Krazy & Ignatz 1939-1940: "A Brick Stuffed with Moom-bins"

Another treasure trove of color Sunday Kat strips. In my mind, this volume stands out as being even more poetic than earlier volumes in this excellent series, as Herriman seems to feel freer than ever to pursue his idiosyncratic and inspiring muse. The Krazy Kat strips are legendary for good reason, having so successfully transcended limitations of the comics medium that we are stuck with even today, and when one considers that these strips were originally published almost 70 years ago, the scope of Herriman's accomplishment is all the more stunning.

A fine collection of the Sunday full-page "Krazy Kat" strips from 1939-1940, and nicely reproduced in color in a decent size. There is also an informative introduction by Jeet Heer, and I like the "Ignatz Mouse Debaffler Page" at the end, which helpfully explains some of the catch-phrases and the like of the times. A particularly intriguing debaffler links the 1939 death of Herriman's daughter, Bobbie, with one or two melancholy strips that would have been created at about that time. And I'm particularly fond of the June 4, 1939 strip, being a single panel that seems to be a birthday wish; about 25 years ago I found and purchased 5 full-size heavyweight paper reproductions of this strip, which I hand-colored and gave to a succession of show more girlfriends. I wish I'd kept one for my own collection. show less