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Three Rocks: The Story of Ernie Bushmiller: The Man Who Created Nancy
From Bill Griffith, the acclaimed creator of Zippy the Pinhead, comes a history of comics as told through the life story of Ernie Bushmiller and his iconic comic strip Nancy .
“As the widest-ranging cartoon chronicler of American absurdity in our time, Bill Griffith has topped himself. This is an instant comic-strip classic!” —Matt Groening, The Simpsons
From Bill Griffith, creator of Zippy the Pinhead and Nobody’s Fool , comes Three Rocks , a biography of cartoonist Ernie Bushmiller, creator of the iconic comic strip Nancy . But this graphic novel is about more than a single comic book artist. It is the story of this American art form, tracing its inception to 1895 with the Yellow Kid , the creation of Nancy in 1933, and all the strips that followed, including Peanuts and The Far Side . When Bushmiller died in 1982, Nancy was running in almost 900 daily newspapers—a number few syndicated cartoonists ever achieve.
Nancy is hailed as the “perfect” comic strip by fans and cartoonists alike. The title Three Rocks refers to the trope of three hemispherical rocks often seen in a Bushmiller landscape—just enough to communicate environment to the reader. This distillation is exemplary of the iconic, diagrammatic look of Nancy , a comic strip about the nature of what it means to be a comic strip—the perfect avatar for Griffith to expand upon his philosophy of creating comics.
“For many years, I’ve devoured Bill Griffith’s work. It’s always inspiring and engrossing. As it never fails to do, Griffith’s brilliance and consummate drawing chops shine through. Three Rocks is amazing!” —Emil Ferris, author of My Favorite Thing Is Monsters
“As the widest-ranging cartoon chronicler of American absurdity in our time, Bill Griffith has topped himself. This is an instant comic-strip classic!” —Matt Groening, The Simpsons
From Bill Griffith, creator of Zippy the Pinhead and Nobody’s Fool , comes Three Rocks , a biography of cartoonist Ernie Bushmiller, creator of the iconic comic strip Nancy . But this graphic novel is about more than a single comic book artist. It is the story of this American art form, tracing its inception to 1895 with the Yellow Kid , the creation of Nancy in 1933, and all the strips that followed, including Peanuts and The Far Side . When Bushmiller died in 1982, Nancy was running in almost 900 daily newspapers—a number few syndicated cartoonists ever achieve.
Nancy is hailed as the “perfect” comic strip by fans and cartoonists alike. The title Three Rocks refers to the trope of three hemispherical rocks often seen in a Bushmiller landscape—just enough to communicate environment to the reader. This distillation is exemplary of the iconic, diagrammatic look of Nancy , a comic strip about the nature of what it means to be a comic strip—the perfect avatar for Griffith to expand upon his philosophy of creating comics.
“For many years, I’ve devoured Bill Griffith’s work. It’s always inspiring and engrossing. As it never fails to do, Griffith’s brilliance and consummate drawing chops shine through. Three Rocks is amazing!” —Emil Ferris, author of My Favorite Thing Is Monsters
265 pages, Hardcover
First published August 29, 2023
31 people are currently reading
416 people want to read
About the author
Bill Griffith
113 books45 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 107 reviews
October 4, 2023
A most fitting biography of cartoonist Ernie Bushmiller told in graphic novel form by a passionate fan who supplements his insights into Bushmiller's life and significance with generous portions of Bushmiller's original Nancy comic strips.
I might have preferred a smidge more history and analysis perhaps, as opposed to the many digressions and indulgences Bill Griffith allows himself, but it's all in service to his love of the material, so it's hard to complain.
I'm not a big fan of Nancy Ritz myself, but find her easy enough to enjoy in small doses. And as the many samples of Bushmiller's work show, the man would go to some bizarre lengths to get a daily chuckle from his readers. Nancy is not really comparable to Peanuts as the book suggests at one point, but you gotta respect the workmanship and polish -- and that applies to the strip and this biography, both.
I might have preferred a smidge more history and analysis perhaps, as opposed to the many digressions and indulgences Bill Griffith allows himself, but it's all in service to his love of the material, so it's hard to complain.
I'm not a big fan of Nancy Ritz myself, but find her easy enough to enjoy in small doses. And as the many samples of Bushmiller's work show, the man would go to some bizarre lengths to get a daily chuckle from his readers. Nancy is not really comparable to Peanuts as the book suggests at one point, but you gotta respect the workmanship and polish -- and that applies to the strip and this biography, both.
January 5, 2026
Bill Griffith's love of the comic strip Nancy is hardly a recent development. I recall reading the “Three Rocks” chapter of Are We Having Fun Yet? back in the 80's. So it's no surprise that he's doing a book about Ernie Bushmiller,
The book is a mixture of fact and fantasy, but most of the time it's fairly obvious which is which. And Griffith himself reveals all in the Endnotes, just in case.
The fantasy is, I think, justified–necessary, even--because Bushmiller's life is pretty straightforward. There don't seem to have been any huge obstacles to overcome, or dramatic reversals of fortune, or anything like that. He was a fairly private individual, more interested, it would seem, in humorous deflection than straight answers. He did open up to a few people over the years, and Griffith appears to have tracked down every scrap of possible information.
There are also some digressions on the aesthetics of Nancy, though, surprisingly, some of the more Zen-like examples out there are not reproduced in this book.
I'm kind of torn. I think I wanted to like this more than I do. It's interesting and all, but there are certainly better books by Bill Griffith out there. And there are collections of Nancy out there, and fascinating and appreciative essays by Griffith, Jerry Moriarty, and others explaining the strip's appeal for them, all more interesting and entertaining to read than this book.
The best scene is probably towards the end, when Bushmiller is seemingly escorted to Heaven by his creations. It's a moving and lyrical moment. For the most part, though, this book is probably best appreciated by fans of Nancy and/or Bill Griffith only.
The book is a mixture of fact and fantasy, but most of the time it's fairly obvious which is which. And Griffith himself reveals all in the Endnotes, just in case.
The fantasy is, I think, justified–necessary, even--because Bushmiller's life is pretty straightforward. There don't seem to have been any huge obstacles to overcome, or dramatic reversals of fortune, or anything like that. He was a fairly private individual, more interested, it would seem, in humorous deflection than straight answers. He did open up to a few people over the years, and Griffith appears to have tracked down every scrap of possible information.
