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The Nancy Show: Celebrating the Art of Ernie Bushmiller review




A catalogue accompanying the exhibition at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum. 

Edited by Peter Maresca and Brian Walker.

What you'll actually find inside this mysterious "Companion Catalogue":

Photos: Cartoonist Ernie Bushmiller at his drawing board in 1955, Ernie with a group of Nancy and Sluggo vinyl dolls, Ernie in 1948, Ernie reading a Nancy Dell comic book by John Stanley and Dan Gormley in 1959 and Ernie at a Red Cross fundraiser.

A nice Preface by Caitlin McGurk, Curator of Comics and Cartoon Art at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum

Nancy and Me by Ernie Bushmiller from Collier’s Magazine (September 18, 1948)

Ernie Bushmiller’s famous self-portrait for Martin Sheridan’s 1942 book, Comics and Their Creators.
A drawing of Ernie Bushmiller dreaming by Bushmiller from 1945.

The Life and Times of Ernie Bushmiller by Brian Walker

The first appearance of Nancy from the Fritzy Ritz daily comic strip, January 2, 1933.
Original art from around 1935 featuring Fritzi Ritz surrounded by top Hollywood stars.
Burlesque Show watercolor painting by Ernie Bushmiller.
Nancy and Sluggo plus Mistletoe by Ernie Bushmiller.
Nancy and aunt Fritzi Ritz by Ernie Bushmiller.
Promotional drawing for the Burlington Free Press in Burlington, Vermont.

How To Read Nancy’s Face by Paul Karasik and Mark Newgarden

Searching for Bushmillers: My Forty Years Collecting Nancy by Tom Gammill

Bushmiller using “good grief” in 1938 long before Charlie Brown was born (in October, 1950).

Nancy merch: Automatic pencil sharpeners, Battery powered cavity fighter toothbrushes, Ceramic banks, The Nancy Junior Traveler Doll Sewing Kit, The Nancy Hat Kit, Dolls “designed by Marcie”, Dolls by Georgene Novelties, 1950s watch, 4 Cookie jars, Musical figurines that play “Second Hand Rose”, Musical drinking mugs and Lollipop holding soft vinyl dolls. 

17 B&W Fritzi Ritz and Phil Fumble comic strips by Ernie Bushmiller.

103 B&W Nancy comic strips by Ernie Bushmiller.

5 Coloured Fritzi Ritz and Phil Fumble comic strips by Ernie Bushmiller.

34 Coloured Nancy comic strips by Ernie Bushmiller.

Beyond Bushmiller: The Successors

Samples from Mark Lasky, Jerry Scott, the Gilchrist Brothers and Olivia Jaimes.

Trying Out for Nancy by Ivan Brunetti from Roctober #26 (Comics Galore Issue Fall 1999)

Bushmiller Books: 

Covers for The Best of Ernie Bushmiller's Nancy by Brian Walker, Nancy Eats Food, Nancy Is Happy: Complete Dailies 1943–1945, Nancy Likes Christmas: Complete Dailies 1946–1948 and Nancy Loves Sluggo: Complete Dailies 1949–1951.

Excerpt from How to Read Nancy: The Elements of Comics in Three Easy Panels by Paul Karasik and Mark Newgarden

Excerpts from Three Rocks: The Story of Ernie Bushmiller: The Man Who Created Nancy by Bill Griffith 

Spoofs and Homages: 

Nancy by Wally Wood, Nancy by Joe Brainard, Nancy by Andy Warhol, Nancy by Gary Panter, Sluggo by Art Spiegelman and Popeye the Sailor, Sluggo, Fritzi Ritz and Phil Fumble by Denis Kitchen.

Nancy by Guy Gilchrist from April 21, 2013 (Nancy as The Phantom, Superman, Garfield, Snoopy, Beetle Bailey, Olive Oyl, Krazy Kat, etc.).

Nancy appearing in Curtis by Ray Billingsley, Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis, Bizarro by Dan Piraro and Wayne "Wayno" Honath, and The Far Side by Gary Larson.

2 Paintings by Patrick McDonnell.

Nancy dreaming of her version of heaven by Ernie Bushmiller for Harry N. Abrams in 1978.
An unfinished Sunday page by Ernie Bushmiller from the 1960s.
Nancy and Bazooka Joe in Love’s Savage Fury by Mark Newgarden from RAW #8.

Special Bonus Gift: The book includes a sheet of exclusive Nancy gift-wrapping paper.


What I did not like:

The typos, from time to time.

I wanted to see more official merchandise!

Needed more book covers: How Sluggo Survives!, Nancy's Pets, Nancy Dreams & Schemes.

No mention of Fabulous Funnies/Archie's TV Funnies, School Daze and Doing Their Bit by Terrytoons, "Listen, Laugh & Learn" LP, "Report Card Day" Colgate-Palmolive LP, The Garfield & Friends episode: Mystic Manor, The 1995 USPS Comic Strip Classics stamp.

I give it a 9/10. A fantastic, super affordable souvenir flexibound book! Feisty Nancy is treated like a queen (as she should) by Sunday Press Books. Fans will be extremely pleased with this exhibition catalogue. 

I can't wait for Nancy Wears Hats (The first volume in a new series collecting Bushmiller’s Nancy!), on sale: June 3, 2025! BTW Fantagraphics, a French Canadian version of Nancy Wears Hats for the legion of Philomène fans in Québec would be very much appreciated.


Nancy can be read online @ GoComics.com/Nancy

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