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''Krazy Kat'' (also known as ''Krazy & Ignatz'' in some reprints and compilations) is an American newspaper
comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...
, created by cartoonist
George Herriman George Joseph Herriman III (August 22, 1880 – April 25, 1944) was an American cartoonist best known for the comic strip ''Krazy Kat'' (1913–1944). More influential than popular, ''Krazy Kat'' had an appreciative audience a ...
, which ran from 1913 to 1944. It first appeared in the ''
New York Evening Journal :''Includes coverage of New York Journal-American and its predecessors New York Journal, The Journal, New York American and New York Evening Journal'' The ''New York Journal-American'' was a daily newspaper published in New York City from 1937 ...
'', whose owner,
William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American newspaper publisher and politician who developed the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His extravagant methods of yellow jou ...
, was a major booster for the strip throughout its run. The characters had been introduced previously in a side strip with Herriman's earlier creation, '' The Dingbat Family'', after earlier appearances in the Herriman comic strip '' Baron Bean''. The phrase "Krazy Kat" originated there, said by the mouse by way of describing the cat. Set in a dreamlike portrayal of Herriman's vacation home of
Coconino County, Arizona Coconino County is a County (United States), county in the North Central Arizona, North-Central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. Its population was 145,101 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The county seat is Flagstaff, Arizon ...
, ''Krazy'' mixture of offbeat
surrealism Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...
, innocent playfulness and poetic, idiosyncratic language has made it a favorite of comics aficionados and art critics for more than 80 years.Shannon.McDonnell/O'Connell/De Havenon 26. The strip focuses on the curious relationship between a guileless, carefree, simple-minded cat named Krazy and a short-tempered mouse named Ignatz. Krazy nurses an unrequited love for the mouse, but Ignatz despises Krazy and constantly schemes to throw bricks at Krazy's head, which Krazy interprets as a sign of affection, uttering grateful replies such as "Li'l dollink, allus f'etful", or "Li'l ainjil". A third principal character, Officer Bull Pupp, often appears and tries to "protect" Krazy by thwarting Ignatz' attempts and imprisoning him. Later on, Officer Pupp falls in love with Krazy. Despite the slapstick simplicity of the general premise, the detailed characterization, combined with Herriman's visual and verbal creativity, made ''Krazy Kat'' one of the first comics to be widely praised by intellectuals and treated as "serious" art.Kramer. Art critic Gilbert Seldes wrote a lengthy
panegyric A panegyric ( or ) is a formal public speech or written verse, delivered in high praise of a person or thing. The original panegyrics were speeches delivered at public events in ancient Athens. Etymology The word originated as a compound of - ' ...
to the strip in 1924, calling it "the most amusing and fantastic and satisfactory work of art produced in America today". Poet E. E. Cummings, another Herriman admirer, wrote the introduction to the first collection of the strip in book form. These critical appraisals by Seldes and cummings were influential in establishing ''Krazy Kat''s reputation as a work of
genius Genius is a characteristic of original and exceptional insight in the performance of some art or endeavor that surpasses expectations, sets new standards for the future, establishes better methods of operation, or remains outside the capabiliti ...
. Though ''Krazy Kat'' was only a modest success during its initial run, in more recent years, many modern cartoonists have cited the strip as a major influence.


Overview

''Krazy Kat'' takes place in a heavily stylized version of
Coconino County, Arizona Coconino County is a County (United States), county in the North Central Arizona, North-Central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. Its population was 145,101 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The county seat is Flagstaff, Arizon ...
, with Herriman filling the page with caricatured flora and fauna, and rock formation landscapes typical of the Painted Desert. These backgrounds tend to change dramatically between panels, even while the characters remain stationary. While the local geography is fluid, certain sites were stable—and featured so often in the strip as to become iconic. These latter included Officer Pupp's jailhouse and Kolin Kelly's brickyard. A Southwestern visual style is evident throughout, with clay-shingled rooftops, trees planted in pots with designs imitating
Navajo The Navajo or Diné are an Indigenous people of the Southwestern United States. Their traditional language is Diné bizaad, a Southern Athabascan language. The states with the largest Diné populations are Arizona (140,263) and New Mexico (1 ...
art, along with references to Mexican-American culture. The strip also occasionally features incongruous trappings borrowed from the stage, with curtains, backdrops, theatrical placards, and sometimes even floor lights framing the panel borders. The descriptive passages mix whimsical, often
alliterative Alliteration is the repetition of syllable-initial consonant sounds between nearby words, or of syllable-initial vowels if the syllables in question do not start with a consonant. It is often used as a List of narrative techniques#Style, litera ...
language with phonetically-spelled dialogue and a strong poetic sensibility (" Agathla, centuries aslumber, shivers in its sleep with splenetic splendor, and spreads abroad a seismic spasm with the supreme suavity of a vagabond volcano"). Herriman was also fond of experimenting with unconventional page layouts in his Sunday strips, including panels of various shapes and sizes, arranged in whatever fashion he thought would best tell the story. Though the basic concept of the strip is simple, Herriman always found ways to tweak the formula. Ignatz's plans to surreptitiously lob a brick at Krazy's head sometimes succeed; other times Officer Pupp outsmarts Ignatz and imprisons him. The interventions of Coconino County's other anthropomorphic animal residents, and even forces of nature, occasionally change the dynamic in unexpected ways. Other strips have Krazy's imbecilic or gnomic pronouncements irritating the mouse so much that he goes to seek out a brick in the final panel. Even
self-referential humor Self-referential humor, also known as self-reflexive humor, self-aware humor, or meta humor, is a type of comedic expression that—either directed toward some other subject, or openly directed toward itself—is self-referential in some way, int ...
is evident—in one strip, Officer Pupp, having arrested Ignatz, berates Herriman for not having finished drawing the jailhouse. Public reaction at the time was mixed; many were puzzled by its iconoclastic refusal to conform to linear comic strip conventions and straightforward gags, but publishing magnate
William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American newspaper publisher and politician who developed the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His extravagant methods of yellow jou ...
loved ''Krazy Kat'', and it continued to appear in his papers throughout its run, sometimes only by his direct order.


