Bid two Sluggos

December 2, 2008 4:24 PM

5 Card NancyA neo-Dada game invented by Scott McCloud, in the tradition of the Exquisite Corpse. It works by emphasizing the tendency to draw connections between juxtaposed frames, to impose meaning where none exists. Play the solitaire version here.
posted by klangklangston (32 comments total)

I will stick to 1000 BWC, but I definitely am happy with more neo-Dada in the world.
posted by Lemurrhea at 4:37 PM on December 2, 2008

Oh, very cool. I've been playing a similar game with a box of photos I found on the street.
posted by fuq at 4:53 PM on December 2, 2008

I like the Solitaire 5-Card Nancy.

Here's my contribution.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 4:57 PM on December 2, 2008

I don't think "game" is the right word here. I kept adding panels and waiting to see if I won or lost. Reading the directions may have helped...

That said, it was remarkably easy to make a coherent story.
posted by diogenes at 4:59 PM on December 2, 2008

I approve of this heartily, though I have to admit I feel like the rules for 5CN should have stopped at "take turns laying out a new panel". Anything beyond that feels a bit more like gaming than Dada. If I want someone to arbitrarily judge my semantic juxtapositions, gimme a nice spartan context like Apples & Apples.
posted by cortex at 4:59 PM on December 2, 2008 [2 favorites]

I give you the world's shortest Nancy horror story.

I also had one with Nancy getting spanked and Sluggo saying "What a peppy day," but alas it's lost forever.
posted by diogenes at 5:12 PM on December 2, 2008 [11 favorites]

One of my kids just read Making Comics and I taught the two oldest Eat Poop, You Cat this weekend.

That's...one...two... TWO connections ah ah ahhhhh.
posted by DU at 5:15 PM on December 2, 2008 [1 favorite]

It's a bit like Once Upon a Time, but with more mockery of Nancy.

I can't really disapprove of Nancy-mockery, but at the same time it's hard to enjoy anything that relies so heavily on it. It's like the panels are drawn with embedded subliminal signals which read, "Wander off and have a nap. Nothing interesting here."
posted by Scattercat at 5:16 PM on December 2, 2008

"I can't really disapprove of Nancy-mockery, but at the same time it's hard to enjoy anything that relies so heavily on it. It's like the panels are drawn with embedded subliminal signals which read, "Wander off and have a nap. Nothing interesting here.""

I dunno. I don't really get the mockery aspect to it. What makes Nancy great is that most of it only barely makes coherent sense on its own, and it has such an incredibly blunt, mute style, which makes cut-ups from it work well.

McCloud's talked a lot about Ernie Bushmiller and his bizarro comics sense (like that he never drew one rock or two rocks, but always three rocks, because three was the smallest number of rocks you could have and still have a pile of rocks), and there's definitely a hazy, dreamlike quality to most of it. It's kind of a shame that the solitaire version doesn't use Bushmiller panels, but what can ya do?
posted by klangklangston at 5:21 PM on December 2, 2008 [1 favorite]

McCloud's talked a lot about Ernie Bushmiller and his bizarro comics sense (like that he never drew one rock or two rocks, but always three rocks, because three was the smallest number of rocks you could have and still have a pile of rocks), and there's definitely a hazy, dreamlike quality to most of it.

And let's not forget The Greatest Nancy Panel Ever Drawn.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 5:29 PM on December 2, 2008 [9 favorites]

The Greatest Nancy Panel Ever Drawn.

Someone in the comments mentions t-shirts with that image. I want one!
posted by diogenes at 5:59 PM on December 2, 2008

Nancy's love of money is the root of all evil.
posted by MythMaker at 6:11 PM on December 2, 2008

Fun. Reminds me of a technique I used to use as a writing warmup:

An artist friend of mine made a stack of random drawings, all cut about to the size of a playing card. Some were recognizable, coherent objects or people; some were totally abstract. I'd shuffle the deck of (photocopied, with his blessing) drawings, lay four or five of 'em down in a row, and force myself to come up with a story premise. I got a kick out of making the connections-- letting go of inhibitions and preconceptions and all that.
posted by Rykey at 6:46 PM on December 2, 2008

McCloud's talked a lot about Ernie Bushmiller and his bizarro comics sense (like that he never drew one rock or two rocks, but always three rocks, because three was the smallest number of rocks you could have and still have a pile of rocks), and there's definitely a hazy, dreamlike quality to most of it. It's kind of a shame that the solitaire version doesn't use Bushmiller panels, but what can ya do?

YES.

Actual surreal/dream sense is hard to make. It means following a different logic than the waking world. You can't just throw things together to create dreams. Most things called "surreal" lack that strange creeping comfortable quality of dreams. Nancy is so ..mute, so un-reactive, so oddly comfortable in it's own logic that it makes a perfect subconcious narrative tool.

I am awaiting the Nancy Tarot. I await it very much.
posted by The Whelk at 7:07 PM on December 2, 2008

Five Card Nancy Solitaire is a lot of fun, but every time I start adding too many panels, Nancy appears to be engaging in some kind of horrible experiment that involves someone or something, possibly the twisted result of her nefarious endeavors, being blown up, buried in the garden, or sunk in the pond.

I had no idea that Nancy was such a monster. *shudder*
posted by louche mustachio at 7:14 PM on December 2, 2008 [2 favorites]

I'm rather proud of this one.
posted by Richard Daly at 8:29 PM on December 2, 2008

I'm proud of this one.
posted by sleslie at 8:47 PM on December 2, 2008 [2 favorites]

>The Greatest Nancy Panel Ever Drawn.

Someone in the comments mentions t-shirts with that image. I want one!

A painted rendering of that panel hangs on my wall, thanks to my talented fiance.

I'm pretty sure I've seen the t-shirt around, too.
posted by anazgnos at 9:08 PM on December 2, 2008

Mine is interesting.
posted by cerulgalactus at 9:12 PM on December 2, 2008

three rocks.
Three rocks.
THREE ROCKS.

three rocks.
posted by not_on_display at 9:15 PM on December 2, 2008 [2 favorites]

Uh, What is Dada about the Kuleshov effect?
What is Dada about suture?
What is Dada about detournement?

OH YEAH EVERYTHING. Good ol' Dada. What a doer.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 9:22 PM on December 2, 2008 [1 favorite]

What is Dada about

dadadadada

My examples are in the post if you look for them
posted by klangklangston at 9:42 PM on December 2, 2008

"...the hand of an architect, the mind of a silent film comedian, and the soul of an accountant."

How to read Nancy [pdf]
posted by Uncle Ira at 10:02 PM on December 2, 2008 [1 favorite]

The Nancy Murders
posted by anazgnos at 10:57 PM on December 2, 2008 [7 favorites]

The Greatest Nancy Panel Ever Drawn.

Someone in the comments mentions t-shirts with that image. I want one!
posted by diogenes at 7:59 PM on December 2 [+] [!]

I was the guy what made the shirts. Most of my unsold stock disappeared, thanks to a roommate who decided to surreptitiously raid my merch boxes instead of doing laundry, but if I run across any survivors I'll drop you a line (if you're an XL, that is).
posted by jtron at 10:58 PM on December 2, 2008

A painted rendering of that panel hangs on my wall, thanks to my talented fiance.

I'm jealous on two counts. First, you have that painting. Second, your fiance lets you hang it on the wall. I'm confidant that my wife wouldn't share my love of that panel. She doesn't even like movies that don't have a neatly wrapped up ending.

I was the guy what made the shirts.

Get out! I'm the opposite of an XL, but still drop me a line.
posted by diogenes at 3:58 AM on December 3, 2008

Is Nancy just an English version of Mafalda?
posted by mippy at 7:48 AM on December 3, 2008

Not as far as I can see. Nancy started in 1933, and is about a petulant little malcontent. Mafalda seems to be about a girl who wants world peace and hates soup (and started in the '60s).
posted by klangklangston at 8:40 AM on December 3, 2008

So, I've never read any Nancy before seeing this post. I've actually sort of enjoyed it; for some reason it makes me think of David Lynch's work where he mixes convention with surrealism and experimentation (like in Blue Velvet, for example). Embracing constructs while subverting them... I dig!

Also, that single panel rules. And I want the shirt. And I want to play that game.

Thanks for posting this klangklangston!
posted by defenestration at 1:28 PM on December 3, 2008

BTW, I realize I just bean-plated the shit out of a very small sampling of work. Perhaps I just like visual puns, OK?
posted by defenestration at 1:34 PM on December 3, 2008 [1 favorite]

(if you're an XL, that is)

I've never had the overpowering urge to be fatter than I already am.
Until now, that is.
posted by lekvar at 4:55 PM on December 3, 2008

sleslie: "I'm proud of this one."

...continued.
posted by team lowkey at 5:00 PM on December 3, 2008