Released on the 9th, a cartoon feast of a volume from Sunday Press (in Palo Alto), distributed by Fantagraphics: The Nancy Show: Celebrating the Art of Ernie Bushmiller by Peter Maresca and Brian Walker:
(#1) The cover: all about Nancy — but Sluggo’s not far away, and Ernie’s hovering over them both
Background. Extracts from Wikipedia:
(#2) [AMZ:] A 1962 Nancy — 1962 was the year I graduated from college! — on a linguistic topic; notice how quickly Sluggo gets hung up on food namesNancy is an American comic strip, originally written and drawn by Ernie Bushmiller and distributed by United Feature Syndicate and Andrews McMeel Syndication. Its origins lie in Fritzi Ritz, a strip Bushmiller inherited from its creator Larry Whittington in 1925. After Fritzi’s niece Nancy [Nancy Ritz, a precocious 8-year-old] was introduced in 1933, Fritzi Ritz evolved to focus more and more on Nancy instead of Fritzi. The new strip took the old one’s daily slot, while Fritzi Ritz continued as a Sunday, with Nancy taking the Sunday slot previously filled by Bushmiller’s Phil Fumble strip beginning on October 30, 1938
… Sluggo Smith [was introduced as] Nancy’s friend from the “wrong side of the tracks”
… Comics historian Don Markstein ascribed the strip’s success to Bushmiller’s “bold, clear art style, combined with his ability to construct a type of gag that appealed to a very broad audience.”
… After Bushmiller’s death in 1982, the strip was produced by different writers and artists. Mark Lasky briefly handled the daily strip in 1982/1983 until his death from cancer at age 29. Al Plastino worked on Sunday episodes of Nancy from 1982 to 1984 after Bushmiller died.
… The daily strip was handed to Jerry Scott in 1983 and the Sunday in 1985. Scott gradually started to draw the strip in a much different, more modern style than other incarnations. In 1994, the syndicate sought a replacement for Scott; applicants included Ivan Brunetti and Gary Hallgren. In 1995, Guy and Brad Gilchrist were given control of the strip; Guy Gilchrist subsequently became the sole writer and illustrator.
… After 22 years, Gilchrist’s last Nancy strip came out on February 18, 2018, which involved the marriage between the characters of Fritzi Ritz and Phil Fumble. The strip resumed on April 9 with a “21st-century female perspective” by Olivia Jaimes (a pen name), the strip’s first female creator. … Jaimes said, “Nancy has been my favorite sassy grouch for a long time. I’m excited to be sassy and grouchy through her voice instead of just mine” and “the Nancy I know and love is a total jerk and also gluttonous and also has big feelings and voraciously consumes her world”.
Art styles: The artists who followed Bushmiller drew in a range of styles that deviated distinctly from his deceptively simple approach. Despite the changes in art style over the years, however, it is Bushmiller’s work that is still most closely identified with the strip. Bushmiller refined and simplified his drawing style over the years to create a uniquely stylized comic world.
From Fantagraphics. The p.r. blurb on their site:
A companion catalogue of original art, memorabilia, and more from “The Nancy Show”, a 2024 exhibition honoring Ernie Bushmiller at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum [at The Ohio State University]. This book includes reproductions from the museum show, including over 100 pieces of original artwork, with special bonus material.
Ernie Bushmiller stated that his Nancy was created for “the gum chewers” and not the “caviar eaters.” He might be surprised to find his work honored in an important art exhibition. Nancy herself would believe she deserves nothing less!
By scholars, collectors, and fans, the importance of Ernie Bushmiller’s work has been acknowledged in recent years as he takes his place among the great classic cartoonists. This book is a companion catalogue of artwork, memorabilia, and more from “The Nancy Show” a 2024 exhibition honoring Bushmiller at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum. Included are high-quality images of over 100 pieces of Ernie Bushmiller original artwork, plus a biography by exhibition curator Brian Walker. A collector’s story by Tom Gammil gives insights on Nancy artwork and displays a gallery of dolls, toys, and other merchandise. The Nancy Show also features contributions by authors Paul Karasik and Mark Newgarden (How To Read Nancy), as well as notes from Bill Griffith, Patrick McDonnell, Ivan Brunetti, and others.
The book also features a collection of the best Nancy Sunday pages from over the decades, meticulously restored and printed in near full-size, most never been reprinted in color before. This book gives comic lovers an opportunity to experience “The Nancy Show” exhibition long after it leaves the museum. It’s a volume no Nancy fan should be without! Special bonus gift: This book includes a sheet of exclusive Nancy gift-wrapping paper, suitable for wrapping the book itself or anything else one might give to a Nancy lover.
Nancy is the center, with an account of the strip’s history, from 1933 to 2024, richly illustrated, but there’s also quite a lot about Bushmiller, his life and career, and his art, with appreciative essays and affectionate takeoffs on the strips.
The takeoffs include one by Wayno for the Bizarro strip, as treated in my 8/1/20 posting “Nuancy Nancy”:
(#3) Nancy takes up textual analysis (Wayno’s title:”Beating Around the Bushmiller”), explaining the intricacies of cartoon characters to her buddy Sluggo (and then of course there are the three rocks)
Just to observe that Wayno’s artistic style in his cartoons is full of realistic detail (as I’ve often pointed out on this blog), very much in contrast to Bushmiller’s famous minimalism. It might not be Wayno’s way, but he admires it
xx
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