Cast of characters


Krazy Kat

Simple-minded, curious, mindlessly happy and perpetually innocent, the strip's title character drifts through life in Coconino County without a care. Krazy's dialogue is a highly stylized
argot A cant is the jargon or language of a group, often employed to exclude or mislead people outside the group.McArthur, T. (ed.) ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (1992) Oxford University Press It may also be called a cryptolect, argo ...
("A fowl konspirissy – is it pussible?") phonetically evoking a mixture of English, French, Spanish,
Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...
and other dialects, often identified as George Herriman's own native
New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
dialect,
Yat Yat or jat (Ѣ ѣ; italics: ''Ѣ ѣ'') is the thirty-second letter of the Early Cyrillic alphabet, old Cyrillic alphabet. It is usually Romanization, romanized as E with a haček: ''Ě ě''. There is also another version of y ...
. Often singing and dancing to express the Kat's eternal joy, Krazy is hopelessly in love with Ignatz and thinks that the mouse's brick-tossing is his way of returning that love. Krazy is also completely unaware of the bitter rivalry between Ignatz and "Offissa" Pupp and mistakes the dog's frequent imprisonment of the mouse for an innocent game of tag ("Ever times I see them two playing games togedda, Ignatz seems to be It"). On those occasions when Ignatz is caught before he can launch his brick, Krazy is left pining for the "l'il ainjil" and wonders where the beloved mouse has gone. Krazy's own gender is never made clear and appears to be fluid, varying from strip to strip. Most authors post-Herriman (beginning with Cummings) have mistakenly referred to Krazy only as female, but Krazy's creator was more ambiguous and even published several strips poking fun at this uncertainty. When filmmaker
Frank Capra Frank Russell Capra (born Francesco Rosario Capra; May 18, 1897 – September 3, 1991) was an Italian-American film director, producer, and screenwriter who was the creative force behind Frank Capra filmography#Films that won Academy Award ...
, a fan of the strip, asked Herriman to straightforwardly define the character's sex, the cartoonist admitted that Krazy was "something like a sprite, an elf. They have no sex. So that Kat can't be a he or a she. The Kat's a spirit—a pixie—free to butt into anything". Most characters inside the strip use "he" and "him" to refer to Krazy. Once Ignatz asks Krazy "What's your real name?" and Krazy says "Wilhelmina ..."


Ignatz Mouse

Ignatz is driven to distraction by Krazy Kat's naïveté, and generally reacts by throwing bricks at Krazy's head. To shield his plans from Officer Pupp, Ignatz hides his bricks, disguises himself, or enlists the aid of willing Coconino County denizens (without making his intentions clear). Easing Ignatz's task is Krazy Kat's willingness to meet him anywhere at any appointed time, eager to receive a token of affection in the form of a brick to the head. Ignatz is married with three children, though they are rarely seen. Ironically, although Ignatz seems to generally have contempt for Krazy, one strip shows his ancestor,
Mark Antony Marcus Antonius (14 January 1 August 30 BC), commonly known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman people, Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the Crisis of the Roman Republic, transformation of the Roman Republic ...
Mouse, fall in love with Krazy's ancestor, an Egyptian cat princess (calling her his "Star of the Nile"), and pay a sculptor to carve a brick with a love message. When he throws it at her, he is arrested, but she announces her love for him, and from that day on, he throws bricks at her to show his love for her (which would explain why Krazy believes that Ignatz throwing bricks is a sign of love). In another strip, Krazy kisses a sleeping Ignatz, and hearts appear above the mouse's head. In the last five (or so) years of the strip, Ignatz's feelings of animosity for Krazy were noticeably downplayed. While earlier, one got the sense of his taking advantage of Krazy's willingness to be "bricked", now one gets the sense of Ignatz and Krazy as chummy co-conspirators against Pupp, with Ignatz at times quite aware of the positive way Krazy interprets his missiles.


Officer Bull Pupp

A police dog who loves Krazy, and always tries (sometimes successfully) to thwart Ignatz's desires to pelt Krazy Kat with bricks. Officer Pupp and Ignatz often try to get the better of each other even when Krazy is not directly involved, as they both enjoy seeing the other played for a fool. He is a firm believer in justice and frequently describes his surroundings in the form of poetry.


Secondary characters

Beyond these three, Coconino County is populated with an assortment of incidental, recurring characters: * Joe
Stork Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long, stout bills. They belong to the family Ciconiidae, and make up the order Ciconiiformes . Ciconiiformes previously included a number of other families, such as herons and ibise ...
: the "purveyor of progeny to prince &
proletarian The proletariat (; ) is the social class of wage-earners, those members of a society whose possession of significant economic value is their labour power (their capacity to work). A member of such a class is a proletarian or a . Marxist philo ...
", often makes unwanted baby deliveries to various characters. In one strip, Ignatz tries to trick him into dropping a brick onto Krazy's head from above. The character debuted in ''Gooseberry Sprig'' as the titular character's "Prime Minister". * Kolin Kelly: a dog, a brickmaker by trade who bakes his wares in a kiln. He is often unknowingly Ignatz's source for projectiles, although he distrusts the mouse. * Mrs. Kwakk Wakk: a duck in a
pillbox hat A pillbox hat is a small hat with a flat crown, straight, upright sides, and no brim. It is named after the small cylindrical or hexagonal cases that were used for storing or carrying a small number of pills.scold and busybody who frequently notices Ignatz in the course of his plotting and informs Officer Pupp. She is a social climber, attempting in one strip continuity to replace Pupp as police chief. Other characters who make semi-frequent appearances are: * Mimi: a French poodle schoolteacher who is the object of the residents' affection * Walter Cephus Austridge: a nondescript
ostrich Ostriches are large flightless birds. Two living species are recognised, the common ostrich, native to large parts of sub-Saharan Africa, and the Somali ostrich, native to the Horn of Africa. They are the heaviest and largest living birds, w ...
* Bum Bill Bee: a transient, bearded insect * Don Kiyote: an inconsequential heterodox Mexican
coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans''), also known as the American jackal, prairie wolf, or brush wolf, is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the Wolf, gray wolf, and slightly smaller than the c ...
* Mock Duck: a clairvoyant fowl of Chinese descent who operates a cleaning establishment. * Gooseberry Sprig: the Duck Duke, who briefly starred in his own strip before ''Krazy Kat'' was created. * Also: Krazy's Aunt Tabby and Uncle Tom; and his aerial and aquatic cousins, respectively: Krazy Katbird and Krazy Katfish. * Ignatz also has relations; his family of look-alike mice includes his frustrated wife, Mathilda and a trio of equally unruly sons named Milton, Marshall and Irving.


