Regular marked price: $19.95Discount Price: $13.57
Cost Savings: $6.38 (32%)Price fluctuation possible.
How soon does it ship: Normal ship time within one day
Shipping? Absolutely FREE if you qualify for Super Saver Shipping.
Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 741.5973
EAN num: 9781560976905
ISBN number: 156097690X
Label: Fantagraphics Books
Manufacturer: Fantagraphics Books
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 120
Printing Date: October 31, 2005
Publishing house: Fantagraphics Books
Sale Popularity Level: 164379
Studio: Fantagraphics Books
Other books you might be interested in perusing:
Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
The bestselling series of the greatest comic strip of all goes full-color!
Starting with this sixth volume in Fantagraphics' acclaimed Krazy Kat reprint series, finally it's time for… color! After a brief hiatus in the mid-1930s, the heretofore black-and-white Sunday Krazy Kat returned in full spectacular colour in June 1935. And so this volume includes all the Sunday strips from the latter half of 1935 and all of 1936, including one supremely rare instance of a page shot from an original syndicate proof sheet, all reproduced in sparkling, digitally cleaned-up color.
The new colour format also opens the floodgates for a massive amount of spectacular rare colour art from series editor Bill Blackbeard's files, including a surprising colour self-portrait by Herriman, several Kat watercolors executed for friends, peers, and relatives, some watercolored non-Krazy Kat material, a reproduction of a vintage archy and mehitabel dust jacket by Herriman-plus a period spoof of Krazy Kat by Minute Movies' Ed Wheelan, and several instances of other cartoonists imitating Herriman's unique 'Family Upstairs / Krazy Kat' format.
This volume also includes 'The Kolour of Krazy Kat,' a revelatory essay by journalist and critic Jeet Heer that addresses in-depth the mystery of Herriman's racial origins, and the varying ways in which Herriman dealt with them artistically throughout his career-a major addition to Herriman-related scholarship and commentary.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers -
Krazy and Ignatz are unique in the history of the comics and highlight the Golden Age when "Little Nemo," "Maggie and Jiggs," and "The Yellow Kid" were right up there with this strip, George Harriman's salute to wit, whimsy, and the English language. Did I mention Jewish and Italian dialects from New York City? Anyhow, language and imagination all worked together in a desert landscape with Turner skies above and some of the most marveous comic characters walking the sands below. Who else but Herriman could do a daily comic--for years--about a cat with a bow around its neck, a cat that was either male or female depending on what happened in the life of the reader that day, a cat in love with a mouse whose only aim in life was to bean the cat's head with a brick, then to be arrested by Officer Pup! It's the stuff that dreams are made of but, unfortunately, those dreams have faded away.
Rated by buyers -
It's probable that anyone considering the purchase of this book is already familiar with Krazy Kat, but just in case...
The entire strip is based on a love triangle, with a gender-ambiguous cat (Krazy) that is in love with a mouse (Ignatz) who is irritated by the cat and throws bricks at his/her/its noggin. The cat takes the bricks as a sign of love, however. A dog (Offisa Pupp) is in love with Krazy and tries to protect him-her-it from the mouse and the bricks, frequently jailing the mouse.
The strip has a fairly small cast of characters, mostly animal, and the goings on take place in front of ever-shifting landscapes. The effect is surreal: from one panel to the next, two characters could be talking without much change in their positions and posture, yet the background changes completely. The art is probably a love it or hate it proposition. It is scratchy and might resist some readers' esthetic sense. On the other hand, I know many people who automatically exclaim "I love Krazy Kat!" and the art is part and parcel of their appreciation. At any rate, the price of this full-colour book is low enough to take a risk. Personally, I love the art: Herriman conveys surprise, movement, force and speed better than most or all of the comics masters, including Caniff, the superhero artists, Uderzo and possibly Hergé, with an apparent ease and simplicity of line.
