Zelda Van Gutters was a sassy Lakeland Terrier dog who was the mascot for Nickelodeon Magazine. She would appear throughout the magazine with snarky, punny commentary on various pages. Originally in the premiere issue in 1993, she was introduced as Nickelodeon Magazine's "office manager". In later issues, starting around 1997, she would be introduced in the magazine's content page with the text "I'm Zelda Van Gutters, the magazine's roving reporter. Look for me throughout the issue." In 1995, she was featured on a bus shelter poster advertisement for Nickelodeon Magazine which appeared throughout New York City and Chicago to celebrate the magazine's first 500,000 readers.
She would also star in the occasional picture comic "Ruffing It". The comic first appeared in the Holiday 1993 issue (the magazine's third issue) and continued for many years, all the way up to its last issue in 2009. The comic featured recurring characters, such as Rufus FitzPumpkin (Zelda's poet boyfriend) and Julie "Frosty Butz" Icybutt (the fictional editor of Nick Mag).
Like most elements of the original Nick Mag, Zelda did not return in Papercutz' rebooted version of the magazine.
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