Three Rocks: The Story of Ernie Bushmiller The Man Who Created Nancy

Three Rocks: The Story of Ernie Bushmiller The Man Who Created Nancy sounds like a biography, but it is so much more. Certainly it does detail much about Ernie Bushmiller, the cartoonist who inherited a comic strip started in 1922, Fritzi Ritz, about a flapper making her way in the world, and who transformed that strip by introducing her niece Nancy who eventually took it over. But this book also delves deeply into the semiotics and sensibilities of that comic strip and what has led to it enduring over time with many different sorts of audiences. Also, this book offers a great sampling of Bushmiller's strips over the decades, detailing both its evolution and many of its greatest hits along the way.

Bushmiller was a workaholic who seemingly was constantly thinking of gags for his strips. He had four work tables set up in his house so he could work multiple strips simultaneously, and he worked so far ahead that he was about a year's worth of strips in the hopper. So it is no surprise that often the strip and reality coalesce in the course of the book's narrative:

I was totally engrossed reading this book, and it is dense with information but presented in a energetic and engaging way. It is a long-form comic about a man's life and how comics work, like reading an essay presented in comic strips. 

This meticulously rendered and researched book is a clear love letter to the Nancy strip as well as Bushmiller's work, written by a man who has read, enjoyed, and analyzed it all for decades. Since 1969, Bill Griffith has been publishing comics, including his long-running strip Zippy the Pinhead and nonfiction graphic novels like Invisible Ink and Nobody's Fool. He speaks about his work on Three Rocks in this interview.

This book has been extremely well reviewed. In a starred entry, Kirkus Reviews concluded that it "firmly raises the bar for comics biographies." Cory Doctorow called it "a great biography and a great book of literary criticism and comic arts theory." Henry Chamberlain wrote, "There’s a lot of fun things going on in this book and you definitely don’t need to know a thing about comics or have any strong feelings regarding the subject."

Three Rocks was published by Abrams, and they offer more info about it here. 

One last note: I borrowed this book from my local public library. Public libraries ROCK! 

Nobody's Fool: The Life and Times of Schlitzie the Pinhead

Bill Griffith has been making comics since 1969, and he was involved in producing a number of underground comix. A few years ago he published Invisible Ink, his debut graphic novel, a history about his mother and an affair she carried on with a famous cartoonist. But he is best known for his long-running syndicated comic strip Zippy the Pinhead, with its serial title character and catchphrase, "Are we having fun yet?" This book, Nobody's Fool: The Life and Times of Schlitzie the Pinhead, is about the unlikely inspiration behind Zippy.

Schlitzie was born in 1901 and originally named Simon. He had a uniquely shaped head (the technical term for it is microcephaly) and some sort of intellectual disability. When he was 8 years old, his parents sold him to a sideshow manager, beginning a long career as a "freak" to be observed at various venues across the country as a "pinhead." He was almost always presented as a female, dressed in a muumuu or hairshirt, and attributed to either a lost civilization, like the Incas or Aztecs, or proposed to be a man/monkey hybrid. Behind the scenes, Schlitzie almost always had a pleasant disposition. His new family of fellow performers looked out for him, and he got to do things he loved, like eat hot dogs or fried chicken and wash dishes. 

Schlitzie even appeared in a couple of motion pictures, most notably the MGM-produced Freaks, directed by Tod Browning, notorious as a cult/midnight movie since its 1932 debut. A good chunk of this book deals with recreating the film and its creation in comics form. Eventually, when attitudes towards displaying disabled peoples changed, he was institutionalized, which crushed his spirits. Only a chance encounter with an off-season sword swallower made an opportunity for him to be released, which led to better circumstances until his death at age 70.