History

''Krazy Kat'' evolved from an earlier comic strip of Herriman's, '' The Dingbat Family'', which started in June 1910 and was later renamed ''The Family Upstairs''. This comic chronicled the Dingbats' attempts to avoid the mischief of the mysterious unseen family living in the apartment above theirs and to unmask that family. Herriman would complete the daily comics about the Dingbats, and finding himself with time left over in his 8-hour work day, filled the bottom of the strip with slapstick drawings of the upstairs family's mouse preying upon the Dingbats' cat. This "basement strip" grew into something much larger than the original cartoon. ''Krazy Kat'' first appeared as its own daily comic strip in 1911, and then again in the summer of 1912, although only temporarily at the time. It again became a daily comic strip (running vertically down the side of the page) in October 1913, and was thereafter to remain in syndication for more than thirty years. A black and white, full-page ''Krazy Kat'' Sunday comic was launched on April 23, 1916. Possibly due to the objections of editors, who did not think it was suitable for the comics sections, ''Krazy Kat'' originally appeared in the Hearst papers' art and drama sections. It has been claimed that Hearst himself, however, enjoyed the strip so much that he gave Herriman a lifetime contract and guaranteed the cartoonist complete creative freedom, although according to Michael Tisserand's biography on Herriman (2016), there exists no proof that this alleged lifetime contract was ever made or signed. Despite its relatively low popularity among the general public, ''Krazy Kat'' gained a wide following among intellectuals. In 1922, a
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...
based on the comic was produced and scored by
John Alden Carpenter John Alden Carpenter (February 28, 1876 – April 26, 1951) was an American composer. Carpenter's compositional style was considered to be mainly "mildly modernistic and impressionistic"; many of his works strive to encompass the spirit of America ...
; though the performance played to sold-out crowds on two nights and was given positive reviews in ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' and ''
The New Republic ''The New Republic'' (often abbreviated as ''TNR'') is an American magazine focused on domestic politics, news, culture, and the arts from a left-wing perspective. It publishes ten print magazines a year and a daily online platform. ''The New Y ...
'',McDonnell, O'Connell and De Havenon 66–67. it failed to boost the strip's popularity as Hearst had hoped. In addition to Seldes and Cummings, contemporary admirers of ''Krazy Kat'' included
T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist and playwright.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biography''. New York: Oxford University ...
,
Willem de Kooning Willem de Kooning ( , ; April 24, 1904 – March 19, 1997) was a Dutch-American abstract expressionist artist. Born in Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, he moved to the United States in 1926, becoming a US citizen in 1962. In 1943, he married pa ...
,
H. L. Mencken Henry Louis Mencken (September 12, 1880 – January 29, 1956) was an American journalist, essayist, satirist, cultural critic, and scholar of American English. He commented widely on the social scene, literature, music, prominent politicians, ...
,
P. G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse ( ; 15 October 1881 – 14 February 1975) was an English writer and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Je ...
,
Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian ...
,
Robert Benchley Robert Charles Benchley (September 15, 1889 – November 21, 1945) was an American humorist, newspaper columnist and actor. From his beginnings at ''The Harvard Lampoon'' while attending Harvard University, through his many years writing essays ...
and artist Paul Nash. In 1931, Nash wrote that "no country has produced, in the narrow limits of this medium, a fantastic philosopher such as George Herriman". Reportedly, president
Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...
also read the strip regularly. More recent scholars and authors have seen the strip as reflecting the
Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an anti-establishment art movement that developed in 1915 in the context of the Great War and the earlier anti-art movement. Early centers for dadaism included Zürich and Berlin. Within a few years, the movement had s ...
movement and prefiguring
postmodernism Postmodernism encompasses a variety of artistic, Culture, cultural, and philosophical movements that claim to mark a break from modernism. They have in common the conviction that it is no longer possible to rely upon previous ways of depicting ...
.Bloom. In the summer of 1934, the ''Krazy Kat'' Sunday page was temporarily shelved, although the daily strip continued as before. Beginning in June 1935, ''Krazy Kat'''s Sunday page returned, and was thereafter published in full color. Though the number of newspapers carrying it dwindled in its last decade, Herriman continued to draw ''Krazy Kat'', creating roughly 3,000 comics in total, until his death in April 1944 (the final Sunday page was published exactly two months later, on June 25). Hearst promptly canceled the strip after the artist died, because, contrary to the common practice of the time, he did not want to see a new cartoonist take over.


Animated adaptations

The comic strip was animated several times (see filmography below). The earliest ''Krazy Kat'' shorts were produced by Hearst, starting with the release of ''Introducing Krazy Kat and Ignatz Mouse'' in February 1916. More than 25 similar animated silent shorts were made until August 1917. They were produced under Hearst-Vitagraph News Pictorial and later the
International Film Service International Film Service (IFS) was an American animation studio created to exploit the popularity of the comic strips controlled by William Randolph Hearst. Despite their similar names "Hearst News" IFS, California, is not related to "Internati ...
(IFS), though Herriman was not involved. In early 1920, after a two-year hiatus, the John R. Bray studio began producing a second series of ''Krazy Kat'' shorts.Crafton. These cartoons hewed close to the comic strips, including Ignatz, Pupp and other standard supporting characters. Krazy's ambiguous gender and feelings for Ignatz were usually preserved; bricks were occasionally thrown. Bray Productions produced at least eleven such ''Krazy Kat'' shorts until February 1921, after which the series ended. With added sound effects and music, these (originally silent) cartoons were in periodic reissue also during the 1930s and 1940s, and ended up being syndicated to television in the 1950s. In 1925, animation pioneer Bill Nolan decided to bring Krazy to the screen again. Nolan intended to produce the series under Associated Animators, but when it dissolved, he sought distribution from
Margaret J. Winkler Margaret J. Winkler Mintz (Winkler; April 22, 1895 – June 21, 1990) was a film studio executive, producer, distributor, and animator who was a major figure in silent animation history, having a crucial role in the histories of Max and Dave Fl ...
. Unlike earlier adaptations, Nolan did not base his shorts on the characters and setting of the Herriman comic strip. Instead, the feline in Nolan's cartoons was a male cat whose design and personality both reflected
Felix the Cat Felix the Cat is a cartoon character created in 1919 by Otto Messmer and Pat Sullivan (film producer), Pat Sullivan during the silent film era. An anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic young black cat with white eyes, a black body, and a giant grin, ...
. This is probably due to the fact that Nolan himself was a former employee of the Pat Sullivan studio. Other Herriman characters appeared in the Nolan cartoons at first, though similarly altered: Kwakk Wakk was at times Krazy's paramour, with Ignatz often the bully trying to break up the romance. Over time, Nolan's influence waned and new directors, Ben Harrison and Manny Gould, took over the series. By late 1927, they were solely in charge. Winkler's husband, Charles Mintz, slowly began assuming control of the operation. Mintz and his studio (later known as
Screen Gems Screen Gems is an American film production company owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate, Sony Group Corporation. ''Screen Gems'' has served several different purposes for its parent companies over the de ...
) began producing the cartoons in sound beginning with 1929's '' Ratskin''. In 1931, he moved the staff to
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
and ultimately changed the design of Krazy Kat. The new character bore even less resemblance to the one in the newspapers. Mintz's Krazy Kat was, like many other early 1930s cartoon characters, imitative of
Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an American cartoon character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime icon and mascot of the Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large shoes, and white ...
, and usually engaged in slapstick comic adventures with his look-alike girlfriend and loyal pet dog. In 1936, animator Isadore Klein, with the blessing of Mintz, set to work creating the short '' Lil' Ainjil'', the only Mintz work that was intended to reflect Herriman's comic strip. However, Klein was "terribly disappointed" with the resulting cartoon, and the Mickey-derivative Krazy returned. In 1939, Mintz became indebted to his distributor,
Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...
, and subsequently sold his studio to them. The studio released its final ''Krazy Kat'' cartoon, '' The Mouse Exterminator'', in January 1940 as part of their '' Phantasies'' series, which was also the last screen adaptation of ''Krazy Kat'' to be made during Herriman's lifetime. In the 1960s, some of the later shorts were colorized and released on Super 8mm film. As had been the case with the animated ''Krazy Kat'' shorts of the silent era, Herriman was not involved in the making of the sound shorts of the 1930s. King Features produced 50 ''Krazy Kat'' cartoons from 1962 to 1964, most of which were created at
Gene Deitch Eugene Merril Deitch (August 8, 1924 – April 16, 2020) was an American illustrator, animator, comics artist, and film director who was based in Prague from the 1960s until his death in 2020. Deitch was known for creating animated cartoons ...
's Rembrandt Films in
Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
,
Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
(now the Czech Republic), whilst the rest were produced by Artransa Film Studios in Sydney, Australia. The cartoons were initially televised interspersed with ''
Beetle Bailey ''Beetle Bailey'' is an American comic strip created by cartoonist Mort Walker, published since September 4, 1950. It is set on a fictional United States Army post. In the years just before Walker's death in 2018 (at age 94), it was among the old ...
'' (some of which were also produced by Artransa) and '' Snuffy Smith'' cartoons to form a half-hour TV show, ''The King Features Trilogy''. These cartoons helped to introduce Herriman's cat to the
baby boomers Baby boomers, often shortened to boomers, are the demographic cohort preceded by the Silent Generation and followed by Generation X. The generation is often defined as people born from 1946 to 1964 during the mid-20th century baby boom that ...
. 27 of these cartoons have been made available on DVD within the "Advantage Cartoon Mega Pack" set. The King Features shorts of the 1960s were made for television and have a closer connection to the comic strip; the backgrounds are drawn in a similar style, Ignatz was present and once again the reluctant object of Krazy's affection. This incarnation of Krazy was made female; Penny Phillips voiced Krazy while
Paul Frees Solomon Hersh Frees (June 22, 1920November 2, 1986), better known as Paul Frees, was an American actor, comedian, impressionist, and vaudevillian. He is known for his work on Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Walter Lantz, Rankin/Bass and Walt Disney the ...
voiced Ignatz. The recurring character Officer Bull Pupp also appeared often in this series, though his love of Krazy did not play a role in very many of the stories.
Jay Livingston Jay Livingston (born Jacob Harold Levison; March 28, 1915 – October 17, 2001) was an American composer best known as half of a composing-songwriting duo with Ray Evans, with whom he specialized in composing film scores and original soundtrack ...
and
Ray Evans Raymond Bernard Evans (February 4, 1915 – February 15, 2007) was an American songwriter best known for being a half of a composing-songwriting duo with Jay Livingston, specializing himself in writing lyrics for film songs. On music Livingston ...
did the music for most of the episodes. Most of the episodes are available on DVD.