There are also some digressions on the aesthetics of Nancy, though, surprisingly, some of the more Zen-like examples out there are not reproduced in this book.
I'm kind of torn. I think I wanted to like this more than I do. It's interesting and all, but there are certainly better books by Bill Griffith out there. And there are collections of Nancy out there, and fascinating and appreciative essays by Griffith, Jerry Moriarty, and others explaining the strip's appeal for them, all more interesting and entertaining to read than this book.
The best scene is probably towards the end, when Bushmiller is seemingly escorted to Heaven by his creations. It's a moving and lyrical moment. For the most part, though, this book is probably best appreciated by fans of Nancy and/or Bill Griffith only.
June 26, 2024
Honestly, I hadn't noticed the rocks until now.
This book is a whirlpool.
What do I mean by that? Well, some of my more high-brow journalistic friends would call it "meta"—a self-referential media reflection on media itself. Think about it for a moment: This is a graphic novel posing as a biography, created by famous cartoonist Bill Griffith, better known as the creator of Zippy the Pinhead, to honor one of his favorite cartoonists: Ernie Bushmiller. And the point Griffith makes over and over again is that, like Griffith himself, Bushmiller was always setting the bar of his humor as low as he could get—which is also a justification for Griffith's own successful career that rested on an underground comic celebrating a character based on "the sideshow freak" Schlitze Surtees, who became famous as a "pinhead" in Todd Browning's 1932 movie Freaks—which Griffith first saw in the '60s and couldn't get out of mind—like the iconic characters and gags Griffith loved in Nancy—which fascinated Griffith in part because Ernie Bushmiller was the very antithesis of underground comics.
Round and round and round and round. Meta.
And it's also a heck of a lot of fun to explore as a book. In fact, you can read this book forwards and backwards, all at the same time, which I know because that's how I read this book. I opened it at random places over and over again over a number of weeks!
Round and round.
And—truth be told—the rocks don't play much of a role in this graphic-novel-style-biography—except as a literal illustration of how deeply grounded Bushmiller was in American life and culture. Bushmiller famously boasted that he created comics not for artsy intellectuals but for "the gum chewers" out there. Like the schtick of a 1960s TV comic, Bushmiller's comics were "gags"—or as he preferred to describe it: The keys to how his comics "worked" were "the snappers," the final panels that he usually created first and worked "backwards" until he had finished the first panel. He considered this such an assembly line process that he set up four different artists' tables in his studio, so he could rove around the room and work on four strips at the same time—moving backward from the snapper on each board until he had finished each strip.
Like the "three rocks" that he used to add visual substance to exterior landscapes in his comic strip—everything in his thousands of comic strips amounted to playing pieces that he could pick up and rearrange to fit the latest "snapper" that was guaranteed to give his fans a smile—and often a real chuckle.
So, there's a huge irony in all of the newer Ernie Bushmiller Nancy books that publishers are producing these days—because they're all intellectually undergirded by text that argues for the uniquely American and ultimately timeless quality of the true art of Nancy.
In fact, as the meta whirlpool of Griffth's book spins along—it's hard to discern what's real in this story and what might be one of Griffith's own gags about Bushmiller's gags. Case in point is a chapter in the book about correspondence between Bushmiller in the U.S. and Samuel Beckett living in France about the time he staged Waiting for Godot.
Say, what!?! A correspondence between Beckett and Bushmiller? Now that's a—a, well—that's a true snapper, right? I won't say more about that section of the book because you have to explore that swirl of pages for yourself without any warning from me.
In the end, I love this book so much that it has earned a permanent space in my comic library—which, these days in my late 60s, is precious space and isn't earned by most of the books I read.
I've got to keep this copy handy. At any moment, I might be in dire need of a smile and that means I need to dive somewhere into these richly amusing pages!
This book is a whirlpool.
What do I mean by that? Well, some of my more high-brow journalistic friends would call it "meta"—a self-referential media reflection on media itself. Think about it for a moment: This is a graphic novel posing as a biography, created by famous cartoonist Bill Griffith, better known as the creator of Zippy the Pinhead, to honor one of his favorite cartoonists: Ernie Bushmiller. And the point Griffith makes over and over again is that, like Griffith himself, Bushmiller was always setting the bar of his humor as low as he could get—which is also a justification for Griffith's own successful career that rested on an underground comic celebrating a character based on "the sideshow freak" Schlitze Surtees, who became famous as a "pinhead" in Todd Browning's 1932 movie Freaks—which Griffith first saw in the '60s and couldn't get out of mind—like the iconic characters and gags Griffith loved in Nancy—which fascinated Griffith in part because Ernie Bushmiller was the very antithesis of underground comics.
Round and round and round and round. Meta.
And it's also a heck of a lot of fun to explore as a book. In fact, you can read this book forwards and backwards, all at the same time, which I know because that's how I read this book. I opened it at random places over and over again over a number of weeks!
Round and round.
And—truth be told—the rocks don't play much of a role in this graphic-novel-style-biography—except as a literal illustration of how deeply grounded Bushmiller was in American life and culture. Bushmiller famously boasted that he created comics not for artsy intellectuals but for "the gum chewers" out there. Like the schtick of a 1960s TV comic, Bushmiller's comics were "gags"—or as he preferred to describe it: The keys to how his comics "worked" were "the snappers," the final panels that he usually created first and worked "backwards" until he had finished the first panel. He considered this such an assembly line process that he set up four different artists' tables in his studio, so he could rove around the room and work on four strips at the same time—moving backward from the snapper on each board until he had finished each strip.
Like the "three rocks" that he used to add visual substance to exterior landscapes in his comic strip—everything in his thousands of comic strips amounted to playing pieces that he could pick up and rearrange to fit the latest "snapper" that was guaranteed to give his fans a smile—and often a real chuckle.
So, there's a huge irony in all of the newer Ernie Bushmiller Nancy books that publishers are producing these days—because they're all intellectually undergirded by text that argues for the uniquely American and ultimately timeless quality of the true art of Nancy.
In fact, as the meta whirlpool of Griffth's book spins along—it's hard to discern what's real in this story and what might be one of Griffith's own gags about Bushmiller's gags. Case in point is a chapter in the book about correspondence between Bushmiller in the U.S. and Samuel Beckett living in France about the time he staged Waiting for Godot.
