The Importance of Being Ernie

A field report from Nancy Fest

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My latest blog post is up, with the week’s Bizarro gags and, as always, an appropriate musical selection.

I’ve been working on a batch of gags for the end of July that included such characters as a chess piece, an army sergeant, office workers, a couples therapist, and Jack, of beanstalk fame.

Here he is, discussing an agricultural exchange.

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Trip Report: Nancy Fest

Last weekend the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, on the Ohio State University campus hosted Nancy Fest to celebrate the art of Ernie Bushmiller’s classic comic strip.

I arrived early Friday afternoon and checked into the hotel. I encountered several cartoon colleagues including Bill Griffith, creator of Zippy the Pinhead and author of the graphic Bushmiller biography, Three Rocks.

Before the festival opened, Head Curator Jenny Robb led a tour of the museum’s massive comic art collection.

Jenny Robb showing Prince Valiant comic art by Hal Foster.
Photo courtesy of Craig Boldman

Friday evening, National Cartoonists Society members were treated to an early viewing of The Nancy Show, a stunning art exhibit curated by Brian Walker, whose 1988 book, The Best of Ernie Bushmiller’s Nancy, was one of the first serious evaluations of Ernie’s work, and a gateway drug for many fans.

In the old days, nominees for NCS awards were notified by a fancy certificate. Ernie was one of the organization’s founders.

A separate gallery room displayed Nancy-related art and comics by other artists. Here’s a Curtis strip by Ray Billingsley from 2020.

They even displayed a cartoon by this guy. Brian Walker had invited me to send a color print of this gag for the show and suggested that I might donate the original art to the Billy Ireland, which I was honored to do.

The color comic appears in the exhibit catalog, which sold out at the fest, but is available for preorder from the publisher.

The icing on the cake was seeing my name mentioned at the opening of Saturday’s programming.

After a late Friday night closing down the hotel bar with fellow cartoonists, I was grateful they provided coffee on Saturday morning.
Photo courtesy of Tammi Leigh

Master cartoonist Bill Griffith discussed his book Three Rocks,and did a reading of the book’s touching epilogue, where Griffy visits an elderly Nancy at a comic character retirement village.
Photo courtesy of John F Kelly/Dummy Zine

The programming included the first-ever public meeting of the secretive Bushmiller Society, led by Denis Kitchen. After the presentation, 35 new members were admitted.

Nancy scholars Mark Newgarden and Paul Karasik presented their acclaimed How to Read Nancy lecture. Here, they flank a display of pages from the book, with Bill Griffith and Brian Walked in the background.
Photo courtesy of Mark Newgarden

The final event of the day was the premiere of A Morning with Ernie Bushmiller, written by and starring comedy writer Tom Gammill. Set in 1976, it’s Tom’s version of a typical day at the Bushmiller home. Ernie has a vision of 2024 and learns that people will admire and respect his art in the future.
Photo courtesy of John F Kelly/Dummy Zine

After the performance, Jim Carlsson, Ernie’s neighbor, assistant, and best friend spoke to the audience. Jim provided much of the research material used by Mark, Paul, and Bill, and he said that Ernie would have loved the event, and offered some remembrances of his friend. Few of us got photos of Jim because of something in our eyes.

Later, we were treated to a swell afterparty hosted by Rebecca J. Perry and Ben Towle, where we toasted Nancy Fest with specially crafted cocktails.

Let me tell you, three Sluggos will put you under the table.

And what a table this one was! Clockwise from front left: Prof. Caitlin McGurk of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Museum; cartoonist Derf Backderf (Kent State, My Friend Dahmer); animator Stephen DeStefano (who has too many credits to list!); underground cartoonist KAZ (Underworld, Raw, Weirdo and one of the brains behind Spongebob); Nancy scholar and prolific cartoonist Mark Newgarden; yours truly; New Yorker cartoonist Jason Chatfield; the great Bill Griffith; gag cartoonist Dan Collins (Looks Good on Paper); and Cleveland’s own horror movie hostess Lenora.
Photo by Rebecca J. Perry, Courtesy of Derf

This post is already long, so I’ll send a supplement with additional Nancy Fest photos on Monday, for those who are interested.

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Best wishes from your cartoonist,

Wayno

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© 2024 by Wayno®

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