Comic book adaptation

In 1951,
Dell Publishing Dell Publishing Company, Inc. is an American publisher of books, magazines and comic books, that was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte Jr. with $10,000 (approx. $145,000 in 2021), two employees and one magazine title, ''I Confess'', and ...
revived the characters for a run of comic books. All five issues were drawn by cartoonist John Stanley, best known for his '' Little Lulu'' comic books. While the general plot premise is reminiscent of Herriman's strip, the look and feel are entirely different: firmly in the visual and written style of 1950s talking animal strips for children. Krazy is male in this version of the strip while Ignatz is female. This "Krazy Kat" also made several one-shot appearances in Dell's ''
Four Color Comics ''Four Color'', also known as ''Four Color Comics'' and ''Dell Four Color'', is an American comic book anthology series published by Dell Comics between 1939 and 1962. The title is a reference to the four basic colors used when printing comic ...
'' series, from 1953 through 1956 (#s 454, 504, 548, 619, 696) and was reprinted in some Gold Key and Page Comics over the next decade.


Chronology of formats

The strip went through several format changes during its run, each of which impacted the artwork and the narratives that the form of the strip could accommodate. What follows are the landmarks, which can also help to date the era of a given strip. * July 26, 1910: First "beaning" of Kat by Mouse at bottom of '' The Dingbat Family''. Strip is not sectioned off, but a detail at the bottom of the panels. Strip as a whole tended to run 4 inches × 13 inches. Soon the Kat and Mouse were a five-panel 1½ inch strip at the bottom of the cartoon.McDonnell/O'Connell/De Havenon 55. * 1911: First brief run of ''Krazy and I. Mouse'' standalone strips (probably as a replacement to ''The Family Upstairs''). Also, the characters briefly take over the strip for a couple of periods in 1912 (at least once, while the Dingbats are "on holiday" in July 1912). * October 28, 1913: ''Krazy Kat'' debuts as a five-panel daily vertical strip which runs down the side of a full comics page. This remains its daily format until sometime in 1920.McDonnell/O'Connell/De Havenon 57. * April 23, 1916: First black and white full page Sunday strip. * March 4 – October 30, 1920: The "Panoramic Dailies" period, where Herriman is allowed to experiment wildly in an unbroken daily horizontal 3 × 13 inch space. * November 1920 on: Herriman is constrained to a more conventional daily horizontal format containing three equal split sections, with the center section further split in two. This allows the strip to be run full page, half page or a third of a page, according to editorial whim. From September 13 to October 15, 1921, Herriman regains some control (no split center section) and resumes the previous years' format experiments. * January 7 – March 11, 1922: In the ''New York Journal'', 10 weeks of Saturday full-page color strips, in addition to the ongoing Sunday full page black-and-white strips (in other words, two original full-page strips every week). This is then canceled due to its lack of noticeable commercial success, compared to the new Saturday color sections in out-of-town Hearst papers which contained no ''Krazy Kat''. * August 1925 to September 1929: Sundays are confined to 3-row, split-middle-line format allowing some papers to reduce cartoon's size and reformat into two daily-sized rows.McDonnell/O'Connell/De Havenon 77. * Summer 1934: Full page Sunday strips cease entirely, for roughly a year. * June 1, 1935: Full page Sunday strips resume, now in color, until Herriman's death. * December 11, 1938: "Optional" horizontal panel begins running on bottom of Sunday strips, as placeholder for potential advertising. * June 3, 1944: Final daily strip published. * June 25, 1944: Final Sunday strip published.