Say, what!?! A correspondence between Beckett and Bushmiller? Now that's a—a, well—that's a true snapper, right? I won't say more about that section of the book because you have to explore that swirl of pages for yourself without any warning from me.
In the end, I love this book so much that it has earned a permanent space in my comic library—which, these days in my late 60s, is precious space and isn't earned by most of the books I read.
I've got to keep this copy handy. At any moment, I might be in dire need of a smile and that means I need to dive somewhere into these richly amusing pages!
August 20, 2023
Another fantastic graphic novel by Bill Griffith (see also “Invisible Ink” and “Nobody’s Fool”), this one an insightful and imaginative tribute to Ernie Bushmiller, creator of the inimitable classic comic strip, “Nancy.” Griffith, who came up through the underground comics of the 60s & 70s, has to be one of the hardest working guys in comics, producing these great books while also maintaining his daily strip, “Zippy the Pinhead.” I had the privilege of seeing him at this year’s (2023) San Diego Comic-Con at a spotlight panel where he was in conversation with Matt Groening. Socko stuff!
September 19, 2023
I still hate Nancy but this is a damn good biography.
September 1, 2023
Most people age forty and above are aware of the comic characters Nancy & Sluggo, but how many of us truly know them? As it turns out, there is a lot to learn, and this wonderfully-presented graphic biography tells their story in the best possible way.
Nancy was at once hip and arty (it often added a dollop of surrealism and bizarre humor to the newspaper funny pages) and obtuse (the latter years' jabs at rock music and long hair continued long after these things became mainstream in the popular culture). The strip's creator was a similarly complex and surprising individual.
Nancy was at once hip and arty (it often added a dollop of surrealism and bizarre humor to the newspaper funny pages) and obtuse (the latter years' jabs at rock music and long hair continued long after these things became mainstream in the popular culture). The strip's creator was a similarly complex and surprising individual.
September 26, 2023
I never really liked Nancy and Sluggo even when comics were my world as a kid. I definitely preferred Richie Rich, Peanuts and Archie. But little did I understand the strip’s seminal and foundational position in the world of comic strips. The one that taught others how to do it.
Bill Griffith (creator of the also groundbreakingly weird Zippy the Pinhead, and the phrase Are We Having Fun Yet?) explains it all as he walks us through Nancy’s place in both the comic and modern art universes. This is a valiant and original telling of the tale of artist Ernie Bushmiller that couldn’t be handled any other way. The rendering is quite brilliant and totally indicative of the Nancyverse.
And now I see it. I see the perfection that Griffith points out.
Ernie’s diagrammatic line work is amazing-and done waaay before Illustrator or procreate patterns and brushes. Deceptively simple and subversive, too.
It’s a bit of a slow burn-I thought it started to drag about a third in, but I kept at it and ended up loving it—and even loving Nancy a bit, too, after all these years. Now I hope someone writes a book on the redeeming power of the comic strip Henry, because I thought that one sucked, too. 😂
Bill Griffith (creator of the also groundbreakingly weird Zippy the Pinhead, and the phrase Are We Having Fun Yet?) explains it all as he walks us through Nancy’s place in both the comic and modern art universes. This is a valiant and original telling of the tale of artist Ernie Bushmiller that couldn’t be handled any other way. The rendering is quite brilliant and totally indicative of the Nancyverse.
And now I see it. I see the perfection that Griffith points out.
Ernie’s diagrammatic line work is amazing-and done waaay before Illustrator or procreate patterns and brushes. Deceptively simple and subversive, too.
It’s a bit of a slow burn-I thought it started to drag about a third in, but I kept at it and ended up loving it—and even loving Nancy a bit, too, after all these years. Now I hope someone writes a book on the redeeming power of the comic strip Henry, because I thought that one sucked, too. 😂
June 11, 2024
In Three Rocks, Bill Griffith offers a wildly detailed rundown of Ernie Bushmiller's life and his most famous creation, the comic strip Nancy. Somehow, I had never read a Nancy strip prior to this book, but I fortunately found them all quite charming (and there are many, many examples included in Three Rocks).
Griffith works perhaps harder than necessary to give us Bushmiller's life and Nancy's significance down the smallest iota - there's some dense text contained within Three Rocks. Yet, my eyes never glazed over. If "comicology" is a thing, let Three Rocks be a textbook (and Nancy a prime case study).
Griffith works perhaps harder than necessary to give us Bushmiller's life and Nancy's significance down the smallest iota - there's some dense text contained within Three Rocks. Yet, my eyes never glazed over. If "comicology" is a thing, let Three Rocks be a textbook (and Nancy a prime case study).
December 15, 2023
An engaging balance of original biographic comic pages, artfully mixed with classic reprints of Nancy comic strips through the decades. Well researched, fun, quirky, and carefully crafted. Near perfect, except a few of the reprints that are reduced so much my aging eyes struggled to read the captions.
November 21, 2023
To me, Nancy's the most important girl in the world and this book was a hoot.
July 31, 2023
Cartoonist Bill Griffith’s cartoon biography of cartoonist Ernie Bushmiller, the comics genius behind the syndicated comic strip, Nancy, is a fascinating graphic novel that’s equal parts comics history lesson and life story. I’ve never been a fan of Griffith’s Zippy the Pinhead—I feel if you’ve read one Zippy strip or comic, you’ve read them all—although I’ve always admired his drawing skills. And Nancy … well, Nancy is the comic strip—for me, at least—you love to hate. Corny, gaggy, stilted and from a different era that it never seemed to escape under Bushmiller, Nancy was like a car crash in the comics pages to me: you just had to read it every day. Bushmiller is a fascinating character in and of himself, from an age when being a syndicated cartoonist really was the height of the comics profession. Griffith explores Bushmiller’s storytelling, his art, and his times in this amazing book … I wish there were illustrated bios like this for a lot more cartoonists from the golden age of comic strip art.
