This groundbreaking work ingeniously isolates the separate building blocks of the language of comics through the deconstruction of a single Nancy strip from 1959. No other book on comics has taken such a simple yet methodical approach to laying bare how the medium really works. In addition, How to Read Nancy is a thoroughly researched history of how comics are made, from their creation at the drawing board to their ultimate destination at the bookstore. Textbook, art book, monogram, dissection, How to Read Nancy is a game changer in understanding how the “simplest” drawings grab us and never leave. Perfect for students, academics, scholars, and casual fans. Black-and-white Nancy cartoons throughout.
"How to Read Nancy is a comprehensive, scholarly and intensely goofy dissertation on a single daily Nancy strip from 1959.” ― The New York Times
"A beautifully designed volume that’s as entertaining as it is informative and likely to join Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics in the pantheon of explanatory texts.” ― Library Journal
"Reading the wonderful history of Ernie Bushmiller and the brilliant analysis of the details of Nancy’s creation, detail by detail, based entirely on a reading of three panels of one strip, made me believe this is one of the genius books of comics history and design semantics.” ― Print
Paul Karasik is the co-author (along with David Mazzucchelli) of the perennial graphic novel classic City of Glass, adapted from Paul Auster’s novel. He lives in Martha’s Vineyard.
Mark Newgarden is an acclaimed cartoonist and creator of the book We All Die Alone, the co-author (with Paul Karasik) of How to Read Nancy, and the co-author (along with his partner, Megan Montague Cash) of Houghton Mifflin’s bestselling Bow Wow series of children’s books. He lives in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
276 page paperback
Fantagraphics Books, 2017
