focus of the strip. It’d be interesting to see if it gets changed back again, 75 years later.

Just started reading. Sluggo and Nancy look slightly different than I remember.

I swear…Phil has matured..become older [looking] and I now like him. When he first returned, looked like he was 13! I try not to analyze however…, just enjoy the strip.

Domestic-type stories with Fritzi and Phil are nothing new – just haven’t been brought up in a long time. I remember one Fritzi and Phil story from way back in the 60s – probably late 60s – when dishwashers were first being introduced. In those days, dishwashers were portable. If you had one, you trundled it across the kitchen to the main faucet, and hooked the hose up to the main faucet – then turned on the water – then turned on the machine. You pretty much had to baby-sit the dishwasher and, when it was finished, you unhooked the hose, drained out all of the remaining water, then trundled the machine back across the room to its corner in the kitchen.

During that time period, there was a Fritzi and Phil strip which focused on Frizi doing the dishes after having Phil over for Sunday dinner. After dinner, Fritzi and Phil went out for a walk and Phil noticed that Fritzi was rubbing her hands. When he asked Fritzi why she was rubbing her hands, Fritzi complained that her hands were rough and sore from all of that dishwashing. As they went on their walk, they passed a hardware store, which had dishwashing machines for sale in the front window. Phil told Fritzi that he could take care of her concern about her hands in a jiffy – and Phil raced inside the hardware store. Outside, Fritzi has visions of Phil returning and presenting her with a brand new dishwashing machine. Instead, Phil came out with a box of vinyl gloves and proudly handed them to Fritzi, declaring that she would no longer need to worry about getting rough, dry and red hands when she washed the dishes!

And, even as far back as the 30s, the Holiday strips for Fritzi usually focused on the spiritual aspects of the holidays. Back in the 30s, I remember one strip which had Fritzi deciding that all of this gift giving at Christmas was sentimental nonsense. So, this year, she was going to use the money which she had saved and buy a warm winter coat for herself. However, while she was out shopping, she noticed a man and his little boy window shopping. The little boy was all excited about the great things which he could see in the shop window, but the Dad was trying to discourage him from believing that he would ever receive any of those gifts. So, after Fritzi learned where the boy and his Dad lived, she went into the store, purchased everything which the little boy had been wishing for in the store window, and had all of those gifts delivered to the little boy’s home.

There is another Fritzi strip from the 40s where Fritzi tells Phil that she is feeling down, it has not really been a good year for her and she is not in the mood to celebrate, so she is not planning to do any Christmas decorating at her place. However, as she walks through the streets, recounting her reasons for NOT getting caught up into celebrating mode, she passes by a simple, run-down home – but the folks are still outside, playing around in the front yard – and decorating their one and only outdoor tree. Fritzi has a change of heart, rushes home, and begins decorating her place in earnest.

So there is nothing new about domestic-style stories, featuring Fritzi and Phil. There also is nothing new about Fritzi focusing on the spiritual aspects of Christmas. It just has not been done for a long time. I, for one, appreciate seeing the return of both the domestic aspect of the relationship between Fritzi and Phil – as well as the appreciation for the spiritual aspect of Christmas, as well as a number of other frequently observed holidays. I, for one, am happy to see a return to the roots which made Fritzi and Nancy must reading in average homes decades ago – and hope to see this trend continue.

Those portable dishwashers were, by the 60s, not so much “portable” as “less expensive than hiring a plumber and a carpenter to build it in”.-—————————Socks are by nature unisex, but you had still better separate the ones with Sailor Moon on ’em from the ones with images from “Transformers 2”.-—————————What we have here is not a “soap opera”. There’s a wide distance between “soap opera” and “gag of the day”.

Amen.