Krazy & Ignatz 1927-1928: "Love Letters in Ancient Brick" (Krazy Kat) [Paperback]

George Herriman (Author), Chris Ware (Author), Bill Blackbeard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2002 | Series: Krazy & Ignatz

In addition to 104 full-page black-and-white Sunday strips, this volume includes introductions, annotations, and rare Herriman ephemera from Bill Blackbeard and Chris Ware, and an essay by vaudeville historian Ben Schwartz.

This volume is one of a long-term plan to chronologically reprint strips from the prime of Herriman's career, most of which have not seen print since originally running in newspapers 75 years ago. Each volume is edited by the San Francisco Cartoon Art Museum's Bill Blackbeard, the world's foremost authority on early 20th Century American comic strips, and designed by Jimmy Corrigan author Chris Ware. In addition to the 104 full-page black-and-white Sunday strips from 1927 and 1928 (Herriman did not use color until 1935), the book includes introductions by Blackbeard, vaudeville historian Ben Schwartz and reproductions of rare Herriman ephemera from Ware's own extensive collection, as well as annotations and other notes by Ware and Blackbeard. Krazy Kat is a love story, focusing on the relationships of its three main characters. Krazy Kat adored Ignatz Mouse. Ignatz Mouse just tolerated Krazy Kat, except for recurrent onsets of targeting tumescence, which found expression in the fast delivery of bricks to Krazy's cranium. Offisa Pup loved Krazy and sought to protect "her" (Herriman always maintained that Krazy was genderless) by throwing Ignatz in jail. Each of the characters was ignorant of the others' true motivations, and this simple structure allowed Herriman to build entire worlds of meaning into the actions, building thematic depth and sweeping his readers up by the looping verbal rhythms of Krazy & Co.'s unique dialogue. Black-and-white comic strips and illustrations throughout

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Herriman's comic strip "Krazy Kat," which ran in newspapers from 1913 until Herriman's death in 1944, is widely regarded as one of the greatest examples of the comics as art. Comics creators from Charles Schulz and Bill Watterson to Jeff Smith and Art Spiegelman have sung its praises. This volume is the second in Fantagraphics's series reprinting the complete strips from the Sunday pages, picking up where an earlier series from the now-defunct Eclipse Books left off. The strip's basic situation is simple: Ignatz Mouse loves to bop Krazy Kat on the head with bricks. Krazy, who loves Ignatz, receives each blow as if it were a token of affection, and Officer Pupp, who loves Krazy, tries to thwart Ignatz's abuse. In most of the strips here, Herriman's boldness is hampered by the eight-panel format temporarily forced upon him, but his wit with words, constantly changing desertscapes, and inventiveness are in full play. The strips are presented in their original black and white. Smaller libraries might be content with a sample volume or with the out-of-print anthology Krazy Kat: The Comic Art of George Herriman (Abrams, 1986). Large libraries and specialists in comics history should kollect this klassic komplete.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

It isn't uncommon now for comics to aspire to high-art status, but Herriman's newspaper strip, "Krazy Kat," which debuted in 1913, reached still unsurpassed artistic heights during the medium's early, declasse years. It centers on the titular, apparently genderless feline; its nemesis and beloved, Ignatz Mouse, whose mission in life was heaving bricks at Krazy, who perceived them as love offerings; and Offissa Pupp, a dog policeman dedicated to jailing Ignatz and winning Krazy's affections. Herriman situated this simple triangle of misdirected and unrequited love in the vast universe of Coconino County--the scene would change radically from one panel to the next, independent of the characters' movements--rendered in a distinctively scratchy, idiosyncratic style; and he gave Krazy a fanciful argot based, maybe, on Yiddish-accented English: "There is a heppa lend, fur fur away." Simultaneously simple and profound, the strip was adored by the era's intelligentsia. This, the second volume of a project reprinting the strip's 28-year run, showcases the 1927-28 Sunday strips in black and white, for color wasn't used until 1935. Gordon Flagg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 120 pages
• Publisher: Fantagraphics Books; 1st Fantagraphics Books Ed edition (December 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560975075
• ISBN-13: 978-1560975076
• Product Dimensions: 11.8 x 9.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #422,669 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER, January 25, 2004

By 

K. Thompson "fantapublisherkt" (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Krazy & Ignatz 1927-1928: "Love Letters in Ancient Brick" (Krazy Kat) (Paperback)

Herriman's color work was indeed wonderful, but as the previous correspondent notes, for two thirds of its run the Sunday KRAZY KAT was in fact black and white, so we've been publishing it in that format.

Beginning in mid-2005, after having wrapped up the black and white period with KRAZY + IGNATZ 1933-1934 (which will contain some of the most difficult-to-find and almost-never-reprinted years) we will be releasing the five volumes containing Herriman's color years, starting with KRAZY + IGNATZ 1935-1936 -- in full color.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another great volume., November 29, 2002

By 

Tim Idsole (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Krazy & Ignatz 1927-1928: "Love Letters in Ancient Brick" (Krazy Kat) (Paperback)

The book design and the supplimentary material in this volume are even better than the previous one, which was itself excellent. Herriman's work grows richer with repeated readings and with each newly available reprint--far as I'm concerned, all of Krazy Kat merits the highest possible recommendation to anyone interested in 20th century American art or literature. As with the last volume, these are from an odd period when William Randolph Hearst (his publisher) forced Herriman into a rigid panel format (this was part of Hearst's campaign to promote the strip, which is explained in the 1925-26 book), so Herriman's otherwise imaginative page design is not much in evidence here.

Still, Herriman's playful and poetic language, his iconic characters, his weirdly abstracted and wildly shifting backgrounds, his gumbo of native and immigrant American voices and the overarching spirit of the proceedings--sweet, wry, optimistic, humble, curious, inventive as all get out--make this a work with few peers in any medium, a pleasure and inspiration for most who take the time to read a substantial number of the strips (as Krazy Kat is so much a "theme and variations," it really does require some investment of time). The best introduction remains the book about Herriman (by McDonnell, etc.) but one could start anywhere, and this volume does not disappoint.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pedro Medas got it wrong, May 19, 2003

By 

Frank S. Kim (Burbank, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Krazy & Ignatz 1927-1928: "Love Letters in Ancient Brick" (Krazy Kat) (Paperback)

Regarding the review below: Sunday Krazy Kat strips were not printed in color until 1934, so the strips in this volume (which covers the period from 1927 to 1928) are presented as they were originally published. While there are many pre-1934 strips that were hand-colored by Herriman, they were intended to be personal gifts to fellow cartoonists and not for publication.