Krazy.com SCOOP! Brand New Krazy Collection

Ironically (given that this site is only updated semi-annually), you heard this here first: Krazy & Ignatz Vol. 13, A Kat a'Lilt with Song, compiling strips from 1931-1932, is on its way to the printing presses. The gorgeous Chris Ware cover (pictured here) is exclusive to krazy.com - Amazon and Fantagraphics aren't displaying this yet (as of this writing on March 25th). Pinch me! This may be the only exclusive we ever get. :-)

This volume collects all of the Sunday pages available for 1931 and 1932, but, as reported earlier, some of these were unretrievable. Herriman's originals were largely destroyed in a flooded garage some years back, and a world-wide search for copies from newspapers couldn't dig them up. There is a slight possibility that there were just omissions, but it is more likely that the missing dates did have strips; they're just lost to us. To make up, the new volume will include 30 pages of daily strips to fill it out.

Also in the pipeline (this qualifies as a rumor, but, since my source provided the cover jpeg, I'm inclined to believe it) is a hardcover collecting the first five Fantagraphics volumes for early 2006. So those of us who were disappointed that Fantagraphics didn't keep up the Kitchen Sink tradition of offering hardcover and softcover editions can rest easy and fork over more cash. But, hey, if Fantagraphics isn't a good cause, what is? :-)

And, finally, let me say a few more words about Chris Ware. If you are unfamiliar with his brilliant work (The ACME Novelty Library, Jimmy Corrigan, Quimby the Mouse), then you're missing out on a rarity - a modern comic/strip artist who is both inspired by and up there with masters like George Herriman and Windsor McCay. I can't recommend his work enough - it's a natural for anyone who likes what they see here.

Krazy and Ignatz Grow Up!

Pacific Comics Club has done the right thing and released the 1921 dailies in one large-sized volume. You can purchase it at their web site (linked to their name) for $25.00 USD.

Tiny Daily Strips Released

Pacific Comics Club has released a set of tiny (3+1/4" by 4") books reprinting all of the daily KK strips from 1921. The four volumes cover three months a piece, with one six-panel strip per tiny page. They have done a good enough job with the reproduction that, given good eyesight, all of the text is readable, but, overall, this is a kind of disappointing development, and I hope that any of the other publishers trying to release full daily sets don't cross 1921 off of their list in deference to this set. Marketed as a "collector's edition", it is simply a novelty. And, at $9.99 a volume, it's an expensive novelty. I note (and, if you are a real completist, you'll want to know) that Ken Pierce Books is unloading their inventory on EBay. If you're lucky, you might grab them there for half the cover price.

Good News from All Over!

Fantagraphics publishing seems to have recovered from the economic circumstances that threatened their business, which is great news for Krazy fans! The details are about midway down this Fantagraphics News page as of this writing on July 6th, 2003. But this doesn't mean that we should - or could - stop supporting them. The third volume of their Krazy + Ignatz series is out! Krazy & Ignatz 1929-1930: A Mice, A Brick, A Lovely Night features a wonderful Chris Ware designed cover, background info on George Herriman by Bill Blackbeard, and the Ignatz Mouse Debaffler page.

Fantagraphics plans to keep on going with the Sunday reprints - color strips start in 1935, as those of us with the ill-fated Kitchen Sink "Komplete Kolor Krazy Kat" volumes from the late 80's know. Very reliable sources report that other Herriman material will be published soon. The aforementioned Bill Blackbeard, one of the world's foremost authorities on all-things Herriman, is putting together a series called By George: The Daily Strips Before and After Krazy. The first volume will feature Baron Mooch and Gooseberry Sprigg, followed by The Dingbats and The Family Upstairs. Volume One will be available from Spec Productions for about $15.00.

Help Keep Krazy Kat Publishing Efforts Alive!

