There are many Nancys in this great big world (Nancy Sinatra, Spungen and Reagan come to mind) but there is only one true Nancy—the essence of comic virtuosity, the icon of graphic simplicity, the cutie with the bowed-burred-helmet hair, created by the late great Ernie Bushmiller in 1933. She was so devoid of an iota of imperfection and millimeter of encumbrance that comics theorist Scott McCloud ordained, “A Nancy panel is an irreducible concept, an atom, and the comic strip is a molecule.” (I couldn’t have devised a more impressive description; thanks, Mr. McCloud!)
My family are all Nancy fanatics, and have been for decades. Nancy and Sluggo kept us from sinking to the depths of despair in our darkest hours, when housebound on short dreary winter days, during bouts of cold, flu and sciatica, and a cure for many other disappointments. Nancy‘s exploits drew us into Bushmiller’s world; through Nancy he sedated us with pure, unadulterated serenity. Nancy imparts peace, joy and, unlike a puppy, demanded nothing in return. She gave without taking. Nancy was clear, clean and unfettered by plot, moral or philosophy. Try to do that, Little Lulu, you sellout to Kleenex and poor excuse for a comics character!
Now, if you’re asking, “Ernie, how’d you do it?” And you haven’t yet read Bill Griffith’s enlightening Three Rocks: The Story of Ernie Bushmiller: The Man Who Created Nancy, Mark Newgarten’s How to Read Nancy: The Elements of Comics in Three Easy Panels or any of the edited collections large and small—and you happen to be vacationing in Columbus, OH—you can see for yourself how Ernie did it. Just hop on over to the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum for The Nancy Show: Bushmiller and Beyond through Nov. 3. Or, alternatively, if Columbus is not on your summer itinerary …
… Now’s the time to preorder The Nancy Show exhibition catalog by curators Peter Maresca and Brian Walker from Sunday Press and distributed by Fantagraphics, featuring a collection of the best Nancy Sunday pages from over the decades, meticulously restored and printed in near full-size.