Legacy

In 1934, in the live-action film '' Babes in Toyland'', starring
Stan Laurel Stan Laurel ( ; born Arthur Stanley Jefferson; 16 June 1890 – 23 February 1965) was an English comic actor, director and writer who was in the comedy double act, duo Laurel and Hardy. He appeared with his comedy partner Oliver Hardy in 107 sh ...
and
Oliver Hardy Oliver Norvell Hardy (born Norvell Hardy; January 18, 1892 – August 7, 1957) was an American comic actor and one half of Laurel and Hardy, the double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted from 1926 to 1957. He appeared with his ...
, the cat playing the fiddle (Peter Gordon) is repeatedly hit in the head with a brick by a mouse (a capuchin monkey) costumed to look similar to Disney's
Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an American cartoon character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime icon and mascot of the Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large shoes, and white ...
. In 1974, the OrlandoCon comics convention ("O'Con") introduced the
Ignatz Award The Ignatz Awards recognize outstanding achievements in comics and cartooning by small press creators or creator-owned projects published by larger publishers. They have been awarded each year at the Small Press Expo since 1997, only skipping a ...
, a gold brick presented to the show's guest of honor. Recipients of the O'Con Ignatz included Don Martin, Ralph Kent,
Joe Kubert Joseph Kubert (; September 18, 1926 – August 12, 2012) was a Poland, Polish-born Americans, American comic book artist, art teacher, and founder of The Kubert School. He is best known for his work on the DC Comics characters Sgt. Rock and Hawk ...
, Martin Nodell, Don Addis,
Burne Hogarth Burne Hogarth (born Spinoza Bernard Ginsburg, December 25, 1911 – January 28, 1996) was an American artist and educator, best known for his work on the ''Tarzan (comics), Tarzan'' newspaper comic strip and his series of anatomy books for artis ...
, and Dik Browne. This tradition continued until O'Con's demise in 1994. Soon after, beginning in 1997, the
Small Press Expo The Small Press Expo (SPX) is an American alternative comics convention. A registered 501(c)(3) that was created in 1994, every year since its inception, SPX has put on a festival, known as The Expo, that provides a forum for artists, writers a ...
(SPX) began distributing their own
Ignatz Award The Ignatz Awards recognize outstanding achievements in comics and cartooning by small press creators or creator-owned projects published by larger publishers. They have been awarded each year at the Small Press Expo since 1997, only skipping a ...
bricks to the winners of various annual awards. During his tenure as SPX Ignatz Award administrator, Jeff Alexander drew a strip for the annual award program in Herriman's style. In 1984,
Cyndi Lauper Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper ( ; born June 22, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Known for her distinctive image, featuring a variety of hair colors and eccentric clothing, and for her powerful four-octave vocal range;Jerome, ...
paid homage to Krazy Kat in her song "Yeah Yeah", overdubbing the phrase in Krazy Kat's vocal style — "Ignatz, I love you" — during the second verse. In 1994, in the live-action film ''
Pulp Fiction ''Pulp Fiction'' is a 1994 American independent crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino from a story he conceived with Roger Avary.See, e.g., King (2002), pp. 185–7; ; It tells four intertwining tales of crime and violence ...
'', starring
John Travolta John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an American actor. He began acting in television before transitioning into a leading man in films. List of awards and nominations received by John Travolta, His accolades include a Primetime Em ...
and Samuel L. Jackson; Krazy Kat, Ignatz Mouse, and Officer Pupp make an appearance, printed on a pale blue T-shirt worn by Jackson's character Jules, who had to hastily change his clothes after an accidental shooting in a car. In 1999, ''Krazy Kat'' was rated #1 in a ''
Comics Journal ''The Comics Journal'', often abbreviated ''TCJ'', is an American magazine of news and criticism pertaining to comic books, comic strips and graphic novels. Known for its lengthy interviews with comic creators, pointed editorials and scathing r ...
'' list of the best American comics of the 20th century; the list included both
comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...
s and comic strips. In 1995, the strip was one of 20 included in the Comic Strip Classics series of commemorative U.S. postage stamps. In 2004, a picture of Krazy Kat appeared on the wall of the Goofy Goober bar in ''
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie ''The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie'' is a 2004 American adventure comedy film, animated adventure comedy film based on the television series ''SpongeBob SquarePants''. It was co-written, co-produced, and directed by series creator Stephen Hill ...
'', alongside a picture of
Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, Elzie Crisler Segar.Chuck Jones Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, painter, voice actor and filmmaker, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of shorts. He ...
's
Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner are a duo of cartoon characters from the ''Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' series of animated cartoons, first appearing in 1949 in the theatrical short '' Fast and Furry-ous''. In each film, the cunning, ...
shorts, set in a similar visual pastiche of the American Southwest, are among the most famous cartoons to draw upon Herriman's work. Patrick McDonnell, creator of the current strip '' Mutts'' and co-author of ''Krazy Kat: The Comic Art of George Herriman'', cites it as his "foremost influence".
Bill Watterson William Boyd Watterson II (born July 5, 1958) is an American cartoonist who authored the comic strip ''Calvin and Hobbes''. The strip was syndicated from 1985 to 1995. Watterson concluded ''Calvin and Hobbes'' with a short statement to newspa ...
of ''
Calvin and Hobbes ''Calvin and Hobbes'' is a daily American comic strip created by cartoonist Bill Watterson that was Print syndication, syndicated from November 18, 1985, to December 31, 1995. Commonly described as "the last great newspaper comic", ''Calvin a ...
'' fame named ''Krazy Kat'' among his three major influences (along with ''
Peanuts ''Peanuts'' (briefly subtitled ''featuring Good ol' Charlie Brown'') is a print syndication, syndicated daily strip, daily and Sunday strip, Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run ext ...
'' and '' Pogo''). Watterson would revive Herriman's practice of employing varied, unpredictable panel layouts in his Sunday strips. Charles M. Schulz and
Will Eisner William Erwin Eisner ( ; March 6, 1917 – January 3, 2005) was an American cartoonist, writer, and entrepreneur. He was one of the earliest cartoonists to work in the American comic book industry, and his series '' The Spirit'' (1940–1952) wa ...
both said that they were drawn towards cartooning partly because of the impact ''Krazy Kat'' made on them in their formative years. Bobby London's '' Dirty Duck'' was styled after ''Krazy Kat''.
Jules Feiffer Jules Ralph Feiffer ( ; January 26, 1929 – January 17, 2025) was an American cartoonist and author, who at one time was considered the most widely read satirist in the country. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1986 for Pulitzer Prize for Editori ...
, Philip Guston, and
Hunt Emerson Hunt Emerson (born 1952) is an English cartoonist. He was closely involved with the Birmingham Arts Lab of the mid-to-late 1970s, and with the British underground comics scene of the 1970s and 1980s. His many comic strips and graphic novels have ...
have all had ''Krazy Kat'''s imprint recognized in their work. Larry Gonick's comic strip ''Kokopelli & Company'' is set in "Kokonino County", an homage to Herriman's exotic locale.
Chris Ware Franklin Christenson "Chris" Ware (born December 28, 1967) is an American cartoonist known for his ''Acme Novelty Library'' series (begun 1994) and the graphic novels ''Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth'' (2000), ''Building Stories'' (2012 ...
admires the strip, and his frequent publisher,
Fantagraphics Fantagraphics (previously Fantagraphics Books) is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, manga, magazines, graphic novels, and (formerly) the Erotic comics, erotic Eros Comix imprint. They have managed sev ...
, is currently reissuing its entire run in volumes designed by Ware (which also include reproductions of Herriman miscellanea, some of it donated by Ware). In the 1980s, Sam Hurt's syndicated strip '' Eyebeam'' showed a clear Herriman influence, particularly in its continually morphing backgrounds. Among non-cartoonists, Jay Cantor's 1987 novel ''Krazy Kat'' uses Herriman's characters to analyze humanity's reaction to nuclear weapons, Russell Hoban's novel '' The Medusa Frequency'' (also 1987) uses a quote from the cartoon in an epigraph ("ZIP... POW... LOVES ME") while
Michael Stipe John Michael Stipe (; born January 4, 1960) is an American singer, songwriter and artist, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the alternative rock band R.E.M. Stipe was born in Metro Atlanta in January 1960. Due to his father's militar ...
of the rock band
R.E.M. R.E.M. was an American alternative rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the fir ...
has a
tattoo A tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting tattoo ink, dyes, or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the skin to form a design. Tattoo artists create these designs using several tattooing processes ...
of Krazy and Ignatz. In the
Garfield ''Garfield'' is an American comic strip created by Jim Davis (cartoonist), Jim Davis. Originally published locally as ''Jon'' in 1976 (later changed to ''Garfield'' in 1977), then in nationwide Print syndication, syndication from 1978, it chro ...
TV special '' Garfield: His 9 Lives'', Garfield plays a stunt double for Krazy Kat. In one 1989 ''
Bloom County ''Bloom County'' is an American comic strip by Berkeley Breathed which originally ran from December 8, 1980, until August 6, 1989. It examined events in politics and culture through the viewpoint of a fanciful small town in Middle America, whe ...
'' strip by
Berkeley Breathed Guy Berkeley "Berke" Breathed (; born June 21, 1957) is an American cartoonist, children's book author, Film director, director, and screenwriter, known for his comic strips ''Bloom County'', ''Outland (comic strip), Outland'', and ''Opus (comic s ...
, Krazy and Ignatz can be seen watching Binkley, Oliver, and Opus float through a Herriman-esque landscape; and in a couple of '' 9 Chickweed Lane'' strips, Krazy and Ignatz are referred to in regards to a printed training bra once worn by Edda during her preteen years.


