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Rarely in the history of comics has there been a turnaround as abrupt and pronounced as that of Nancy.
As of just a few months ago, no discerning critic paid the long-running comic strip any mind.
Then came Olivia Jaimes.
Or perhaps we should say Olivia Jaimes, for that name is a pseudonym.
Ill describe it to you.
She has not succeeded in her goal.
I was really more into Pokemon.
Like, Nancy imagining a bank blowing up, or Nancy parading around banging something really loud.
They were a gateway to more Nancy for me.
Ah, single-service Tumblrs.
It was a better era.
What was your online gateway drug?I have to think about this.
Oh, I know: Neopets.
Im gonna get aKacheek, and Im going to playKiko Matchfor hours and hours.
I got into it, and then I had to make cool websites for my Neopets.
When did you start creating your own comics, roughly?
I found a bunch of old notebooks, not too long ago, with some really bad comics.
No one would write essays being like, Are these actually good?
They were written back in my pre-digital days, on paper.
And what kind of stuff did you find interesting to put in comics back then?Dogs.
I was like,Yeah, I gotta draw some more dogs.
This one will be a dog wearing a hat.
That was my content.
My method was dogs.
My jokes were dogs doing things dogs dont normally do.
Because, basically, as soon as I got on the internet, I just started putting things online.
I mean, it might be like one thing a year.
Not regularly, but for that long.
I mean, doing Nancy is the most regular Ive ever been with comics.
And is that how you do it, one a day?
Or do you do big batches and front-load them?I do big batches.
How many at a time?
Whats the most in one day that youve done?Ive done a week in a day.
I dont think Ive ever come close towritingseven and then drawing all of them in one day.
Im opening the Notes app now.
Hmmm, hmmm, hmmm.
Hmmm, hmmm, hmmm.
I have to go back a little way.
Take your time.Okay, so, theres one thats coupon good for one floor clean of macaroni card.
But then, other ones, its not even jokes.
It just says, Nancy has been so bossy.
So I dont know what I was going for there.
And then, underneath, I think I also have my to-do list of things to buy.
And I havent bought gloves yet, so its really good that I remember.
And I was like,I need to do a character-reset week.
Just kinda being like,Heres who Nancys gonna be right now.
And also, I love corn bread.
So, thats it.
I wanted to reset expectations and pay homage to my favorite food.
Or maybe Im off base.No, thats so true!
Theres this thing in webcomics: #relatable.
And #relatable can be used as a slur.
To be like, Uh, your comic is pandering to people.
I feel like Nancyis#relatable, except that she also isnt apologetic.
The kind of self-hating throw in that often comes with relatable comics.
And Nancy adds one more panel to that, being like, Who cares?
More corn bread for me.
So, tell me about Sluggo.
What are the core tenets of Sluggo?Im kinda going in and tweaking Sluggo a little bit.
This is something Ive been thinking about a lot.
Classic Sluggo, first of all, has his thick accent and hes like, Noice.
I was like,This is a huge relief.
Classic Sluggo also was kinda doing the thing where hes like, Yowza, what a pretty girl!
Like, Bow wow!
And theyre 8 years old.
Hes also somehow become wiser than Nancy, in a lot of ways.
How do the adult characters fit in?
How do they function in the Nancy-verse?Fritzi I see as just Nancy, but Nancy who apologizes.
Which, actually, I dont know: Why is Nancy living with Aunt Fritzi?
Ive read a lot of the old strips, Ive never seen this addressed.
Anyway, shes also a self-insert.
I think of them maybe having some kind of development in some way.
She doesnt grow up; like, doesnt turn 10 or go to college or anything.
I think thats something the teacher character can do.
Because Ernie Bushmillers adults were almost always, I think, just pestering Nancy.
Being like, You have to do homework.
You have to do this.
Im not gonna give you a bank loan.
Maybe she can lay off Sluggo if he talks to other girls.
And you have her learning robotics.Yeah!
I realized that all of the nouns that Nancy used to have are being supplanted by a phone.
Things that she would have lying around the house to make up a joke are gone.
Thats why Im making her learn robotics.
It opens up a wider range of visual gags to make down the line.
Its remarkable how much you have them on their phones without it getting visually dull.Oh, right away.
Its not like my phone has no physical effect on me.
It actually has a huge physical effect.
Like, I dread when I see an email has come in but I cant see what it says.
Theyre intensely emotional objects.
Do you get royalties from theSluggo is lit T-shirts?Yeah.
But I havent yet.
I dont know how much money Im gonna get.
So just keep buying T-shirts.
Lets talk about your live appearance at Cartoon Crossroads Columbus.
This does not mean that I wasnt terribly nervous.
I just hung out in there for two hours after I snuck into the library, watchingThe Good Place.
That was part of the experience, just some good old-fashioned closet-sitting.
It was nice, and Im glad that I got to do it.
Im glad that I got to prove that Im a real person.
And Im glad that nobody doxed me, which was also really nice.
And how did you pick out your outfit, the disguise?It was very last-minute.
I had, like, eight different ideas, and one of them was a Skeletor mask.
Then I was like,I dont want to wear a Skeletor mask.
But she was like, Also, wear this hat and this hoodie.
And then she had lipstick from somebody else.
It was likeThe Fellowship of the Ring, getting me a costume to put on: And my ax!
Somebody sent me a screenshot where it was described as Unabomber chic.
I was like,Yes!
This closet, it had stuffed animals from childrens programs at the library.
Whos your favoriteGood Placecharacter?Excellent question.
I really like Jason.
Theres a kinship between Nancy and Jason.
They both live in the pursuit of pleasure.Yeah, he doesnt apologize.
Im more of a Janet guy, myself.I just remembered Janet exists.
Yeah, Janet is the right answer.
Tell me stuff about Janet that you like.
Because I like everything about Janet.
Dont write about Nancy, just write about Janet.
Do you have a 30-year plan for Nancy?
Do you have arcs that youre thinking about?
Do you see yourself doing this for a long time?
What does the future look like?I see myself doing it for a long time.
But just thinking about ten years ago, I didnt have a smartphone and my life was very different.
I want the strip to always match the time period in which its occurring.
And so, I want Nancy to be there to catch them on it.
Youre going fullBlack Mirror.This is my plan.
Nancy is going to becomeBlack Mirror.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