March 23, 2024
Bill Griffith delivers a fantastic graphic biography of Ernie Bushmiller, the creator of the classic comic strip Nancy. Griffith brings his distinctive brand of cartooning honed in the fires of the '60s underground comix movement to deliver what might be one his best works to date. The story depicts significant chunks of Bushmiller's life while interspersed with real Nancy strips, all while elevating Bushmiller's innovative approach to drawing strips. Bushiller's humor bordered on the bizarre and obtuse, which added to the inimitable nature that was Nancy. Griffith captures this sentiment with ease given that a lot of the early underground cartoonists were undeniably influenced by the strips of Bushmiller, Schulz, Herriman, DeBeck and more.
Three Rocks is rich with content outside of the main story as Griffith shares a lot of extra material around the creation of this book, which really adds to the experience of learning more about Bushmiller. It's well worth reading, even if you only have a passing familiarity with Nancy.
Three Rocks is rich with content outside of the main story as Griffith shares a lot of extra material around the creation of this book, which really adds to the experience of learning more about Bushmiller. It's well worth reading, even if you only have a passing familiarity with Nancy.
October 5, 2023
If you like Nancy, the comic strip, you should read this graphic novel that is a biography of Ernie Bushmiller, Nancy’s creator, and a beautifully illustrated tribute to Nancy, Sluggo, Aunt Fritzi, and the iconic and weird world they live in.
Bill Griffith is a terrific artist and the perfect choice to pen this well-researched and wonderfully illustrated book. It’s also illustrated with loads of original strips. He’s a fan, and it shows in every page.
Bill Griffith is a terrific artist and the perfect choice to pen this well-researched and wonderfully illustrated book. It’s also illustrated with loads of original strips. He’s a fan, and it shows in every page.
September 23, 2023
If you like graphic novels, and you like to read about the history of American comics - and especially if you love Nancy comics - you MUST read this book!
Bill Griffith, the creator of Zippy the Pinhead, is the author and he did a fantastic job. It was funny, inspiring, and moving!
5 stars!
Bill Griffith, the creator of Zippy the Pinhead, is the author and he did a fantastic job. It was funny, inspiring, and moving!
5 stars!
September 18, 2023
Turns out I know more about Nancy than I expected, thanks to repeat childhood readings of The Best of Ernie Bushmiller's Nancy.
December 13, 2023
A damned fun read.
April 21, 2025
I was excited to read this. Never a big fan of Nancy, I started thinking about getting some collections from the library. Nevermind. About halfway through, a lot more strips are shown. Clever. but didn't blow me away.
October 24, 2023
4.5
A fantastic graphic biography of Bushmiller by underground cartoonist Bill Griffith, and a perfect companion volume to Newgarden’s How to Read Nancy book.
A fantastic graphic biography of Bushmiller by underground cartoonist Bill Griffith, and a perfect companion volume to Newgarden’s How to Read Nancy book.
October 6, 2023
I grew up with the comic strips in the daily and Sunday papers as a kid of the 70's. It even inspired me to draw my own (simple drawings I can handle). Of course, Nancy was one of those that appealed to me as she and Sluggo were just kids like me, navigating the world and trying to understand it all.
Griffith's telling of Bushmiller's story is the perfect blend of "real-life" and "comic strip life", often bouncing back and forth between the two styles with ease. He integrates the artwork and characters from the strips; this makes Bushmiller's presence a big part of the telling. You can tell the passion Griffith has for the Nancy comic strip - as shown by the segment where he presents samples from an unknown person's scrapbook of early 1960's strips that he bought off of eBay.
I liked the explanation of Bushmiller's creative process. How he would build his strips starting with the gag in the last panel and then work backwards was a very interesting approach.
Fans of classic comic strips will want to check this out.
Griffith's telling of Bushmiller's story is the perfect blend of "real-life" and "comic strip life", often bouncing back and forth between the two styles with ease. He integrates the artwork and characters from the strips; this makes Bushmiller's presence a big part of the telling. You can tell the passion Griffith has for the Nancy comic strip - as shown by the segment where he presents samples from an unknown person's scrapbook of early 1960's strips that he bought off of eBay.
I liked the explanation of Bushmiller's creative process. How he would build his strips starting with the gag in the last panel and then work backwards was a very interesting approach.
Fans of classic comic strips will want to check this out.
January 26, 2024
Reading 2024
Book 8: Three Rocks: The Story of Ernie Bushmiller: The Man Who Created Nancy by Bill Griffith
Found this book on several best of graphic novels for 2023 lists including Time Magazine’s Top 10.
Synopsis: From Bill Griffith comes Three Rocks , a biography of cartoonist Ernie Bushmiller, creator of the iconic comic strip Nancy . But this graphic novel is about more than a single comic book artist. It is the story of this American art form, tracing its inception to 1895 with the Yellow Kid , the creation of Nancy in 1933, and all the strips that followed, including Peanuts and The Far Side . When Bushmiller died in 1982, Nancy was running in almost 900 daily newspapers—a number few syndicated cartoonists ever achieve.
Review: This book caught my eye because I loved to read the funnies with my grandfather when I was a kid. Have always liked the Nancy strip. Definitely enjoyed this graphic biography, so much to delve into with the evolution of the comics and the man behind Nancy. My rating 4.5⭐️.
Book 8: Three Rocks: The Story of Ernie Bushmiller: The Man Who Created Nancy by Bill Griffith
Found this book on several best of graphic novels for 2023 lists including Time Magazine’s Top 10.
Synopsis: From Bill Griffith comes Three Rocks , a biography of cartoonist Ernie Bushmiller, creator of the iconic comic strip Nancy . But this graphic novel is about more than a single comic book artist. It is the story of this American art form, tracing its inception to 1895 with the Yellow Kid , the creation of Nancy in 1933, and all the strips that followed, including Peanuts and The Far Side . When Bushmiller died in 1982, Nancy was running in almost 900 daily newspapers—a number few syndicated cartoonists ever achieve.
Review: This book caught my eye because I loved to read the funnies with my grandfather when I was a kid. Have always liked the Nancy strip. Definitely enjoyed this graphic biography, so much to delve into with the evolution of the comics and the man behind Nancy. My rating 4.5⭐️.
December 9, 2023
A deep, joyful appreciation of Nancy, and the nose-to-the-grindstone cartoonist Ernie Bushmiller. Filled with theory, history, and the uncanny perfection of Nancy… like a koan that cannot be analyzed, only meditated upon and absorbed. Surreal delights.
PS If you don’t like comics, or biographies of long-running commercial artists who had happy marriages and seldom left the house, this may be the least interesting book you’ve ever read.