Reprints and compilations

For many decades, only a small percentage of Herriman's strip was available in reprinted form. The first ''Krazy Kat'' collection, published by
Henry Holt and Company Henry Holt and Company is an American book-publishing company based in New York City. One of the oldest publishers in the United States, it was founded in 1866 by Henry Holt (publisher), Henry Holt and Frederick Leypoldt. The company publishes in ...
in 1946, just two years after Herriman's death, gathered 200 selected strips. In Europe, the cartoons were first reprinted in 1965 by the Italian magazine ''Linus'', and appeared in the pages of the French monthly ''Charlie Mensuel'' starting in 1970. In 1969,
Grosset & Dunlap Grosset & Dunlap is a New York City-based publishing house founded in 1898. The company was purchased by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1982 and today is part of Penguin Random House through its subsidiary Penguin Group. In recent years, through the P ...
produced a single hardcover collection of selected episodes and sequences spanning the entire length of the strip's run. The Netherlands' Real Free Press published five issues of ''Krazy Kat Komix'' in 1974–1976, containing a few hundred strips apiece; each of the issues' covers was designed by Joost Swarte. However, owing to the difficulty of tracking down high-quality copies of the original newspapers, no plans for a comprehensive collection of ''Krazy Kat'' strips surfaced until the 1980s. All of the
Sunday strip The Sunday comics or Sunday strip is the comic strip section carried in some Western newspapers. Compared to weekday comics, Sunday comics tend to be full pages and are in color. Many newspaper readers called this section the Sunday funnies, t ...
s from 1916 to 1924 were reprinted by
Eclipse Comics Eclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book store, comic book specialty stor ...
in cooperation with Turtle Island Press. Beginning in 1988, the intent was to eventually reprint every Sunday ''Krazy Kat'', but this planned series was aborted when Eclipse ceased business in 1992. Beginning in 2002,
Fantagraphics Fantagraphics (previously Fantagraphics Books) is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, manga, magazines, graphic novels, and (formerly) the Erotic comics, erotic Eros Comix imprint. They have managed sev ...
resumed reprinting Sunday ''Krazy Kat''s where Eclipse left off; in 2008, their tenth release completed the run with 1944. Fantagraphics then reissued, in the same format, the strips previously printed in Eclipse's now out-of-print volumes. Both the Eclipse and Fantagraphics reprints include additional rarities such as older George Herriman cartoons predating ''Krazy Kat''. In 1990,
Kitchen Sink Press Kitchen Sink Press was a comic book publishing company founded by Denis Kitchen in 1970. Kitchen Sink Press was a pioneering publisher of underground comics, and was also responsible for numerous republications of classic comic strips in hardcov ...
, in association with Remco Worldservice Books, reprinted two volumes of color Sunday strips dating from 1935 to 1937, but like Eclipse, they collapsed before they could continue the series. ''The 3-D Zone'' #5, published by The 3-D Zone in June 1987, features reprints of ''Krazy Kat'' strips converted into 3-D, and includes two pairs of red/blue 3-D glasses. The
daily strip A daily strip is a newspaper comic strip format, appearing on weekdays, Monday through Saturday, as contrasted with a Sunday strip, which typically only appears on Sundays. They typically are smaller, 3–4 grids compared to the full page Sunday s ...
s for 1921 to 1923 were reprinted by Pacific Comics Club, in two series of different sizes. '' Comics Revue'' published all of the daily strips from September 8, 1930 through December 31, 1934. In 2007, Fantagraphics offered a one-shot reprint of daily strips from 1910s and 1920s, and plans a more complete reprinting of the daily strip in the future. Scattered Sundays and dailies have appeared in several collections, including the
Grosset & Dunlap Grosset & Dunlap is a New York City-based publishing house founded in 1898. The company was purchased by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1982 and today is part of Penguin Random House through its subsidiary Penguin Group. In recent years, through the P ...
book reprinted by Nostalgia Press, but the most readily available sampling of Sundays and dailies from throughout the strip's run is ''Krazy Kat: The Comic Art of George Herriman'', published by
Harry N. Abrams, Inc. Abrams, formerly Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (HNA), is an American publisher of art and illustrated books, children's books, and stationery. The enterprise is a subsidiary of the French publisher Média-Participations. Run by president and CEO Mary ...
in 1986. It includes a detailed biography of Herriman and was, for a long time, the only in-print book to republish ''Krazy Kat'' strips from after 1940. Although it contains over 200 strips, including many color Sundays, it is light on material from 1923 to 1937. Small selections of dailies appear in literary anthologies published by The Green Bag.


Henry Holt & Co.

* ''Krazy Kat'' (1946): Introduction by E.E. Cummings. Hardcover B&W compilation of daily and Sunday strips, concentrating on 1930–1944.


Grosset & Dunlap/Nostalgia Press/Madison Square Press

* ''Krazy Kat: A Classic from the Golden Age of Comics'' (1969, 1975): An entirely different compilation of dailies and Sundays, with examples from the entire run of the strip—including 23 The Dingbat Family bottom strips. Reprints the e.e. cummings introduction from the Henry Holt volume. 8 pages in full color; some later editions have daily strips reproduced in blue ink. (hardcover), (paperback)


Street Enterprises (Menomonee Falls)

* ''(George Herriman's) Krazy Kat Vol. 1, No. 1'' (March 1973): 32-page newsprint magazine reprinting 60 daily strips from July 3 – October 28, 1933. Inside cover claims inaccurately that they are from 1935.


Real Free Press

* ''Krazy Kat Komix, Nos. 1–5'' (1974–1976): Joost Swarte, ed. The 5-issue magazine also features other Herriman strips.


Hyperion Press

* ''The Family Upstairs: Introducing Krazy Kat: The Complete Strip, 1910–1912'' (1977, 1992): Introduction by Bill Blackbeard. (hardcover), (softcover)


Harry N. Abrams

* ''Krazy Kat: The Comic Art of George Herriman'' (1986): Patrick McDonnell, Karen O'Connell, eds. Various strips in B&W and color, mostly from original art, including some watercolor paintings. (hardcover), (softcover)


Morning Star Publications

* ''Coconino Chronicle'' (1988): Alec Finlay, ed. 130 strips from 1927 to 1928.


Eclipse Comics

''Krazy and Ignatz: The Komplete Kat Komics'' (series): Bill Blackbeard, ed. Each of these volumes reprints a year of Sunday strips. * ''Vol 1: Krazy & Ignatz'' (1988): 1916 strips. * ''Vol 2: The Other Side To the Shore Of Here'' (1989): 1917 strips. * ''Vol 3: The Limbo of Useless Unconsciousness'' (1989): 1918 strips. * ''Vol 4: Howling Among the Halls of Night'' (1989): 1919 strips. * ''Vol 5: Pilgrims on the Road to Nowhere'' (1990): 1920 strips. * ''Vol 6: Sure As Moons is Cheeses'' (1990): 1921 strips. * ''Vol 7: A Katnip Kantata in the Key of K'' (1991): 1922 strips, including 10 color Saturday strips. * ''Vol 8: Inna Yott On the Muddy Geranium'' (1991): 1923 strips. * ''Vol 9: Shed a Soft Mongolian Tear'' (1992): 1924 strips. * ''Vol 10: Honeysuckil Love Is Doubly Swit'' (unpublished): 1925 strips.


