Krazy Kat

An essay on Krazy Kat for my Comics and CUlture class with Charles Coletta at Bowling Gree State University
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Alex Merced

George Herriman & Krazy Kat

POPC 470

The Kat that made the world Krazy

The story of Krazy Kat and George Herriman a significant tale in the history of comics that still leaves a lasting impression on the comic scape today. George Herriman born in 1880 was born to Creole family which would play an important role in race representation in his work in the future. His family would move to Los Angeles to get away from the enforcement of Jim Crow laws in Louisiana. George Herriman would in the future hide his creole descent and play along when people assumed he was Greek and was even listed as Caucasian on his death certificate. After the age of 17 he began working for the Los Angeles Herald where he would write such comic strips as Major Ozone, Musical Mose, Acrobatic Archie, Professor Otto and His Auto and many more. During the time that Herriman worked the Comic Strip, The Dingbat Family, Krazy Kat and the cast appeared in a small side comic of the Dingbat Family. These characters living below the floorboards of the dingbat family became it's own comic strip eventually to be known as Krazy Kat. Krazy Kat was first published in the New York Journal. Krazy Kat is about the adventures of Krazy Kat who in love with Ignatz Mouse who hates Krazy Kat and is constantly throwing bricks at Krazy Kat, and being arrested by Officer Pup who is in love with Krazy Kat in surreal and comedic love triangle that ran from 1913 – 1944. Krazy Kat was also filled with Minor characters such as Kolin kelly, Kwakk Wakk, Mock Duck, and many other who served as plot devices in the twisted and culturally complex triangle between the three protagonist of the comic strip. Krazy Kat also briefly became animated in a few different incarnations which battled the issue of what is the gender of Krazy Kat, some of them portrayed Krazy Kat as male while others portrayed Krazy Kat as female. Krazy kat is no hailed as one of the best comic strips of all time according to many authoritative texts and is still talked about even classes such as this one as a milestone in the history of comics. Al thought there is more to Krazy Kat then just a forward step in the evolution of comic books, Krazy Kat represents a a new benchmark of achievement when it came to style and substance .Krazy Kat was praised for it's levels on intellectuality and though of as poetic and deep. This can be demonstrated in this comics where Krazy Kat discusses with a minor character, Door Mouse, about why he carries a door.

Krazy Kat was very culturally significant piece of work in the world of comics strips which can be seen by it's influence on the work of other artists, and it's criticism of race/gender relations. Many have written about Krazy Including E.E. Cummings & Bill Waterson which shows much of the impact of Krazy Kat.

We can see that the lasting influence of Krazy Kat survived through the work of other artist long after the Cat and Mouse would leave us from the pages of the newspaper. The most well known adaptation from our generation must the be the fames Cat and Mouse duo from the Simpson's, Itchy and Scratchy by Matt Groening. Another well known one are from older animated cartoons like Wile E. Coyote from Chuck Jones or the Tom and Jerry cartoons which all were very similar in styles and themes in relation to the battle between animals, especially in the ambiguity of the Roadrunners gender. Bill Watterson also lists Krazy Kat as one of his big three influences the other two being Peanuts and Pogo. In more reference more relevant to my generation Michael Stype of REM having a tattoo of ignatz Mouse on his forearm. These are all references that show the continuity of Krazy Kats influence on the fabric of our culture.

Most analytical critiques of Krazy Kat Revolve around the racial and gender issues raised by the comic. Like in many of the strips of Krazy Kat we'll see the characters change from black to white and treat each other with different dispositions. This all shows some some of the race ideology of Herriman developed from growing up in an American family yet playing along to whiteness, treading the racial boundaries in life so did his characters. In the essay “Some say it with a brick” by Elisabeth crocker, Crocker talks about the influence of Pore Ol'Mose, a comic about sympathetic African American character on Herrimans Musical Mose which sets the stage for Herrimans work in race identity in his work. (Crocker) After Musical Mose, crocker speaks of the personification of Krazy Kat as Black and Ignatz mouse as jewish. An interesting point crocker brings up is Joe Stork and the Klub, to Crocker the Klub represents club where the characters can be bourgeoisie at the cost of abandoning the low class racial identifiers that plague them, in this case Krazy Kats water boiler which Krazy Kay would not abandon. Race is very prevalent issue in the world of Krazy Kat which is an overall theme in Herrimans work as you can see in this strip from Musical Mose.

The gender of Krazy Kat was always a question that neither Herriman or Krazy Kat could never answer. Although Crocker discusses that Krazy Kat would usually be referred to as him he also would switch gender rolls depending on the scenario around him. While Crocker continues to point out many of the different places you can see gender and race play out in Krazy Kat in her articles one must ask what does this all mean? Herriman and his background has shown he's live an ambiguous life in which he would adapt himself to keep the balance which we can see happening in Krazy Kat. Although as far I can see this was primarily a race issue with Herriman which makes the inclusion of gender ambiguity in Krazy Kat interesting. Did George Herriman ever have gender issues of his own, or was exposed to these themes somewhere else in his life I wonder since the ties to his racial representations are so clear. Although one can say they probably are unclear the statements of race in Krazy Kat are much more clear than the ambiguity of gender and the questions it raises. Either way, this type of direct confrontation with social issues was important in the legacy of what makes Krazy Kat and George Herriman so important to the history of American and Comic Culture.

