Product Description

A unique collection of rare Krazy Kat in a handsome hardcover format.

For the past five years, Fantagraphics has been comprehensively publishing the complete Krazy Kat Sundays. Now we offer a unique, stand-alone companion to that series. The Kat Who Walked in Beauty collects many rare and unique dailies from the 1910s and 1920s. Though many readers are aware of Herriman's dynamic Sunday pages, fewer know that during 1920, in what must have been an editorially unrestrictive period for Herriman, he drew some of the most graphic and brilliantly conceived daily strips ever created; they look like "mini-Sunday" strips. This nine-month stretch of dailies, never-before-reprinted, is among the treasures included in this collection. The revolutionary layout and pictorial content of these strips ended in late-1920, but for a brief period in 1921, the expanded layouts resume and are included here. The collection includes many other Herriman gems, including the very first stand-alone Krazy & Ignatz strips from 1911, and the illustrations from Herriman's Krazy Kat Jazz pantomime / ballet, performed to captivated New York audiences in 1922.

Although Herriman's work is an American treasure, the Krazy Kat daily strip remains obscure even for the determined enthusiast. This book fills in several gaps in the daily strip history, reproduced at close to their original size.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #409986 in Books
• Published on: 2007-08-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 200 pages

From Booklist
The lofty reputation of Krazy Kat stems predominantly from the oversized Sunday installments, while the smaller daily strips Herriman drew concurrently have been largely neglected. This step toward rectifying that oversight starts with a handful of episodes from the feature's 1911–12 beginnings, relatively crude efforts in which Herriman is getting a handle on his fledgling characters. By the time of a 1914 sequence included here, Krazy and Ignatz (Offissa Pupp wouldn't arrive on the scene until the following decade) are in klassic form, from their appearance to their distinctive patois and brick-based relationship. The book's high point is a nine-month run from 1920. Herriman has hit his stride, producing consistently brilliant strips that are every bit as drolly amusing and visually idiosyncratic as their Sunday counterparts, albeit necessarily restrained by their shorter format. The collection is rounded off with Herriman's program illustrations and composer John Alden Carpenter's notes for the 1922 New York performance of the jazz pantomime-ballet Krazy Kat. Fans of the ongoing series reprinting all the Sunday Krazy Kats shouldn't miss this essential supplement. Flagg, Gordon

Review
Behold the comic strip's proudest achievement: Brickism! -- Art Spiegelman

Herriman's panels convey an irrepressible sense of movement and incorporate distinctly surreal touches. -- The New Yorker

One of the very great artists, in any medium, of the 20th century. -- Michael Chabon, author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

Simultaneously simple and profound. -- Booklist

About the Author
George Herriman was born in New Orleans in 1880. His comic strip Krazy Kat was named the greatest comic of the 20th century by the editorial board of The Comics Journal. He died in his sleep in LA on April 25, 1944. Because of his admiration for the landscape (which found its way into the lush setting of Krazy Kat), his ashes were scattered in Monument Valley, Coconino County, AZ.

Customer Reviews

Krazy Kat-Nearly Full Size
This large format book provides Krazy Kat dailies in nearly newspaper size print. After buying the Fantagraphics sunday series that are available it is interesting to view and read these larger format cartoons. The larger size adds an additional "dimension" that you don't get from the smaller format books. The majority of the book is derived from the series published over 9 months in 1920 with smaller sections from very early days. This is a different Kat than the Krazy Kat of 1920 and later but it helps to show how the cartoon character evolved. Reading this makes me hope Fantagraphics continues to put out more.

A delicious, well-designed book
This is a wonderfully designed news strip reprint book - hefty, formidable, aesthetically pleasing in every regard. I've been a Krazy Kat fan for many, many years, and I couldn't be happier with this purchase. (Joe Sixpack, ReadThatAgain)

An overwhelming deluge of billboard-sized Krazy Kat dailies...
Often the unexpected makes life worth living. Day by day, we roll along acquiescing in the eternal routine that inexorably mashes down time like a rolling pin over muffin dough. Then suddenly a protrusion. Wham! Something interrupts the seemingly unimpediable passage of the inevitable. Pull back the dough. A diamond. A multi-karatted glittering sparkler. Endorphins rush to pleasure centers. Eyes bulge. Tongue wags. Hopefully a full stomach maintains consciousness. If not, then plop and give in to the ecstasy. Such an event doesn't occur often. Something from nowhere has disrupted harsh workaday realities. Hope! Meaning! Such startling events probably filled the lives of Krazy Kat Konnoiseurs the nanosecond their retinas processed this sumptuous delectable volume of Golden Fleece daily strips. And who can blame them? This enormous hardcover coffee table sized miracle delights with every page. And who knew? Fantagraphics spread no rumors about printing dailies, perhaps to keep fans from vaporizing into submissive joy. The cover itself is an aesthetic wonder well worth a few million eye scans. But the strips inside, laid out like billboards two to a page, emblazoned almost in original size, might make some feel like they didn't pay enough for this shock to the system.

Krazy Kat dailies of any kind remain elusive. A few sparse collections exist compliments of Stinging Monkey (who apparently have more installments planned) and Pacific Comics club. Fans of George Herriman's Kat can hope with collective ferocious zeal that this volume presages infinite follow-ups.

Though the subtitle of this collection, stamped across the cover marquee-style, reads "The Panoramic Dailies of 1920," the strips actually date from 1911 to 1921. Three sections trisect the book: "The Emancipated Kat" includes early strips from subterranean Dingbat-era excursions. These reveal a very different Kat and mouse than later evolutions. "The Liberated Kat" jumps to 1914 when Krazy received the blessing of a solo strip extricated from "The Family Upstairs. Basement no more. I am Kat, hear me roar. These pun-filled often self-referential strips display the development of Herriman's new favorite characters. The final section of strips, "Flights of Fanciful Freedom," dives right into the panoramic strips advertised up front. They represent comic eye candy of the highest order. As luscious as the Sundays, only smaller, they reveal the strip in almost full stride. Surrealism and off-frame references abound. Among the works is the much discussed "Poor poor Injin" strip from May 24, 1920. Once again puns and linguistic peregrinations emanate from the text. Ignatz's ubiquitous brick appears with stunning and symbolic frequency. Offisa Pupp and his jail have not yet become mainstays, as they did in the 1930s and 1940s, but themes point in that direction. The quality never staggers. Krazy Kat's reputation heightens with each flop of the sometimes unwieldy pages (prepare ample space for gazing). And if that wasn't enough, a final section reprints the masterful 1922 program of the Krazy Kat jazz pantomime. Given vast space, Herriman's artwork reveals all its subtle beauty and charm. Prepare to be overwhelmed.

So did "The Kat Who Walked in Beauty" interrupt Fantagraphics's ongoing printing of the Krazy Kat Sunday pages? If so, it was worth it. To have numerous dailies spread out like gorgeous landscapes begging for repeated visits will cull any drooling anticipations for Sundays. Let's hope Fantagraphics plans more volumes of amazing Krazy Kat daily strips.