PS If you don’t like comics, or biographies of long-running commercial artists who had happy marriages and seldom left the house, this may be the least interesting book you’ve ever read.
November 4, 2023
A unique look into the life of a unique cartoonist by another unique cartoonist. Griffith is a great spokesperson for the “Cult of Nancy,” explaining why so many eggheads praise the long-running comic strip.
Personally I appreciate Bushmiller’s work more than enjoy it but this book still “rocks!”
Personally I appreciate Bushmiller’s work more than enjoy it but this book still “rocks!”
October 21, 2023
Mischievous.
August 5, 2024
the art was ⭐️⭐️
June 19, 2024
Trzy kamienie w komiksowych kadrach o Nancy to nie tylko dekoracja. W opowieści Bill Griffitha urastają one do rangi symbolu i swoistej wizytówki Erniego Bushmillera, twórcy jednej z najsłynniejszych bohaterek gazetowych pasków, której przygody w szczytowym momencie popularności drukowane były w prawie 900 magazynach. Trzy kamienie to znak rozpoznawczy i odzwierciedlenie perfekcjonizmu artysty, który kreował świat według ściśle określonych zasad i stałych elementów, a którego współpracownicy, czy zastępcy musieli kierować się wytycznymi nawet co do ilości włosów dziewczynki.
Bill Griffith to na amerykańskiej scenie komiksowej prawdziwy oryginał. Nigdy nie było mu po drodze z jakimiś sformalizowanymi grupami artystycznymi, znany jest głownie z serii pasków o Zippym. Tytuł uchodzi wprawdzie za kultowy, lecz jego rozpoznawalność pozostawia wiele do życzenia. Autor ma niezaprzeczalne zasługi i poważanie wśród fanów undergroundu od lat 70., a jednak dopiero w XXI w. zdecydował się na tworzenie obszernych powieści graficznych. Jedną z nich jest właśnie „Three Rocks: The Story of Ernie Bushmiller: The Man Who Created Nancy”.
Swoją opowieść Griffith prowadzi wielotorowo. Jest klasyczny narrator, jest przewodnik po zmyślonym muzeum poświęconym bohaterce, jak również ona sama w roli asystentki. Historia rozpisana jest tak, by nie wkradła się do niej monotonia, bazująca jedynie na suchych faktach, w czym pomaga przeplatanie fabuły oryginalnymi paskami komiksowymi sprzed dekad. Są oczywiście najważniejsze wydarzenia z życia Bushmillera, od jego dzieciństwa na Bronxie, przez pierwsze zajęcia zarobkowe w roli „copy boya” w „New York World”, epizod w Hollywood, aż po przejęcie po Larrym Whittingtonie roli twórcy pasków o „Fritzi Ritz”, w których początkowo drugoplanową, a z czasem najważniejszą postacią stała się Nancy.
Od momentu pojawienia się postaci w 1933 do wykrystalizowania jej graficznego ideału minęło ponad 30 lat. Autor tworzył praktycznie do końca życia. Przez całe lata 70. miał kontrolę nad procesem powstawania historii i dopiero atak serca dwa lata przed śmiercią (1982 r.) spowodował, że schedę po nim przejęli następcy. Przez ten czas Nancy z jednej strony dostosowywała się do zmiennych okoliczności, z drugiej konsekwentnie funkcjonowała w anturażu lat 40., co wynikało z dosyć konserwatywnych poglądów samego twórcy. Ewolucję widać choćby w podejściu do ówczesnej sztuki. Początkowo paski z Nancy raczej ośmieszały to co nowe i niezrozumiałe, z czasem korzystały z elementów surrealizmu, dadaizmu czy kubizmu dla zwiększenia siły rażenia. W komiksach Bushmillera zdarzały się odniesienia do dzieł Rene Margitte, a wiele kompozycji jego pasków jest nawiązaniem do obrazów Edwarda Hoopera. Ernie był wprawdzie samoukiem, ale posiadał sporą świadomość sztuki. Również sprawy społeczne miały swoje odbicie w tej twórczości, co widać w żartach z ruchu hippisowskiego, beatników, muzyki rockowej czy nawiązaniach do ówczesnej sytuacji politycznej.
Bushmillerowi nie zależało na wiarygodności tworzonych historii. Ich ponadczasowość opierała się często na naciąganiu reguł rzeczywistości i irracjonalizmie odzwierciedlającym nieuświadomione procesy zachodzące w umyśle Nancy, za którymi ostatecznie zawsze czaiła się jakaś logika. Autor często operuje niekonwencjonalnymi zestawieniami, które mają racjonalne konsekwencje. Paski o Nancy nigdy nie miały być (tak jak „Fistaszki”) historiami o dzieciach posiadających cechy dorosłych, nie były również kierowane do małoletnich. Nie mówiły jak to jest być małą dziewczynką, ale jak nią być w pasku komiksowym.
„Three Rocks” to hołd stworzony nie tylko z wielką pieczołowitością i ogromem stojących za nim materiałów źródłowych, ale przede wszystkim miłością do autora i jego dzieła, czego dowodzi liryczne zakończenie ze starzejącą się Nancy i brodatym Sluggo. Stworzony urozmaiconym językiem, operującym kilkoma perspektywami, częściowo w estetyce komiksu undergroundowego poprzednich dekad. To hołd dla artysty konsekwentnego, a jednocześnie otwartego na zmieniający się świat. Artysty, którego naczelną zasadą podczas całej pracy twórczej było zaczynanie każdej historii od ostatniego kadru.
(Tekst ukazał się na facebookowej stronie "Magazynu Kreski")
Bill Griffith to na amerykańskiej scenie komiksowej prawdziwy oryginał. Nigdy nie było mu po drodze z jakimiś sformalizowanymi grupami artystycznymi, znany jest głownie z serii pasków o Zippym. Tytuł uchodzi wprawdzie za kultowy, lecz jego rozpoznawalność pozostawia wiele do życzenia. Autor ma niezaprzeczalne zasługi i poważanie wśród fanów undergroundu od lat 70., a jednak dopiero w XXI w. zdecydował się na tworzenie obszernych powieści graficznych. Jedną z nich jest właśnie „Three Rocks: The Story of Ernie Bushmiller: The Man Who Created Nancy”.