Complementing the art is a patois (especially Krazy's) that is, at times, sheer poetry. The title of the book is drawn from an utterance within. There are deeper messages, such as the law of the excluded middle, or some gentle jabs at our lack of colour blindness or cultural references that can slip by us because they are from an era now 70 years old.
There are two introductions. One of them, "The Kolors of Krazy Kat" on Herriman's complex ethnicity, is particularly apt in this, the book of the strip's very first colour Sundays. The other is by a fellow named Bill Blackbeard, whose efforts have saved portions of this and other strips from oblivion and in some cases from outright destruction. His work has rescued an important part of our cultural heritage.
In addition to the introductions, there are photographs as well as reproductions of beautiful Herriman water colors featuring his characters and backgrounds. The book was put together very conscientiously - even lovingly.
Rated by buyers -
What can one say about Geo. Herriman's "Krazy Kat"? The wonderful, colorful world of Coconino County is captured beautifully in this all-colour Fantagraphics collection of Sunday pages. Geo. was a true poet and his words and art join together (like Chinese calligraphy/poetry/painting) to create an self-contained universe of wonder, humour and all-too human foibles and desires. Let's see - Krazy (cat) loves Ignatz (mouse); Ignatz despises Krazy; Offissa Pupp (dog) loves Krazy but Krazy is unaware and Offissa Pupp's love is unrequited. It's all so krazily wonderful I really kan't deskribe it!!!
Rated by buyers -
Many comic strips rely a lot on variations on a theme. The classic example would be Peanuts. There were dozens of Peanuts strips that involved Charlie Brown trying (and failing) to kick a ball that Lucy was holding. Even though the idea was the same in each, the execution differed from strip to strip. Years earlier, the same could have been said about Krazy Kat; how many different ways can a mouse endeavor to hit a cat with a brick? As it turns out, many ways, each interesting in its own way.
For those unfamiliar with Krazy Kat, the three main characters in the strip are Krazy Kat, Ignatz Mouse and Officer Pupp. Krazy loves Ignatz, who in turn, dislikes Krazy. In fact, Ignatz is constantly beaning Krazy in the head with a brick, an act that Krazy interprets as one of affection. Meanwhile, Officer Pupp loves Krazy and hates Ignatz, constantly arresting the mouse for assault. (While Ignatz and Pupp are definitely male - Ignatz is even married with children - Krazy's gender is much more indeterminate, occasionally referred to as male, sometimes female, but usually left completely uncertain. Personally, I think of Krazy as male, but mainly so I am consistent in what pronoun to use.) Of course, just as not every Peanuts strip involved kicking a football, not every Krazy Kat strip involves Ignatz's efforts to obtain a brick and throwing it at Krazy, but usually the idea is at least lurking in the background.
What makes Krazy Kat special? It's hard to describe exactly. It is certainly different from any comic strip around nowadays: it has much less of an emphasis on punchline humour and instead relies on pure absurdity (or should I say "kraziness"). Even in its time, Krazy Kat was mainly successful due to the patronage of William Hearst, as well as the praise of such well-known figures as e.e. cummings and Walt Disney.
This particular volume covers the Sunday strips of the latter part of 1935 and all of 1936, the very first period in which Krazy Kat was in color. Despite some obvious errors by the original publishers seventy years ago - such as times when Ignatz is blue or purple - Krazy Kat works as well in colour as in black-and-white. There are supplemental materials as well, most notably an essay on Krazy Kat's creator, George Herriman, the controversies regarding his racial background and how it was reflected in his work. Although interesting, you can skip this stuff if you want and go straight to the comics: Krazy Kat is kompletely kaptivating!
Rated by buyers -
Krazy Ignatz is the sixth volume of the Krazy Kat reprint series - but it's the very first volume to appear in full color, representing the comic strip's colour appearance in June 1935 after being a black-and-white Sunday strip. The new colour format has been digitally cleaned for sharp appearance - better than the original strips - and harvests a wealth of Krazy Kat and non-Kat materials from Herriman archives from 1935-36. Krazy Ignatz is a 'must' for any KK fan.
Find other books like this one:
