The Lewiston (Idaho) Tribune is replacing their newest comic strip, Breaking Cat News, with Nancy, an old classic of sorts.
As Managing Editor Craig Clohessy explains
One thing I learned early on is that Lewiston Tribune readers take their comic strips seriously.
Accidentally leave one out of the paper, change its size, or — heaven forbid — drop a favorite altogether, and the phone calls and emails come fast and furious.
A second thing that should be obvious by the selection of comics we provide each day is that Tribune readers are old school when it comes to their favorites. Our core group of classics includes “Peanuts,” “Beetle Bailey,” “Hi & Lois,” “Hagar the Horrible,” “Wizard of Id,” “Garfield,” “B.C.” and “Blondie.”
We are making a switch starting Monday that should appeal to the lovers of classics…
“Tribune readers are old school.” Yeah, newspaper subscribers are far closer to the senior than the under-12 discount.
“Nancy,” the creation of cartoonist Ernie Bushmiller, first debuted in 1933 as a character in the comic strip “Fritzi Ritz.” Bushmiller spun Nancy off into her own strip in 1938.
While “Nancy” was created in the ’30s, [Olivia] Jaimes, who started producing the strip in April, has done an amazing job of refreshing the character to reflect the interests of a Gen Z kid without losing the humor Bushmiller infused in the original.
Or…
Here’s an old comic strip revived by an infusion of young energy but no need for you geezers to worry, it’s still the Nancy and Sluggo you’ll recognize from your youth.
Nice to see Olivia’s Nancy gaining clients, but I would prefer a different sales pitch.
Like any business, we work off a budget here at the Tribune, so to pick up a new comic strip means having to drop another. “Breaking Cat News” will no longer grace our comics page. The strip about cats doing news bradcasts was enjoyed by some, but didn’t get the buzz I hoped it would when we added it to our lineup in June of 2017.Breaking Cat News” will no longer grace our comics page. The strip about cats doing news broadcast
Only one cat strip (Garfield) and one young woman cartoonist (Olivia) per funny page.
Read Craig introducing the new/old comic strip.
Another argument in favor of comic strips being left to the marketing department and not the newsroom. Of course retired people have the time to complain, but, even if they are the largest segment of your business, are you going to base your offerings entirely on the customers you have, or are you going to reach out to the customers you want?
Sigh. Editors aren’t reading this.
Won’t it be fun when the editor discovers the old school comic strip fan hates the new take on NANCY?
This geezer doesn’t think much of the new take on “Nancy”. I don’t find it funny, and the drawing is bad. Also, Bushmiller infused humor into “Nancy”? I must have missed that day.
I especially hate that they dropped “Breaking Cat News” to make room for it. I think BCN is one of the most creative and enjoyable new strips that I have seen in years. The artist was drawing it as a web comic and it created enough “buzz” that a syndicate picked it up. It’s whimsical and might not appeal to people who don’t like cats.
I guess it’s impossible to drop something like “Beetle Bailey”, which hasn’t been funny in decades.