Krazy & Ignatz

Krazy and Ignatz

by George Herriman, Bill Blackbeard (Editor)

The Sunday Krazy Kat strip turns to full spectacular color, with a flood of rare color extras and a revelatory essay by Jeet Heer.

Genres: Comics, Humor, Art, Comic Strips, Fiction, 20th Century, Fantasy

120 pages, Paperback

First published October 31, 2005

About the author

George Herriman was an American cartoonist celebrated for creating the groundbreaking comic strip Krazy Kat, a work widely regarded as one of the most inventive, poetic, and influential achievements in the history of comics. Raised in a culturally diverse environment and navigating complex racial identities throughout his life, Herriman developed a singular artistic voice that combined humor, surrealism, philosophical reflection, and emotional nuance. He began his career as a newspaper illustrator and political cartoonist before transitioning fully into comic strips, producing several short-lived features and experiments that helped him refine his sense of rhythm, timing, and visual storytelling. Krazy Kat, which emerged from an earlier strip called The Dingbat Family, became his defining work and ran for decades in newspapers across the United States. The strip centered on a triangular relationship among three main characters: Krazy, a blissfully optimistic and androgynous cat; Ignatz Mouse, who continually expressed his contempt or affection by throwing bricks; and Offisa Pupp, a dutiful dog who sought to protect Krazy and maintain order. What might have been a simple gag became, in Herriman’s hands, a lyrical exploration of love, longing, misunderstanding, and the complexities of emotional connection, articulated through shifting perspectives, inventive language, and a dreamlike visual landscape inspired by the American Southwest. Herriman developed a distinctive style that blended loose, expressive brushwork with carefully considered composition, often altering backgrounds from panel to panel to evoke mood rather than physical continuity. His dialogue employed dialects, puns, poetic phrasing, and playful linguistic invention, creating a voice for Krazy Kat that felt both musical and deeply human. The strip attracted a passionate following among intellectuals, writers, and artists, including figures such as Gilbert Seldes, E.E. Cummings, Willem de Kooning, and many others who recognized its sophistication and emotional resonance. However, Krazy Kat never achieved the widespread commercial popularity of contemporaries like Popeye or Li’l Abner and often relied on the support of influential newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, who admired Herriman’s work and insisted it remain in publication despite fluctuating readership. Herriman also produced the comic strip Baron Bean, as well as numerous illustrations, editorial drawings, and commercial work throughout his career, but it was Krazy Kat that defined his legacy and shaped the development of visual narrative art. The strip influenced generations of cartoonists and graphic storytellers, contributing to a lineage that includes artists working in newspaper strips, comic books, underground comix, graphic novels, animation, and contemporary experimental media. Herriman maintained a private, quiet personal life, working diligently and steadily, drawing inspiration from the landscapes of California, Arizona, and New Mexico, which he visited frequently and often featured in his art as stylized mesas, desert plateaus, and open skies. His deep engagement with the American Southwest brought texture, symbolism, and environmental presence to Krazy Kat, making setting an integral emotional and thematic component rather than a mere backdrop. Although widely honored posthumously, his work was recognized during his lifetime by peers and critics who understood the originality of his vision. Today, he is acknowledged as one of the key figures who expanded the expressive potential of the comic strip form, demonstrating that sequential art could convey subtle emotional states, philosophical ideas, and complex storytelling with elegance and humor. Herriman’s legacy endures in the ongoing study, republication, and celebration of Krazy Kat, which continues to be admired for its innovation, sensitivity, and unique artistic spirit.

Reviews

[Drew Canole · Rating 3 out of 5]

I decided to skip ahead to some of the color comics, having just read the first few years 1919 into the 1920s.

The introduction discusses Herriman's racial identification which has become a very hot topic. Youtuber Mattt has a video about it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXjlx...

I'm not enough of a comics historian to see how great Herriman's influence on comics really was.

The stories are still quite fun to read.

[StrictlySequential · Rating 4 out of 5]

Six page stapled insert with newly found material

In depth essay with many angles about his personal Ethnicity

Only 1.5 years of Sundays-> begins mid 1935

The beginning of color.

[Antiabecedarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes the intros/essays bug me...

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really really liked the collection of historical forwards than most of the actual comic material. The forwards captivated me because it delves into the controversial topic of Herriman's race. Herriman was described as "colored" on his original birth certificate and defined as parent's of a "mulatto" which back in the 1930s could have meant anything from African-American to any other indigenous ethnic mix...Scholars have argued that at the time---this could have even covered labeling dark skinned European immigrants. Love just how deep and complicated America can get at times.

I find it horrifically fascinating that as he apparently had this internal struggle of dealing with "passing" he had part in stereotyping African Americans. I know it was the conformist thing to do---especially when everybody's doing it---- yet he almost had this juxtaposition effect as he seemed to want to understand the racial complexities in America. So I'm torn between saying



and dismissing these comics completely----and sympathizing with a man who was taught to be ashamed of his ancestry and "hate" people of color. I respect him for trying to create a "peaceful society on paper" it still doesn't negate the fact of the subliminal messages of race he helped perpetrate of the times.

This was my favorite out of the collection because it evoked all those strong emotions in me:

[Jeffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ooooo! I just love reading Krazy Kat. Since I can't get any new Calvin & Hobbes and while Frazz meets some of my needs, I truly enjoy getting into a Krazy Kat and catching up with the characters there.

This edition is an eyeful of color, movement and scenery and is thoroughly wonderful.

When picking up Krazy Kat for the first time (or after an extended absence), it may be necessary to remember (or learn) that Krazy Kat isn't so much read with the eyes as with the ears. There's a particular "Coconino" dialect that is used that at first glance (and second and thirds) isn't readily readable. Please listen with your ears and let the words sound out before hitting your brain. Don't actually read it out loud or your bus neighbors or office mates might lock you up. But listen with your ears as the filter and processor before your brain takes up the words.

A lovely book.

[William Holm]

This is poetry in comics. An eternal love triangle where a dog loves a cat who loves a mouse who throws bricks at the cat and is put in jail by the dog. It is amazing that there was room for this surreal comic strip in regular newspapers from 1913 to 1944. This volume collects the first 18 months of colored Sunday pages. There is an informative essay by Jeet Heer and lots of bonus material. A few of the strips are given some explanatory notes. This is of course brilliant and it is reassuring that these treasures are available in print. I picked this volume up at a sale at a local (Stockholm, Sweden) bookstore, apparently there is a limited audience for this type of work. My only problem with this volume is the same as I have with most poetry collections; it is to much to read over a short period of time. These poems are best devoured in smaller portions, it must have been fabulous to get a new one every Sunday.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

As with Julian, the rating here is foregone. I love Krazy Kat with an everlasting first love, and it loves me back. In this book, I especially love Ignatz' fig tree, and the sequence of the doleful dogie.

[Lorien Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Words cannot describe how much I loved this. I borrowed it from a friend but I'm going to go buy my own as soon as I return it. I need to own it and have it in my physical possession for the rest of my life. It is pure, concentrated joy.