Many great artists of our time have attested to the importance and depth or Krazy Kat and EE Cummings is no stranger to attesting to the world of Krazy Kat. EE Cummings actually wrote a forward to a collection Krazy Kat strips titled “A forwards to Krazy”. (EE Cummings) In this forwards EE Cummings talks about other complexities of Krazy Kat mainly pertaining to the dichotomy of good and evil and society and anarchy drawn by the opposition of Ignatz Mouse and Offisa Bull Pup which which the ambiguous Krazy Kat is stuck in the middle of. In this comparison EE Cummings compares Offisa Bull Pup to society and established structures and Ignatz Mouse represents anarchy and free will to do what you want which depending on your disposition either could be the hero and villain. Where this analysis gets even more interesting when he introduces the idea of Krazy Kat representing the power of love. The idea that despite the ideologies of Offisa Bull Pup and Ignatz Mouse, the love of Krazy Kat survives their rights and wrongs and lends itself to another level of complexity which they can't understand. This analysis by EE Cummings is really romantic and showcases another level of the depth of crazy Kat and it's torrid story of love and just being yourself despite everyone telling you the world woks otherwise. So this create and interesting position of signifiers and oppositions that can create an wide variety of implication by EE Cummings logic. If Anarchy and Society are two forces which love must overcome what is left to guide humanity once love over comes and where is hate in all of this. While EE Cummings didn't elaborate much on these questions I feel the answers to there are quite clear when you take a look at the representations of Anarchy and Society who are ignataz and Offisa Bullpup who both hate each other and operate based on their hate. Igntaz throws bricks cause hates Krazy Kat and Offisa Bull Pup intervenes cause he hates Ignatz. What complicates it is that he also loves Krazy Kat which is why he is a more sympathetic characters. So hate can is part of institutions, cause even anarchy is an institution that looks down on institutions. While Krazy Kat who operates on love doesn't care about society or anarchy, and just lives his life pursuing what he loves and enjoys instead of enforcing an institution on other characters which while the most plighted character still the happiest of them all.

For the book, The Komplete Kolor Krazy Kat, Bill Waterson of Calvin and Hobbes fame writes his own forward which I think really delves into the intricacy of the surrealism that that is often claimed to be part of the Krazy Kat Mythos. (Waterson) Bill Waterson most interestingly is not interested in the message or the point of Krazy Kat more than he is interested in how this message is put together and constructed. “Quirky, individual, and uncompromised, Krazy Kat is one of the very few comic strips that takes full advantage of its medium. There are some things a comic strip can do that no other medium, not even animation, can touch, and Krazy Kat is a virtual essay on comic strip essence. “, Waterson summarizes his thoughts succinctly in his forward before he delves deeper in why he feels Herriman creates a comic that lives and breathes artistry. Waterson mainly concerns himself with Herriman and his approach to creating the landscape in his strips about how the scenario would change from panel to panel despite characters going anywhere. Waterson feels that Herriman really stretched the possibilities of his medium in his use of visual possibilities and not limiting them to reality and convention creating a characters out of every inch of every panel aiding to move the story by reflecting the happenings. Also commented on is the linguistic artistry of Herriman mixing spanish, dialects, and misspellings to create humor and vehicles for the story to move and create the world in which Krazy Kat exists. To Waterson, Herriman approach style to Krazy Kat served a much more important ends than social commentary which can only be best put by the very final line of his forward, “Krazy Kat was not very successful as a commercial venture, but it was something better. It was art. “

Throughout the life and death of Krazy Kat and George Herriman many have attested to the greatness and impact of his work. To art and beauty of his style, verbiage of his strips to the complex social implications they had to the many readers who read them Krazy Kat is a champion of artistry.

This Champion has fought and lasted in the memories and thoughts of many prominent animators, comic artists, and more such as Chuck Jones, EE Cummings, Bill Waterson and so many more. How can something that has touched so many of our times greatest minds be even questioned of it's impact and significance in the cultural spectrum. Whether it'd be the social commentary on race, gender, agency and love that is admired by the likes of Elizabeth Crocker and EE Cummings or the artistry and surrealism applauded by Bill Waterson Krazy Kat was rich text that will live on through it's influence on the work on the likes of Chuck Jones, Matt Groening and many more.

WORKS CITED

EE Cummings. “A forward to Krazy”. 1946. A Miscellany  Revised. March 2007. 

Waterson, Bill. “A Few Thoughts on Krazy Kat”. 1990. The  Komplete Kolor Kreazy Kat. March 2007. 

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Crocker, Elisabeth. “Some Say it with a brick” Krazy Kay &  George Herriman. March 2006. Institute of  Advanced  Technologies in the humanities. March 2007  .