From an out of print 1999 issue of Roctober magazine: I ALMOST DREW NANCY by Ivan Brunetti. There was a time when the call went out from the syndicate that NANCY was looking for a cartoonist to continue the feature.This humongous article details the indy comics creator trying his best to emulate NANCY creator Ernie Bushmiller's (a cartoonist he loved and admired) stylized technique both in form and content.
In the pages below, Brunetti writes about how he heard about the opening for the strip, and how hard he labored to create samples that would truly be in the spirit of Bushmiller.
I was looking for the above item on the Web and could not find it online. Fortunately, I had a copy, bought in some kinda Rock 'n' Roll head shop in St. Mark's Place. That store has now probably been replaced by a Baby Gap.
Ivan Brunetti's latest collection of work is MISERY LOVES COMPANY, from Fantagraphics. This collects his initial 3 issue run of SCHIZO comics. His indy comics work is personal, and can be violent, and very offensive.
Above: a self portrait by Ivan Brunetti.
I like Brunetti's "Gags Rejected by Several Respectable Magazines."
But ... no blog talking about NANCY can forget to tip the hat to the GUYS WHO REALLY DRAW NANCY -- the Gilchrists!
Here's the duo who picked up the reins of NANCY in 1995, creating near 4,350 daily and Sunday strips (and counting) --
Brad and Guy Gilchrist will have been producing NANCY for United Media for a dozen years this September 3rd. Guy is the man behind the Guy Gilchrist's Cartoonist's Academy in Simsbury, CT. Take a look at the above GCCA home page for some video of Guy drawing, as well as more information on classes and unique cartoony events.
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8 comments:
Cool stuff!
I wanted to read/learn/absorb more of Brunetti's stuff, but that Highwater site is full of errors... GRRR!
I'm a fan of Ivan's work Mike. It's nice to see his Nancy piece, so kudos on that. I think his star is on the rise with his new books and his recent Nick Mag and New Yorker covers. Good stuff.
I don't know if you've been to NYC lately, but (so far) St. Marks has not suffered the fate of other centers of oddball culture (like Haight & Ashbury - A Gap on one corner and Ben and Jerry's on the other (for serious)), though the changes seem likely to come any day now.
Re-visit St. Marks while you still can!
Thanks for posting Brunetti's Nancy stuff. Really top material even as he is finding his legs with the character.
Great stuff and a really interesting story.
Good news! The comic shop is still there, though it may be called St. Marks comix now. It perfectly set in the middle of what is quickly becoming Little Tokyo. Lots of terrific Japan-influenced shops and sushi places.
This was great, Mike...thanks! I find it fascinating how Nancy really inspires some of the great modern cartoonists: dig also Mark Newgarden's "how to read nancy": www.teachingcomics.org/syllabi/nancy.pdf
Priceless insight into syndication. The comments on his own drawings are hilarious, disturbing yet intriguing.
The amount of work he did on SPEC is astonishing. I think he did pretty darn well overall.
Wow! Quite an interesting read and insight. Thanks for sharing this, Mike.
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