 

This book is noteworthy on three fronts. First, it is a moving portrait of a unique individual. Second, it contains a good amount of hard-won research. Certainly, not much information existed about the life of Schlitzie in any one place, and the fact that Griffith was able to cobble together so much is impressive. Third, part of this book is his story, but it also acts as a history of side shows and carnivals in the 20th century. There is so much detail in terms of the various locales, the signage at the sideshows, and specific moments. I know I was alternately charmed, moved, and surprised at what I was learning from this book. It is a clear labor of love.

All of the reviews I have read of this book have been positive. Kirkus Reviews called it "A tender biographical tribute to an artist’s inspiration." John Seven wrote, "Griffith renders the 70 years of Schlitzie’s life with a vivid affection for the areas and landscapes he inhabited, for the cultures he wandered through, and for Schlitzie himself." In a starred review, Publishers Weekly concluded, "Much like in Freaks, the revelation found in this illuminating work is that the true monsters are the 'normal' people who line up to laugh at or abuse Schlitzie."

Nobody's Fool was published by Abrams, and they offer a preview and more info about it here.

The time Schlitize met Jackie Cooper...

Invisible Ink: My Mother's Secret Love Affair with a Famous Cartoonist

Bill Griffith has been making comics since 1969, and he was involved in producing a good number of underground comix. But he is best known for his long-running syndicated comic strip Zippy the Pinhead, with its serial title character and catchphrase, "Are we having fun yet?" I used to read Zippy all the time, and I loved its obscure references, attention to nostalgia, and biting social commentary. A million years ago when I was in high school, I even drew a number of comic strips about a local pharmacist (Hi Nunzio!) using Zippy as my template. So, when I saw that Griffith had finally created a graphic novel, and one with such a salacious title I was eager to check it out. I am glad to say that it is a very worthwhile read. The comics are well drawn and composed, and the story is very compelling and substantial.

Invisible Ink is one of the most intimate books I have read. It is an exploration by the author of his parents' lives mostly via the artifacts that they have left behind. Much of the book is composed like the following excerpt, with a lot of Griffith's inner dialogue interspersed with images that propel and illuminate the narrative:

I was worried as I read the book that I might get bogged down by so much of the verbal exposition, but there is a good mix of sections that are more word-dense and ones where the imagery dominates the pages, like the following:

In the end, I was struck by just how much of a mystery this book was, with Griffith struggling to learn just who his parents were. His mother seemed to be striving for a bohemian, scholarly life but was trapped by her social situations and took respite in a long affair with a cartoonist, Lawrence Lariar, whose fame was fleeting and today is all but forgotten. More troubling and less spoken of, Griffith also sought to know more about his terse, gruff, and turbulent father, though in the end he is still left with a lot of conjecture about both. Certainly, I can see some people not really caring about one person's family history, as idiosyncratic as it is, but still I feel this book gets at many important themes about life, love, and family, not to mention a close look at mid-20th century romantic relationships.

This is a cerebral and deeply personal book, perhaps most typified by a sequence of pages toward the end with small, wordless tableaus accompany large text tracts of Griffith's mother's letters. I know that I was worried about the words taking over the imagery, but perhaps the best part of the book was seeing those spare images along with the deeply felt, well composed letters where she spills most of her guts. Here, virtuoso images juxtapose with artful, accomplished prose with heart-rending results.

For those wanting to know more about the book's origins, Griffith speaks more about his inspirations and intentions in this interview.

All of the reviews I have read about this book show positive responses to a complex narrative. Etelka Lehoczky wrote, "Griffith's wonderful art and charmingly bemused perspicacity would make Invisible Ink a treat even if it stuck to the narrow topic of the affair and its effect on his childhood. But he goes far beyond that." Hillary Brown commented that the book "is at its best when Griffith meanders into tangents, not when he sticks to the main narrative, which isn’t a particularly long or complex story." Publishers Weekly called it "an evocative portrait of postwar America." Henry Chamberlain wrote that what is best about the book is that Griffith "is just like any of us trying to deal with the past and that is an excellent hook for readers."

Invisible Ink was published by Fantagraphics, who has an excerpt and more information available here.