Swoją opowieść Griffith prowadzi wielotorowo. Jest klasyczny narrator, jest przewodnik po zmyślonym muzeum poświęconym bohaterce, jak również ona sama w roli asystentki. Historia rozpisana jest tak, by nie wkradła się do niej monotonia, bazująca jedynie na suchych faktach, w czym pomaga przeplatanie fabuły oryginalnymi paskami komiksowymi sprzed dekad. Są oczywiście najważniejsze wydarzenia z życia Bushmillera, od jego dzieciństwa na Bronxie, przez pierwsze zajęcia zarobkowe w roli „copy boya” w „New York World”, epizod w Hollywood, aż po przejęcie po Larrym Whittingtonie roli twórcy pasków o „Fritzi Ritz”, w których początkowo drugoplanową, a z czasem najważniejszą postacią stała się Nancy.
Od momentu pojawienia się postaci w 1933 do wykrystalizowania jej graficznego ideału minęło ponad 30 lat. Autor tworzył praktycznie do końca życia. Przez całe lata 70. miał kontrolę nad procesem powstawania historii i dopiero atak serca dwa lata przed śmiercią (1982 r.) spowodował, że schedę po nim przejęli następcy. Przez ten czas Nancy z jednej strony dostosowywała się do zmiennych okoliczności, z drugiej konsekwentnie funkcjonowała w anturażu lat 40., co wynikało z dosyć konserwatywnych poglądów samego twórcy. Ewolucję widać choćby w podejściu do ówczesnej sztuki. Początkowo paski z Nancy raczej ośmieszały to co nowe i niezrozumiałe, z czasem korzystały z elementów surrealizmu, dadaizmu czy kubizmu dla zwiększenia siły rażenia. W komiksach Bushmillera zdarzały się odniesienia do dzieł Rene Margitte, a wiele kompozycji jego pasków jest nawiązaniem do obrazów Edwarda Hoopera. Ernie był wprawdzie samoukiem, ale posiadał sporą świadomość sztuki. Również sprawy społeczne miały swoje odbicie w tej twórczości, co widać w żartach z ruchu hippisowskiego, beatników, muzyki rockowej czy nawiązaniach do ówczesnej sytuacji politycznej.
Bushmillerowi nie zależało na wiarygodności tworzonych historii. Ich ponadczasowość opierała się często na naciąganiu reguł rzeczywistości i irracjonalizmie odzwierciedlającym nieuświadomione procesy zachodzące w umyśle Nancy, za którymi ostatecznie zawsze czaiła się jakaś logika. Autor często operuje niekonwencjonalnymi zestawieniami, które mają racjonalne konsekwencje. Paski o Nancy nigdy nie miały być (tak jak „Fistaszki”) historiami o dzieciach posiadających cechy dorosłych, nie były również kierowane do małoletnich. Nie mówiły jak to jest być małą dziewczynką, ale jak nią być w pasku komiksowym.
„Three Rocks” to hołd stworzony nie tylko z wielką pieczołowitością i ogromem stojących za nim materiałów źródłowych, ale przede wszystkim miłością do autora i jego dzieła, czego dowodzi liryczne zakończenie ze starzejącą się Nancy i brodatym Sluggo. Stworzony urozmaiconym językiem, operującym kilkoma perspektywami, częściowo w estetyce komiksu undergroundowego poprzednich dekad. To hołd dla artysty konsekwentnego, a jednocześnie otwartego na zmieniający się świat. Artysty, którego naczelną zasadą podczas całej pracy twórczej było zaczynanie każdej historii od ostatniego kadru.
(Tekst ukazał się na facebookowej stronie "Magazynu Kreski")
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April 12, 2024Growing up, I couldn’t get enough of the Nancy comic strip. With her pal, and hairless buddy Sluggo, the strip brought tons of laughs to people around the world. And with her aunt Fritzi with her cheesecake type appeal, the comic was a ratings winner.
In THREE ROCKS THE STORY OF ERNIE BUSHMILLER, Bill Griffith, the noted creator of Zippy the Pinhead, gives the ultimate tribute to Bushmiller, in a graphic biography of the artist. We learn how the characters evolved, and Bushmiller’s quest for quality comic strips intensified. His comic career rally began with Fritzi Ritz in 1925. He was asked to draw the comic strip when its creator Larry Whittington decided to quit.
Bushmiller was given the opportunity, because of his drawing abilities. He became the youngest cartoonist at age nineteen, to headline a syndicated comic strip. It was a big hit, and Ernie was in demand for the comics and even writing gags for movies in 1932. Nancy was introduced in Fritzi, and not intended to be a central or long-term character. She really stole the show, meaning that in 1938, Fritzi Ritz became Nancy.
Fritzi was still there, but Nancy was the key player, along with Sluggo who was brought in for definite comedic relief, as both characters played off one another with their zany antics. Incidentally, the title of the book THREE ROCKS, refers to the fact that in many of the comic strips if you look closely, there are often three rocks in the background of the strip. When Nancy was first introduced in Fritzi Ritz, she often sat on three rocks, contemplating life and the world around her. Bushmiller said that when he drew the strips, he usually drew the final panel first, and then he worked on the previous panels, working in reverse in a way. Bushmiller strayed from a lot of political commentary until the sixties, when he also added hippies, zippies, long-haired musicians, and even political figures to the daily mix. One never knew where Bushmiller’s cartoons would take us, as Nancy and Sluggo also contended with other characters like Spike the Bully, who always menaced Sluggo.
Bill Griffith takes us into another dimension, with his own art, telling us about the life and times of Bushmiller, and how he was successful in creating comic strips that often parodied itself at times. Bushmiller died in 1982, and the comic strip was taken over by others such Mark Lasky, who only drew the strip for a short time, as he died of cancer at age twenty-nine. Others took over the strip until it ended briefly on February 18 2018 then resumed April 9 with its first female artist.
Comic fans will salute the treatment by Griffith, and tribute to Bushmiller. This is one book you will not regret adding to your collection. Nancy still speaks to all of us in her own amusing and frenzied way.
In THREE ROCKS THE STORY OF ERNIE BUSHMILLER, Bill Griffith, the noted creator of Zippy the Pinhead, gives the ultimate tribute to Bushmiller, in a graphic biography of the artist. We learn how the characters evolved, and Bushmiller’s quest for quality comic strips intensified. His comic career rally began with Fritzi Ritz in 1925. He was asked to draw the comic strip when its creator Larry Whittington decided to quit.