Kitchen Sink Press

''The Komplete Kolor Krazy Kat'' (series). Each volume reprinted two years of Sundays. The publisher dissolved before the series' aim of completeness could be achieved. * ''Vol 1: 1935–1936'' (1990): Rick Marshall, Bill Watterson, contributors. * ''Vol 2: 1936–1937'' (1991): Rick Marshall, ed.


Stinging Monkey/BookSurge

* ''Krazy & Ignatz, The Dailies. Vol 1: 1918–1919'' (2001, 2003): Gregory Fink, ed., introduction by Bill Blackbeard. Stinging Monkey edition in large format, . BookSurge reprint in smaller 7.9 × 6 inch format, , . Reprints complete run of dailies from Aug 26, 1918, to Jun 28, 1919.


Pacific Comics

''All the Daily Strips....'' (series) 6¼ x 6¼ inch format. * ''Krazy Kat vol 1: 1921'' (2003) * ''Krazy Kat vol 2: 1922'' (2004) * ''Krazy Kat Vol 3: 1923'' (2005) ''Presents Krazy and Ignatz'' (series) Four 3¼ x 4 inch volumes reproducing the 1921 strips in miniature.


Fantagraphics Books

In 2002,
Fantagraphics Fantagraphics (previously Fantagraphics Books) is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, manga, magazines, graphic novels, and (formerly) the Erotic comics, erotic Eros Comix imprint. They have managed sev ...
began to publish a series of paperbacks – picking up where Eclipse Comics left off – with introductory essays and other bonuses, such as rare artworks and photographs.
Bill Blackbeard William Elsworth Blackbeard (April 28, 1926 – March 10, 2011), better known as Bill Blackbeard, was a writer-editor and the founder-director of the San Francisco Academy of Comic Art, a comprehensive collection of comic strips and cartoon art fr ...
is the series editor,
Chris Ware Franklin Christenson "Chris" Ware (born December 28, 1967) is an American cartoonist known for his ''Acme Novelty Library'' series (begun 1994) and the graphic novels ''Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth'' (2000), ''Building Stories'' (2012 ...
the cover and interior designer. For the first time ever, Fantagraphics reprinted the entirety of ''Krazy Kat'' Sundays: the first ten volumes collect two years worth of Sundays each (the first five in black and white, the last five in color – reflecting the shift in the original newspaper version); the last three paperbacks comprise the black and white Sundays already reprinted by Eclipse, presenting three years worth of material per volume. * ''Krazy & Ignatz in "There Is A Heppy Lend Furfur A-Waay": 1925–1926'' (2002) * ''Krazy & Ignatz in "Love Letters In Ancient Brick": 1927–1928'' (2002) * ''Krazy & Ignatz in "A Mice, A Brick, A Lovely Night": 1929–1930'' (2003) * ''Krazy & Ignatz in "A Kat Alilt with Song": 1931–1932'' (2004) * ''Krazy & Ignatz in "Necromancy by the Blue Bean Bush": 1933–1934'' (2005) ** ''Krazy & Ignatz: The Complete Sunday Strips: 1925–1934'': Collects the previous five paperbacks in a single hardcover volume. Only 1000 copies printed, only available by direct order from the publisher. * ''Krazy & Ignatz in "A Wild Warmth of Chromatic Gravy": 1935–1936'' (2005) , 2005 * ''Krazy & Ignatz in "Shifting Sands Dusts its Cheeks in Powdered Beauty": 1937–1938'' (2006) * ''Krazy & Ignatz in "A Brick Stuffed with Moom-bins": 1939–1940'' (2007) * ''Krazy & Ignatz in "A Ragout of Raspberries": 1941–1942'' (2007) * ''Krazy & Ignatz in "He Nods in Quiescent Siesta": 1943–1944'' (2008) ** ''Krazy & Ignatz: The Complete Sunday Strips: 1935–1944'': Collects the previous five paperbacks in a single hardcover volume. Only 1000 copies printed, only available by direct order from the publisher. * ''Krazy & Ignatz in "Love in a Kestle or Love in a Hut": 1916–1918'' (2010) * ''Krazy & Ignatz in "A Kind, Benevolent and Amiable Brick": 1919–1921'' (2011) * ''Krazy & Ignatz in "At Last My Drim of Love Has Come True": 1922–1924'' (2012) (also includes the complete ''Us Husbands'', another strip of Herriman, unrelated to ''Krazy Kat'') ** ''Krazy & Ignatz: The Complete Sunday Strips: 1916–1924'': Collects the previous three paperbacks in a single hardcover volume. Only 1000 copies printed, only available by direct order from the publisher. * ''Krazy & Ignatz: The Kat Who Walked in Beauty'' (2007) : This volume, unrelated to the previous collections (both in design and format), is a horizontal hardcover which reprints: ** Some daily strips from 1911 and 1912 (including a sequence from July 2 to 16) and 32 from 1914 (only a few of which can be dated by cross reference to other collections). ** Plus (in large-format) all daily strips from March 4 to October 30, 1920 and from September 13 to October 15, 1921 (except Sept. 15, 19, 20, 27, 30, and Oct. 5-7). ** Also included is the artwork that Herriman drew for the program of a 1922 pantomime ballet based on Krazy Kat (reproduced larger than in the Eclipse 1923 and The George Herriman Library 1922–1924 collections). Starting from 2019, Fantagraphics began to publish a new collection of ''Krazy Kat'' Sundays. ''The George Herriman Library: Krazy & Ignatz'', a series of deluxe hardcovers, whose format is much wider than those of the previous paperbacks, collects 3 years worth of Sundays per volume. The bonus material, while largely similar to the previous collections, presents some differences, though, such as new essays and images. Michael Catron and Bill Blackbeard are the series editors, while Keeli McCarthy is the cover and interior designer. * ''The George Herriman Library: Krazy & Ignatz 1916–1918'' (2019) * ''The George Herriman Library: Krazy & Ignatz 1919–1921'' (2020) * ''The George Herriman Library: Krazy & Ignatz 1922–1924'' (2022) * ''The George Herriman Library: Krazy & Ignatz 1925–1927'' (2023)


Sunday Press Books

* ''Krazy Kat: A Celebration of Sundays'' (2010): Patrick McDonnell, Peter Maresca, eds. Sunday Press Books. Various Sundays reprinted in their original size and colors. (hardcover)


Abrams ComicArts

* ''Krazy Kat & the Art of George Herriman: A Celebration'' (August 2011): Craig Yoe, ed. (hardcover). Includes more than a dozen (new and old) essays, and reproductions of non-strip art pertaining to Krazy Kat and Herriman's other works.


