George Herriman’s Krazy Kat. Wow! I found an old collection of comic strips of this at the library the last week. Of course I had heard of the strip before, but I had never seen but a few references to it. I laughed and laughed like I haven’t at a comic strip in a long time, not even Boondocks. It’s been major pick-me-up during a rough couple of weeks, along with the Bloom County collection I found at the library bookstore (for 50 cents no less).
Damn, did he get a lot mileage out of so simple a premise. Ignatz mouse trying to hit Krazy Kat in the head with bricks, and “Offisa” Pupp tries to stop him even though Krazy is happiest when Ignatz hits him in the head. Basically it’s slapstick but with quirky and surreal twists.
One question though, the foreward and introduction (one by e.e. cummings no less) say that Krazy was a she, but was sometimes called a he? But nowhere in the book, with strips selected from all over the 1910-1944 run, did I ever see Krazy refered to as “she” by the other characters? Yes, Krazy called Ignatz “darling” quite a lot (with many amusing variations in spelling), but in keeping with the odd tone of the strip, I never really worried too much what Krazy’s gender was. The strip was still funny regardless.
Granted I’m a recent convert to the joys of this classic strip, but are there any other Krazy fans on these boards?
Oh heck yes…my mom has a giant hardcover “Krazy Kat” book which I used to spend hours and hours paging through.
Krazy IS referred to as “she” sometimes and “he” others…I guess it’s a mark of my weird upbringing that this never seemed remotely strange to me. I want a copy of her cook but I think I’m going to have to wait until she dies and arm-wrestle my sister for it (trust me, they’d both find that funny).
For my next tattoo I want the classic picture of Krazy holding a flower and looking the other way while Ignatz hurls the brick…I’ve been a fan literally since I can remember.
Oh crap, meant to mention…the gentleman who does this strip is a fan too and I am pretty freakin’ sure a member of this board…“bup,” if I’m not mistaken. If you see the cartoons with night scenes showing through the windows and you get a look at the moons he draws, the homage to “Krazy Kat” is pretty unmistakeable.
Krazy Kat is the greatest of all comic strips. Herriman was an absolute genius. The best part is that the more you read each strip, the funnier it becomes.
Krazy was usually referred to as “he,” but everyone assumes she’s female. Herriman once said she was willing to be either.
“Out is my kendle
Dokk of my room
None but dimp sheddows beset me.”
Ah Christ, Herriman rules the roost. I have the Fantagraphics book and am still kicking myself for not picking up the other nine volumes of Sunday strips while they were still in print. I love Krazy Kat, and I really think the strip is the ideal for “gentle humor” (bricks notwithstanding).
And, having nothing further to say, I shall end with my sig.
Thanks for the info, I’ll have to look for the Fantagraphics reprints. The library book just whetted my appetite for more. I want to read the whole saga of Krazy and the Tiger Tea, the book only had a small portion of the whole storyline.
Oh, MAN…the “Tiger Tea” continuity is one of the greatest things in the history of the American comic strip…right up there with Al Capp’s introduction of the Schmoos in “Lil’ Abner.”
– Ukulele Ike, reminding YOU that nov schmoz ka’pop.
How long did the Tiger Tea continuity run? The book say “in June 1936, George Herriman sent Krazy off on a quest. When the Kat returned, Coconino County was never quite the same for two years.” There are 45 4-panel strips in the chapter called “A Tale Of Tiger Tea”, but the chapter introduction says that it’s only a part of the tale.
According to 100 Years of American Newspaper Comics, “A Tale of Tiger Tea” ran until the end of the year. That’s a little bit vague but hey…a 6-7 month story arc!!
As far as the “Her” or “Him” thing, there was one strip I saw where Krazy Kat was dreaming of marrying Ignatz and at onepoint Kat says “I always wanted to get merried, I just never knew if I wanted to be a husbandor a wife”!
He’s wrong. The earliest date in the reprinted comics in my edition of “Georger Herriman’s Krazy Kat” (1969) shows 6/1/1936 (and it’s obviously not the first strip in the continuity). The last strip in the book (obviously not the last strip in the continuity), shows 12/26/1936.
Though continuities of that length were not uncommon in that time period.
The 6/1/36 strip is the one beginning “For a hole wikk I bin heving a ida that somebodda was follin’ me --” Krazy in the midst of his voyage.
As you say, clearly NOT the opener. RAW starts things off with 5/15, wanting to open with L’il Kittin Ket and her poppa, Mr. Meeyowl, the Pretzidint of Katnip Konsolidated, and the fact that they’ve lost their wealth, due to the “exigencies of fortune,” according to Ignatz.
Krazy, wanting to help out, follows his nose like a “halibut after a herring.”
Joe Stork, Purveyor of Prodigy to Prince & Proletarian, drops a bundle on 6/12.
We don’t find out until 6/23 that the bundle contains Tiger Tea, when Krazy says “I’ll brood me a dish of it an’ fine myself out…uhmmm — it’s fragrintz gives a great promitz --”
6/23 is also the date that Krazy first feels the effects.
On 6/25 Ignatz tastes the brew, and immediately knocks Offica Pupp flat with the teapot.
On 6/29 Dr. Y. Zowl explains the different potencies of katnip teas, from tabby through panther, and compares Tiger Tea to TNT.
By 7/16 Mr. Meeyowl has decided to market Tiger Tea to the masses, and regain his lost bundle. This is where RAW leaves off.
