Draw

My comedy troupe in college would sometimes start the show with the cast making jokes about the comics.  One line that got a good response was about the strip Nancy. One actor asked why does anyone read Nancy since it's never funny.  Another responded that's intentional--if they ever ran a funny one, the wait would be over and no one would read at it again.

But was that fair?  Everyone read Ernie Bushmiller's original Nancy.  It had a solid graphic style, instantly recognizable and understandable, with basic, no-nonsense gags.  What's wrong with that?

So when I saw How To Read Nancy by Paul Karasik and Mark Newgarden, I had to check it out.  The reader can decide how funny the strip is--the authors are more interested in demonstrating that Nancy is a perfect example of how a comic is done.

And they do it in a rigorous manner.  Much of the oversized book tells the story of Bushmiller and Nancy, but the main attraction is the section made up of 44 two-page chapters that look at the same particular strip--the one reproduced above--from numerous angles to explain how comics work.

They leave no stone unturned.  They look at the gag, the dialogue, the characters, the background, the composition, the lettering and so on.  It's quite an achievement.  When you've finished, you certainly know more about Nancy, and comics, and perhaps a little more about life in general.  Recommended.