IDW Publishing

* ''George Herriman's Krazy + Ignatz in Tiger Tea'' (January 2010): Craig Yoe, ed. Collects the "Tiger Tea" storyline from the daily strips, May 1936 – March 1937. (hardcover). * '' LOAC Essentials Presents King Features Volume 1: Krazy Kat 1934 By George Herriman'' (April 2016): Dean Mullaney, ed. Collects a years worth of daily strips, Dec 25, 1933 – Dec 31, 1934.


2016 biography

* Michael Tisserand's 2016 biography, ''Krazy: George Herriman, a Life in Black and White'' (Harper, hardcover, 560 pages, ) is profusely illustrated with (mainly) single panels from Herriman's various comics. The table below lists ''only'' the panels from Krazy Kat, with dates from the book's captions.


Taschen

* ''George Herriman's "Krazy Kat": The Complete Color Sundays 1935-1944'' (August 2019): Alexander Braun ed. XXL Hardcover (300 mm × 440 mm). 632 pages. Available in three languages. ** English - ** German - ** French -


Dover Publications

* ''Krazy Kat Collection: Selected Sunday Strips 1918–1919'' (January 2020)' : Paperback; 112 pages.


Mathiesen collections

* Cartoonist/writer Snorre Smári Mathiesen has edited and self-published a series of daily collections: ** ''Krazy Kat - Dailies 1913-1914'' : Hardcover; 424 pages. The collection covers the period from late-October, 1913 through all of 1914, but several dozen are missing. For five days, the editor found two different strips which ran in separate newspapers. Also included are five strips from 1911, 1912 and 1913. ** ''Krazy Kat - Dailies Nov 1913-Feb 1914'' : Paperback; 60 pages. ** ''Krazy Kat - Dailies Vol. 2: March–July 1914'' : Paperback; 42 pages. ** ''Krazy Kat: 1924 Daily Strips'' : Original edition. Hardcover; 128 pages. ** ''Krazy Kat: 1924 Daily Strips'' : Revised edition. Hardcover; 260 pages. Strips are printed larger than in earlier edition. The previous edition included various strips from June 1913 to March 1914, some of which had been included in the above collections. These strips are not mentioned in the introduction to the revised edition. From 1924, about 60 strips are missing. Nearly all of these missing strips have been collected in the editor's 1929 volume. ** ''Krazy Kat: 1925 Daily Strips'' : Hardcover; 212 pages. Missing Jun 18 and Dec 25. These missing strips have been collected in the editor's 1929 volume. ** ''Krazy Kat: 1926 Daily Strips'' : Hardcover; 312 pages. Missing December 1, 9, 25. The latter two missing strips have been collected in the editor's 1929 volume, where he also reports that December 1, 1926, was a repeat from 1924. ** ''Krazy Kat: 1927 Daily Strips'' : Hardcover; 314 pages. Missing January 1 and December 26. These missing strips have been collected in the editor's 1929 volume. ** ''Krazy Kat: 1928 Daily Strips'' : Hardcover; 314 pages. Missing July 4 and December 25. ** ''Krazy Kat: 1929 Daily Strips'' : Hardcover; 344 pages. Missing are six weeks of strips which were repeated from 1925 and 1926 (the original run-dates are not provided).


Filmography


See also

* The Krazy Kat Klub, a
Bohemian Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, originally practised by 19th–20th century European and American artists and writers. * Bohemian style, a ...
nightspot in
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
during the early decades of the 20th century, named after the comic strip.


Notes


References

* Blackbeard, Bill. "A Kat of Many Kolors: Jazz pantomime and the funny papers in 1922". (1991). Printed in ''A Katnip Kantata in the Key of K'' (q.v.) * Bloom, John. "Krazy Kat keeps kracking".
United Press International United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ce ...
, June 23, 2003. * Crafton, Donald (1993). ''Before Mickey: The Animated Film, 1898–1928''. University of Chicago Press. . * Crocker, Elisabeth.
To He, I Am For Evva True
': Krazy Kat's Indeterminate Gender". ''Postmodern Culture'', January 1995. January 12, 2006. * Heer, Jeet. "Cartoonists in Navajo Country". '' Comic Art'', Summer 2006. 40–47. * Herriman, George (1990). ''Pilgrims on the Road to Nowhere''. Forestville: Turtle Island, Eclipse Books. . * Herriman, George (1991). ''A Katnip Kantata in the Key of K''. Forestville: Turtle Island/Eclipse Books. . * Herriman, George (2002). ''Krazy & Ignatz 1925–1926: "There Is A Heppy Land, Fur, Far Awa-a-ay -"''. Seattle: Fantagraphics Books. . * Herriman, George (2003). ''Krazy & Ignatz 1929–1930: "A Mice, A Brick, A Lovely Night"''. Seattle: Fantagraphics Books. . * Herriman, George (2004). ''Krazy & Ignatz 1933–1934: "Necromancy by the Blue Bean Bush"''. Seattle: Fantagraphics Books. . * Inge, Thomas (1990). "Krazy Kat as American Dada Art" ''Comics as Culture'', Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. . * Kramer, Hilton. Untitled review of Herriman art exhibition. ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', January 17, 1982. * Maltin, Leonard (1987). ''Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons''. Penguin Books. . * McDonnell, Patrick; O'Connell, Karen; de Havenon, Georgia Riley (1986) ''Krazy Kat: The Comic Art of George Herriman''. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. . * Schwartz, Ben (2003). "Hearst, Herriman, and the Death of Nonsense". Printed in ''Krazy & Ignatz 1929–1930: "A Mice, A Brick, A Lovely Night"''. (q.v.) * Shannon, Edward A. "'That we may mis-unda-stend each udda': The Rhetoric of Krazy Kat". ''Journal of Popular Culture'', Fall 1995, vol. 29, issue 2. * Tashlin, Frank. "In Coconino County". ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', November 3, 1946, p. 161. * Watterson, Bill (1995). ''The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book''. Kansas City: Andrews and McMeel.


Further reading

* Kish, Frances. "Watch 'Em Move: A Short Biography of Krazy Kat and Some of His Goofy Friends", ''
Photoplay ''Photoplay'' was one of the first American film fan magazines, its title another word for screenplay. It was founded in Chicago in 1911. Under early editors Julian Johnson and James R. Quirk, in style and reach it became a pacesetter for fan m ...
'', September 1930, p. 71. Article on animation.


External links


Krazy Kat
at
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...
(comic strips, video and audio) * – History, bios, strip archive, bibliography and more.
"'Some Say It with a Brick': George Herriman's Krazy Kat"
– A critical essay. * {{Authority control American comic strips 1910 comics debuts Comics characters introduced in 1910 Gag-a-day comics Romance comics 1944 comics endings Columbia cartoons series and characters Fantagraphics titles Comics about anthropomorphic cats Comics about anthropomorphic dogs Comics about anthropomorphic mice and rats Comics about police officers Anthropomorphic cats Comics about talking animals Fictional characters from Arizona Comics set in Arizona Kitchen Sink Press titles Fiction about androgyny Surreal comedy comics Slapstick comedy Articles containing video clips Comics spinoffs American comics characters Comics adapted into animated series Comics adapted into television series 2021 comics debuts Comics by George Herriman African-American comics Rembrandt Films Screen Gems film series Comic strips started in the 1910s Comic strips started in the 2020s