Bushmiller was given the opportunity, because of his drawing abilities. He became the youngest cartoonist at age nineteen, to headline a syndicated comic strip. It was a big hit, and Ernie was in demand for the comics and even writing gags for movies in 1932. Nancy was introduced in Fritzi, and not intended to be a central or long-term character. She really stole the show, meaning that in 1938, Fritzi Ritz became Nancy.
Fritzi was still there, but Nancy was the key player, along with Sluggo who was brought in for definite comedic relief, as both characters played off one another with their zany antics. Incidentally, the title of the book THREE ROCKS, refers to the fact that in many of the comic strips if you look closely, there are often three rocks in the background of the strip. When Nancy was first introduced in Fritzi Ritz, she often sat on three rocks, contemplating life and the world around her. Bushmiller said that when he drew the strips, he usually drew the final panel first, and then he worked on the previous panels, working in reverse in a way. Bushmiller strayed from a lot of political commentary until the sixties, when he also added hippies, zippies, long-haired musicians, and even political figures to the daily mix. One never knew where Bushmiller’s cartoons would take us, as Nancy and Sluggo also contended with other characters like Spike the Bully, who always menaced Sluggo.
Bill Griffith takes us into another dimension, with his own art, telling us about the life and times of Bushmiller, and how he was successful in creating comic strips that often parodied itself at times. Bushmiller died in 1982, and the comic strip was taken over by others such Mark Lasky, who only drew the strip for a short time, as he died of cancer at age twenty-nine. Others took over the strip until it ended briefly on February 18 2018 then resumed April 9 with its first female artist.
Comic fans will salute the treatment by Griffith, and tribute to Bushmiller. This is one book you will not regret adding to your collection. Nancy still speaks to all of us in her own amusing and frenzied way.
January 13, 2024
Underground artist Bill Griffith utilizes his considerable biographic story-telling skills to examine the life and art of an even-more-famous comic artist in his THREE ROCKS: THE STORY OF ERNIE BUSHMILLER: THE MAN WHO CREATED NANCY (2023), an enthusiastic and skillful analysis of the man and his art.
As a comics fan, I’ve read several dozen books on the lives of comics masters; most of these were comic book men (and a few women) and many of their lives were pretty dark – comic books thrilled millions of readers yet were a ghetto of the art world, with lousy pay, little respect, and eventual disintegration into drink and poverty, with masters like Reed Crandall and Wally Wood prime examples of this darkness. Even Jack Kirby, who created most of the Marvel Universe, seemed destined to struggle in his later years and was only saved by fans in Hollywood that picked him up into decent animation studio work. The other end of this spectrum, though, were jobs in the world of the syndicated cartoonists, where artists like Alex Raymond, Charles Schulz, and Ernie Bushmiller made considerable fortunes.
I in no way wish to diminish Ernie Bushmiller, whose work ethic and “seventy hour workweek” form the backbone of his artistic life, but Griffith’s biography also paints a man that gets an amazing number of lucky breaks and Bushmiller himself seems aware of them as well. His rise from sweeping-the-floors and ruling-panel-borders to swell-house-in-Connecticut is a compelling read and he seems an altogether decent fellow. I do have to question whether it is hero worship (Griffith clearly adores Nancy and argues for it as the greatest comic strip of all time) or what must have been necessary cooperation from the Bushmiller estate to facilitate the ample number of reprinted material herein that makes this biography feel a bit less “warts-and-all” than it might have been. At worst, Bushmiller seems a bit of an out-of-his-time fuddy-duddy by the ‘60s, making funs of those yippy kids and their crazy counter-culture. At least no evidence is provided that he was a swine like Al Capp, so perhaps this is just Griffith’s even-handedness.
I ended the book with an appreciation for Ernie Bushmiller and his work ethic and for his NANCY and with a greater knowledge of that strip’s long and eventful history, and with a smile on my face. I may not agree that NANCY was greater than Schulz’s PEANUTS as an avatar of daily comics, but I am again persuaded of Bill Griffith’s wonderful comics story-telling – I hope that we see more works from this imaginative and gifted illustrator and writer.
As a comics fan, I’ve read several dozen books on the lives of comics masters; most of these were comic book men (and a few women) and many of their lives were pretty dark – comic books thrilled millions of readers yet were a ghetto of the art world, with lousy pay, little respect, and eventual disintegration into drink and poverty, with masters like Reed Crandall and Wally Wood prime examples of this darkness. Even Jack Kirby, who created most of the Marvel Universe, seemed destined to struggle in his later years and was only saved by fans in Hollywood that picked him up into decent animation studio work. The other end of this spectrum, though, were jobs in the world of the syndicated cartoonists, where artists like Alex Raymond, Charles Schulz, and Ernie Bushmiller made considerable fortunes.
I in no way wish to diminish Ernie Bushmiller, whose work ethic and “seventy hour workweek” form the backbone of his artistic life, but Griffith’s biography also paints a man that gets an amazing number of lucky breaks and Bushmiller himself seems aware of them as well. His rise from sweeping-the-floors and ruling-panel-borders to swell-house-in-Connecticut is a compelling read and he seems an altogether decent fellow. I do have to question whether it is hero worship (Griffith clearly adores Nancy and argues for it as the greatest comic strip of all time) or what must have been necessary cooperation from the Bushmiller estate to facilitate the ample number of reprinted material herein that makes this biography feel a bit less “warts-and-all” than it might have been. At worst, Bushmiller seems a bit of an out-of-his-time fuddy-duddy by the ‘60s, making funs of those yippy kids and their crazy counter-culture. At least no evidence is provided that he was a swine like Al Capp, so perhaps this is just Griffith’s even-handedness.
I ended the book with an appreciation for Ernie Bushmiller and his work ethic and for his NANCY and with a greater knowledge of that strip’s long and eventful history, and with a smile on my face. I may not agree that NANCY was greater than Schulz’s PEANUTS as an avatar of daily comics, but I am again persuaded of Bill Griffith’s wonderful comics story-telling – I hope that we see more works from this imaginative and gifted illustrator and writer.
