Nancy (comic Strip) - Characters

Characters

• Nancy Ritz, a typical and somewhat mischievous young girl. She encourages Sluggo to improve himself and is instantly jealous of any other girls who pay him attention.
• Fritzi Ritz, Nancy's aunt, with whom she lives. She is drawn in a more realistic style than the children characters. The character was gradually phased out beginning in the mid-1980s before being dropped entirely by the end of the decade. She subsequently returned as a main character in 1995 when the strip was taken over by brothers Brad and Guy Gilchrist. In the current version of Nancy, Fritzi works as a music reviewer and is often seen wearing T-shirts of musical acts, especially country performers. Fritzi is in her late fifties.
• Sluggo Smith, Nancy's best friend, introduced in 1938. Sluggo is Nancy's age and is a poor ragamuffin-type from the wrong side of the tracks. There are strips that appear to place Sluggo as Nancy's boyfriend. He is portrayed as lazy, and his favorite pastime seems to be napping.
• Rollo, the stereotypical but nonetheless friendly rich kid. In the early 1940s, the rich kid was known as Marmaduke. It is possible that the name was changed to avoid confusion with Marmaduke, an unrelated comic strip by Brad Anderson that debuted in 1954.
• Irma, Nancy's nondescript girlfriend.
• Spike (aka Butch), the town bully who frequently knocks out Sluggo. Sluggo occasionally gets one over on Spike, however.
• Oona Goosepimple, the spooky looking child who lived in a haunted house down the road from Nancy's house. She only appeared in the comic book version of the strip, during John Stanley's tenure in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
• Marigold, Sluggo's tomboy cousin.
• Pee Wee, a neighborhood toddler.
• Poochie, Nancy's nondescript dog. In current strips, Nancy also has a cat named Rocky and a goldfish called Goldie.