Desperate news - Fantagraphics, the publisher that has resurrected the effort to publish all Krazy Kat Sundays with the beautiful, Chris Ware designed volumes described below, is hitting hard financial times. Now would be a great time to support them by pivcking up one or more of their excellent books, which, in addition to the obvious Kat choices, include Chris Ware's Acme Novelty Library and Jimmy Corrigan books, Dan Clowes (Ghost World), R. Crumb, the Hernandez Brothers (Love and Rockets) and much, much more fine and esoteric stuff by some of the groundbeaking comic and comic strip artists. Their third Krazy Kat volume is due out soon, as well. I don't normally plug companies here - and I am not affiliated with Fantagraphics, outside of being a long-time customer - but they deserve the support of Krazy Kat fans, as news on this page will testify. You can buy books online at their site (www.fantagraphics.com, as well as read about the causes of the current problem (which seems surmountable, with our help).

Krazy Back in Print!

Two significant Krazy Kat Strip collections have shown up in the last year. First, Fantagraphics has picked up the ball dropped by the now defunct Eclipse and Kitchen Sink in efforts to print the complete Sunday strips. The new Krazy + Ignatz books collect two years in a volume, and are beautifully designed by Chris Ware of "Acme Novelty Library" fame. Two volumes, covering 1925-26 and 1927-28 respectively, have been released and more are in the works.

In addition, Stinging Monkey Publications has released Krazy & Ignatz Volume 1: The Dailies 1918-1919. This hard to find edition collects almost a year of early classics. Details on all of these books can be found in the bibliography.

Archy and Mehitabel on Stage

The Masquer's Playhouse in Point Richmond, California (a few miles North of San Francisco) presented the jazz musical "Archy and Mehitabel", Friday and Saturday evenings from March 30,2001 to May 12,2001. This interpretation is written by Joe Darion and Mel Brooks, with music by George Kleinsinger and lyrics by Joe Darion. Based, of course, on the classic books by Don Marquis (illustrated by George Herriman).

Webmaster's note: Point Richmond is a gorgeous little bay-side community with a few excellent restaurants nearby, including The Baltic and the Hotel Mac.

The Comics Journal is the most literary monthly on the subject of comic books, strips, and related media. In their 210th issue, they surveyed all of their columnists and published their picks for the top hundred (English language) comics of all time. The list is a mix of comic books, graphic novels and comic strips. As with all "top whatever" lists, it is certainly controversial (some might argue that it was unfairly biased toward Fantagraphic's own publications, but not a long time Love + Rockets fan like me!). At number one is our beloved Krazy Kat. Needless to say, unanimous opinion here at www.krazy.com lauds Fantagraphics and the Comics Journal for making the right choice. We also aren't about to argue with the number two placement of Peanuts, and subsequent high placement of classic strips like Pogo, Little Nemo in Slumberland, Thimble Theatre, and the Herrimanesque Polly and Her Pals (3,5, 11 and 18, respectively). We are, however, suspicious about the absense of Rube Goldberg's work! You can find Comics Journal at most comic book shops.

George Herriman was honored recently with a gallery show at the Campbell-Thiebaud Gallery in San Francisco.  The show featured original art by Herriman; some of Herriman's peers (Bud Fisher, Cliff Sterrett, Rube Goldberg and Tad Dorgan, among others); and contemporary works that were either reminiscent of or inspired by Coconino County by the likes of  Art Spiegleman, Wayne Thiebaud and Richard Diebenkorn.  The show ran from January 7th to February 8th of 1997, and was curated by Bill Berkson.  The highlight of the show was an original watercolor of Krazy Kat, a portion of which is reproduced below on the Cartoon Art Museum flier.  Here's the a full color detail from the painting, a gouache on board from August 22nd, 1930:

A recent blurb in the local paper reported that Hearst Entertainment has set up a new Spanish-language cartoon network, and that they are showing Krazy Kat cartoons.  The network is starting up in Mexico and a few neighboring countries, and I havstarting up in Mexico and a few neighboring countries, and I haven't heard enough about this to know if the cartoons are new, or repeats of the 1960's animated Krazy Kat series described below.

Krazy on Stage

Word of a current stage production based on Krazy Kat has arrived! Shelly and Philip report the following:

"We thought you might be interested to know, if you didn't already, about a stage production of Krazy Kat. It was conceived by Davis Robinson, the founder and artistic director of Beau Jest Moving Theatre in Boston, MA. It ran in Boston in the spring of 1994 and received the Boston Theatre Award for best local production. It has since been restaged and will be appearing in Bethlehem,PA at the Touchstone Theatre as part of their winter festival, in February...It is, truly, a stunning production. It's not to be missed. If you want any more info please contact SHECK1@aol.com - who happens to be the lighting designer for the production.

The pertinent details are as follows:

KRAZY KAT
adapted by Beau Jest Moving Theatre
directed by Davis Robinson
Tuesday Feb. 6 thru Saturday Feb.10, 1996
Touchstone Theatre
321 East Fourth Street
Bethlehem, PA 18015
phone: 610.867.1689

1995 was the 100th birthday of the comic strip. To celebrate, the Post Office issued a set of "Comic Strip Classics" 32 cent postage stamps. Krazy and Ignatz are featured on one of the 20, colorful stamps, along with the ubiquitious brick. The back of the stamp reads:

            KRAZY KAT
   George Herriman (1880-1944)
    Krazy Kat was a surrealistic
    comic strip with changing
   backgrounds, poetic dialog,
   and strange props. While not
  widely popular in its own day,
 it's now generally considered to
 be a high mark of the art form.

    The strip ran 1913-1944
  (c)1995 King Features Syndicate, Inc.

Also featured on the Comic Strip Classics: Bringing up Father, Little Nemo in Slumberland, The Katzenjammer Kids, The Yellow Kid, Gasoline Alley, Toonerville Folks, Rube Goldberg Inventions, Blondie, Popeye, Little Orphan Annie, Barney Google, Flash Gordon, Nancy, Alley Oop, Dick Tracy, Brenda Starr, Prince Valiant, Terry and the Pirates, and Li'l Abner.

 To order a commemorative book and/or Comic Strip Classic stamps from the U.S. Post Office, call 1-800-STAMP24.

The San Francisco Comic Art Museum also celebrated the centennial with a show. It ran through September of 1995, and featured three original Krazy Kat strips.

Did Herriman contribute to the Harold Lloyd film "Why Worry"? Rick Levinson, in "The Lloyd Silent Features: Reviewed", writes:

"Richard Schickel, in his book on Lloyd, suggested that this is the one silent comedy that anticipates the corny-surrealism of films of the early thirties like Duck Soup and Million Dollar Legs; but it more closely resembles the sublime anarchic sweetness of George Herriman's Krazy Kat (Herriman had his office on the Roach lot at the time, and he was buddies with H.M. Walker, the title writer on the Lloyd comedies, so uncredited contributions by Herriman to the Lloyd films and, later, the Laurel and Hardy shorts are not improbable)."

Krazy Kat was also made into a cartoon show in the early sixties by Paramount Studios. Correspondent and fellow Krazy fan Paul Sawyer reports the following info, gleaned from a video of these episodes that he was lucky enough to find:

King Features Animated Comics
Krazy Kat - Kokonino County Capers
Also Starring Ignatz and Officer [sic!] Pupp
The most ridiculous Cat and Mouse tales you've ever seen!
60 minutes of "Krazy Klassic Kartoons"
©MCMXC - Hearst Entertainment Distribution, Inc.
60 mins. - Cat. #371
Distributed by Best Film & Video Corp. Great Neck, NY 11021

"...11 hilarious episodes:"

Malicious Mousechief, There Auto be a Law, Mouse Blanche, Road to Ruin, Folly the Leader, Mt. Never-Rest, A Kat's Tale, The Earthworm Turns, Adman on the Loose, Pilgrim's Regress, Sporting Chance