September 3, 2023
This is great! I was a sickly kid, so my mother would keep me home a lot. I had to stay in bed. I rarely saw her, as she would be house cleaning, and the washing machine was in the basement, and clothes were hung outside. But she always brought me tea with mint from the garden, and, she brought me comic books after she'd been grocery shopping. I read them all pretty quickly, so she'd buy a stack of them at a time. Among them were Nancy and Little Lulu, which I thought were just for girls or younger children altogether. The Donald Duck adventure comics were pretty good. There was Casper the Friendly Ghost, Superman and Batman. There were some War comics too, and those were better reads. I would have liked some horror, science fiction, and more adult titles, but I never saw them or had money to buy them. But, confined to bed, I read anything, even Nancy and Little Lulu. Nancy was oddly compelling at times - there were at least some adults in those comics. People often think children want to read about other children, but kids also want to know what adulthood is like. Anyway, Nancy did tickle my curiosity about what was real and what wasn't. My father walked my brother and me to the library to get a library card long before I was ten, and during the summer, we'd take that long walk to the library, get the three books we could take out, go home to read them and return the next day for more. There weren't any comics there, but there was Babar the Elephant, and other illustrated children's books, including one detailing how to launch a rocket, the difference between solid and liquid fuels for rockets, and how to reach orbit. That took me in an entirely new direction, and my interests turned to science, space travel, and careers in laboratories. Looking back, Nancy was a comic I never forgot, and it was so much fun to read about her creator and the arc of her series. The gags were never that funny, but I never knew what Nancy and Sluggo might do, or where they'd go. And Aunt Fritzi was very intriguing - a pretty mystery. Thanks, Bill Griffith - I saw things in Zippy I knew I'd seen somewhere before, and now I see the Nancy influence, among others. Very cool.
June 27, 2024
2024 Eisner Award finalist - Best Reality-Based Work
So, who would have thought that Bill Griffith, the creator of Zippy the Pinhead, would be such a Nancy fan! I have to admit I've never understood Nancy's popularity, but this book and How to Read Nancy: The Elements of Comics in Three Easy Panels by Paul Karasik (nominated for an Eisner Award in 2020) are slowly bringing me to a point where I can begin to appreciate Ernie Bushmiller's approach to the strip. (By the time I was reading the strip in the mid to late 1960s, it was already being partially written and drawn by Bushmiller's assistants, so I wasn't exposed to its peak.) This book is part biography and part critical analysis, including quite a number of Nancy strips. It is well researched and Griffith's artwork channels Bushmiller's style quite well. Reading between the lines, I get the impression that Bushmiller would probably have been happier as a fine art creator, but perhaps was lured into some complacency by the huge monetary sums he reaped from Nancy. Griffith points out, though, that many of the Nancy strips contain the elements of fine art, even in the basic style that was needed for newspapers. We also get to see how Bushmiller's conservative politics informed some of his work, especially in the 1960s, when there were more than a few jabs at the counter-culture of the youth at the time. Bushmiller, and by extension Nancy, were pretty well forever stuck in the 1940s. I'm still not sure I've ever laughed at a Nancy strip, but at least there were a few in the book that I thought were interesting for their visual puns and abstract absurdity.
So, who would have thought that Bill Griffith, the creator of Zippy the Pinhead, would be such a Nancy fan! I have to admit I've never understood Nancy's popularity, but this book and How to Read Nancy: The Elements of Comics in Three Easy Panels by Paul Karasik (nominated for an Eisner Award in 2020) are slowly bringing me to a point where I can begin to appreciate Ernie Bushmiller's approach to the strip. (By the time I was reading the strip in the mid to late 1960s, it was already being partially written and drawn by Bushmiller's assistants, so I wasn't exposed to its peak.) This book is part biography and part critical analysis, including quite a number of Nancy strips. It is well researched and Griffith's artwork channels Bushmiller's style quite well. Reading between the lines, I get the impression that Bushmiller would probably have been happier as a fine art creator, but perhaps was lured into some complacency by the huge monetary sums he reaped from Nancy. Griffith points out, though, that many of the Nancy strips contain the elements of fine art, even in the basic style that was needed for newspapers. We also get to see how Bushmiller's conservative politics informed some of his work, especially in the 1960s, when there were more than a few jabs at the counter-culture of the youth at the time. Bushmiller, and by extension Nancy, were pretty well forever stuck in the 1940s. I'm still not sure I've ever laughed at a Nancy strip, but at least there were a few in the book that I thought were interesting for their visual puns and abstract absurdity.
August 1, 2024
I grew up reading "Nancy" in the daily newspaper and became mesmerized by the comic strip from an early age--its campy gags that were as slick as the finicky neatness of its composition, perfect ink lines and its minimalist world, stubbornly yet weirdly anchored in 1940s era fashions, cars, hairdos, and mustaches, even while occasionally poking fun at beatniks and hippies. As a whole it was surreal. Bushmiller must have been either a hop-head or a genius, or both.
I count Nancy, along with Pogo, Li'l Abner, and The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, as my formative influences as a cartoonist. A Nancy plush doll kept watch over my drawing table for over 30 years.
So, you bet that this book blew me away! I don't think, though, that you need to be as obsessive as me to appreciate the sheer wonder of this cartoon biography of one of the greats of the golden era of comic strips. Bill Griffith delves into the details of Bushmiller's life and career, amazing insights into his work methods and views of humor, and occasionally goes into flights of fancy entering Bushmiller's mind. But above all, the work Bill Griffith put into this project shows his deep admiration and love for Ernie Bushmiller and his characters that bursts through in every panel. It left me with a lump in my throat. I wish all artist biographies were this wonderful.
I count Nancy, along with Pogo, Li'l Abner, and The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, as my formative influences as a cartoonist. A Nancy plush doll kept watch over my drawing table for over 30 years.
So, you bet that this book blew me away! I don't think, though, that you need to be as obsessive as me to appreciate the sheer wonder of this cartoon biography of one of the greats of the golden era of comic strips. Bill Griffith delves into the details of Bushmiller's life and career, amazing insights into his work methods and views of humor, and occasionally goes into flights of fancy entering Bushmiller's mind. But above all, the work Bill Griffith put into this project shows his deep admiration and love for Ernie Bushmiller and his characters that bursts through in every panel. It left me with a lump in my throat. I wish all artist biographies were this wonderful.
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