It has been good to relax with my strip collection this month. It reminds me of why I love this old archaic material; reading it is more physical and demanding, more episodic and less narrative, thus more potently so. I hope all will enjoy this freshly scanned collection of George Herriman daily Krazy Kat dailies from my personal archives. These panels are from Herriman in his mid-40s, at the peak of his powers as one of the greatest cartoonists of his or any age.
Herriman, an African-American passing as white in the parlance of a practice that amounted isolation and desperation of precarious existence, at a time when being called out as Negro in the wrong circumstances could prove disastrous if not deadly. Even for a successful artist shielded professionally by a liberal publisher, William Randolph Hearst; Herriman like any person living a lie, must reflect his condition in his work. