Krazy & Ignatz 1933-1934: "Necromancy by the Blue Bean Bush" (Krazy Kat) [Paperback]

George Herriman (Author), Bill Blackbeard (Editor), Derya Ataker (Editor), Chris Ware (Designer)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 29, 2004 | Series: Krazy & Ignatz

The multiple Harvey and Eisner Awards series collecting one of America's true national treasures, Krazy Kat.

This is the fifth in a series reprinting George Herriman's early 20th Century comic strip masterpiece. Most of these strips have not seen print since originally running in Hearst newspapers over 70 years ago. Each volume is edited by the San Francisco Cartoon Art Museum's Bill Blackbeard. Krazy & Ignatz 1933-1934 will be a hot-baked brickbat of a volume, adance with nearly two full years of the Sunday Krazy Kat (Herriman did not use color until 1935), snug between multiple pages of Herriman extras, not the least of which include an introduction by Blackbeard, a new "Debaffler" page, and a stunning layout front and back and throughout by the inimitable Chris Ware! 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 gender-less) 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.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The fifth entry in the series reprinting black-and-white Sunday episodes of the classic strip Krazy Kat contains the last in black-and-white; thereafter, the feature appeared in color, right up to Herriman's death in 1944. Whether monochrome or rainbow-hued, the strip's abiding triangle remained constant for three decades. Indeterminately gendered Krazy wistfully awaits the bricks Ignatz Mouse derisively lobs at her/him, misinterpreting them as signs of the rodent's affection. Only Offissa Pupp, who harbors a yen for the oblivious Kat, stands in the way of the bricks reaching Krazy's cranium. Of course, this simple setup was a vehicle for Herriman's graphical lyricism, fanciful wordplay (after delivering a warning to Ignatz, Offissa Pupp adds, "Let that lay on your mind and hatch"), and poetic profundity. Like its predecessors, this volume is loaded with fascinating and informative extras--pre-Krazy Herriman strips, period newspaper articles about the artist, essays, and annotations--that make it a Criterion DVD of the comics world. Perfectly completing the package, the book is attractively and appropriately designed by present-day comics titan Chris Ware. Gordon Flagg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

George Herriman (1880-1944), the creator of Krazy Kat, was born in New Orleans and lived most of his life in Los Angeles, California. He is considered by many to be the greatest strip cartoonist of all time.

Bill Blackbeard, the founder-director of the San Francisco Cartoon Art Museum, is the world's foremost authority on early 20th Century American comic strips. As a freelance writer, Blackbeard wrote, edited or contributed to more than 200 books on cartoons and comic strips, including The Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics, 100 Years of Comic Strips, and the Krazy & Ignatz series.

Product Details

• Paperback: 120 pages
• Publisher: Fantagraphics Books; 1st Fantagraphics Books Ed edition (December 29, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560976209
• ISBN-13: 978-1560976202
• Product Dimensions: 12.1 x 9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #577,477 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The heppy lend gets closa an closa..., January 4, 2005

By 

ewomack "ewomack" (MN USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Krazy & Ignatz 1933-1934: "Necromancy by the Blue Bean Bush" (Krazy Kat) (Paperback)

Well, here we go again. Another sumptuous collection of one of the best comic strips ever published. Fantagraphics has more than fulfilled its pledge to keep the series going with this the 5th volume of Krazy Kat Sunday strips.

This installment, like all previous installments, has amazing bonus material. The first thirty pages include articles about Herriman and Krazy Kat, early pre-Kat Herriman strips (including "Baron Bean", "Mary's Home From College", "The Amours of Marie Anne MacGee", and "Embarassing Moments"), as well as some rarely seen Krazy Kat dailies. Also, the series editor announces that the next volume will be the first KOLOR KRAZY KAT edition. After 1934, the Kat et al appeared in amazing Kolor. So here stand bound the final black and white Krazy Kat Sunday pages.

And as always the book plumps with the justifiably famous Krazy Kat Sunday strips. Some of the strips had to be painstakingly reconstructed from papers that shrunk Herriman's original sized papers to miniscule proportions. All of the reconstructions are listed in the back of the book. Fantagraphics pulled this feat off with much gusto, as anyone can witness in the book.

For the initiates amongst us, the strip's main theme is love. Krazy, a Kat with indeterminate gender, loves Ignatz, a temperamental mouse. The only sign of affection Krazy can extract from Ignatz is a brick solidly and violently tossed at his skull. So, brick equals love to Krazy. Meanwhile, Offisa Pupp loves Krazy (in a rather repressed manner) and has made his mission in life to halt Ignatz's vile tossings. The entire strip revolves around this variation on a theme. Helplessness and hope in the face of seemingly hopeless love seeps out between the ink marks. Isn't it romantic?

Lastly, February 19th, 1933 has to be amongst Herriman's best "silent" strips. Krazy and Offisa Pupp ride a see-saw and Ignatz repeatedly picks up the brick, drops it, picks it up, etc... Be sure to translate the español on the wall separating the parties.

Carry on, Fantagraphics, carry on...

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Kaveat..., February 10, 2006

By 

Andrew Levine (Succasunna, New Jersey USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Krazy & Ignatz 1933-1934: "Necromancy by the Blue Bean Bush" (Krazy Kat) (Paperback)

I have nothing to add to the praise for Herriman's marvelous creation, which you can read about in the comments below. Anything I'd say to that effect would only echo what has already been written.

Alas, the 1933-1934 volume in the Fantagraphics release has some problems. It has nothing to do with a dropoff in the humor of the strip itself -- there was none, as "Krazy Kat" never experienced a noticeable decline in quality -- but with the print quality of the Sunday strips as they are presented here. Although I'm sure Fantagraphics did their best when they went through page after page of ancient newsprint drawn from who knows how many private collections to find the best possible specimens, the sad fact is that the majority of strips reprinted in this collection are blurry and shaky. This makes it very difficult to fully appreciate Herriman's skills with pen and brush, and worst of all, makes the subtle facial expressions and body language of the characters much harder to interpret. A small handful of pages, with sharp outlines and shadings, stand in contrast to the rest.

By all means, you should become acquainted with this wonderful comic strip if you aren't already. But you'd do much better to get the next volume in the series, A Wild Warmth Of Chromatic Gravy. Along with featuring the return of sharp, clear lines, "Gravy" is in full, vibrant color (pre-1935 Sunday strips were all black-and-white) and even includes an insert that features newly unearthed, better-quality scans of a few of this volume's worst offenders. This volume is strictly for Kat kompletists.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantagraphics closes the gap, August 22, 2005

By 

Frederick Norwood "Rick Norwood" (Mountain Home, TN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Krazy & Ignatz 1933-1934: "Necromancy by the Blue Bean Bush" (Krazy Kat) (Paperback)

George Herriman created Krazy Kat as a "downstairs" strip to his The Family Upstairs. The devine Kat soon had a strip of his/her own, both daily and Sunday.

Hyperion press published the Family Upstairs strips from 1910 - 1911. Eclipse published the early black and white Sunday strips, 1916 - 1924, in volumes which also included the full color Saturday strips from 1922. Now Fantagraphics has published the rest of the black and white Sundays, 1925 - 1934, closing the gap between the last Eclipse book and the first full color Kitchen Sink book, which begins with the 1935 color Sundays.

The daily Krazy Kat strips are much harder to find. Pacific Comics Club has published (almost) complete years 1921 - 1923. Comics Revue monthly has published the dailies beginning in 1931 (currently they are finishing 1933). The Menomonee Falls Gazette published more than half of 1934 and 1935.

Krazy Kat ended when George Herriman died in 1944.