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Krazy Kat was a comic strip created by George Herriman, appearing in both weekday and Sunday U.S. newspapers published by William Randolph Hearst. It grew from an earlier comic strip of Herriman's, The Dingbat Family, which had started in 1910. Herriman would complete the cartoons about the Dingbats, and finding himself with time left over from his 8-hour day, filled the bottom of the strip with the slapstick antics of a cat and a mouse. This "basement strip" grew into something much larger than the original cartoon, and became a Sunday-only cartoon on April 23, 1916, and before long also a daily strip. In 1935, the strip began to be printed in color. Herriman continued to draw Krazy Kat until his death in 1944.

Krazy Kat focused on the relationship triangle of its title character, Krazy, a cat of indeterminate gender (but often referred to in the feminine), his/her antagonist and love interest Ignatz Mouse, and Krazy's protector, Offisa Pupp, who nursed an unrequited love for Krazy. Most of the strips followed the formula of Ignatz throwing a brick at Krazy Kat, which while endearing Ignatz to Krazy, would usually result with Offisa Pupp putting Ignatz behind bars.

The title character's dialogue was a highly stylized argot ("A fowl konspirissy—is it pussible?") in a phonetic rendering evoking the accent of the New Orleans of Herriman's youth. The strip's descriptive passages mix whimsical language with a poetic sensibility. ("A pilgrim on the road to nowhere — pauses at the base of the Enchanted Mesa, and drops a fragment of philosophical fatuity.") In the 1940s, when the Sunday strip was printed in color, Herriman experimented with bold colors and unconventional page layouts.

Set against a dreamlike portrayal of Herriman's spiritual home of Coconino County, Arizona, Krazy Kat was a strip unlike any seen in newspapers before or since. Public reaction at the time of its appearance was largely negative, due to its iconoclastic refusal to conform to comic strip conventions and simple gags. But Hearst loved it, and it continued to appear in his papers throughout its run, sometimes only by his direct order. It was also praised by intellectuals and critics, most notably Gilbert Seldes, who wrote a lengthy panegyric in The New Yorker calling the strip "the most satisfying work of art...in America today." In the 1920s, a stage musical based on Krazy Kat was even produced.

The comic strip was animated several times, ranging from 1916 to 1964. The one with closest connection to the comic-strip is the 1962-64 animated adaptation that was made in Prague. However, because censors wouldn't allow a male cat to have a homosexual relationship with a male mouse, Krazy was made explicitly female. The background art was very similar to Herriman's, however. Also they allowed the theme of sadomasochism to continue. Jay Livingston and Ray Evans did the music for most of the episodes.

Legacy

In 1999, Krazy Kat was rated #1 in a Comics Journal list of the best comics of the twentieth century. The list included both comic books and comic strips.

Bill Watterson has mentioned Krazy Kat as one of his inspirations for his own cartoon series, Calvin and Hobbes. The work of Hunt Emerson is strongly influenced by Herriman's style. Patrick McDonnell, author of the acclaimed comic strip Mutts, also cites Krazy Kat as a major influence. (McDonnell wrote the introduction to Krazy Kat: The Comic Art of George Herriman.) Jay Cantor's 1987 novel Krazy Kat uses Herriman's characters to analyze humanity's reaction to nuclear weapons. Larry Gonick's comic strip Kokopelli & Company is set in "Kokonino County", an homage to Herriman's exotic locale. Herriman has also influenced Chris Ware, who has designed a series of reprint volumes of the strip for Fantagraphics Books.

In 1995, the strip was one of 20 included in the Comic Strip Classics series of commemorative US postage stamps.

External links

• A suggested interpretation of the comic strip
• Coconino County: History, bios, strip archive, bibliography and more about George Herriman and Krazy Kat
• Fantagraphics' mini-site for their edition of Krazy Kat

Editions

• Krazy Kat: The Comic Art of George Herriman This 1986 Herriman retrospective reprints many Krazy Kat strips. ISBN 0810991853 (softcover) ISBN 0810981521 (hardcover)

Eclipse Comics published Krazy Kat in a series of reprints in cooperation with Turtle Island. The collapse of Eclipse Comics prevented several planned volumes from being published.

• Krazy & Ignatz 1916 strips
• The Other Side of the Shore From Here 1917 strips
• The Limbo of Useless Unconsciousness 1918 strips
• Howling Along the Halls of Night 1919 strips
• Pilgrims on the Road to Nowhere 1920 strips
• Sure As Moons is Cheese 1921 strips
• A Katnip Kantata in the Key of K 1922 strips
• Inna Yott On the Muddy Germanium 1923 strips
• Shed a Soft Mongolian Tear 1924 strips
• Honeysuckil Love is Doubly Swit 1925 strip, unpublished
• At Moonrise by the Old Smoke Tree 1937 color strips, unpublished
• My Sodium Poppa 1938 color strips, unpublished

Fantagraphics Books is currently publishing Krazy Kat reprints in new editions designed by Chris Ware.

• Krazy & Ignatz in "There Is A Heppy Lend Furfur A-Waay": The Komplete Kat Komics 1925 - 1926 ISBN 1560973862
• Krazy & Ignatz in "Love Letters In Ancient Brick": The Komplete Kat Komics 1927 - 1928 ISBN 1560975075
• Krazy & Ignatz in "A Mice, A Brick, A Lovely Night": The Komplete Kat Komics 1929 - 1930 ISBN 1560975296
• Krazy & Ignatz in "A Kat Alilt with Song": The Komplete Kat Komics 1931 - 1932 ISBN 1560975946
• Krazy & Ignatz in "Necromancy by the Blue Bean Bush": The Komplete Kat Komics 1933 - 1934 ISBN 1560976209
• Krazy & Ignatz in "A Wild Warmth of Chromatic Gravy": The Komplete Kat Komics 1935 - 1936 ISBN 156097690X (first volume in color)
• Further volumes will reprint the strip to its end in 1944, and then double back to republish the early years of 1916-1924 that have already be reprinted by Eclipse.

• Krazy & Ignatz: The Complete Sunday Strips 1925 - 1934. Collects the five paperback volumes 1925-1934 in a single hardcover volume. Only 1000 copies printed, and only available by direct order from the publisher. ISBN unknown.

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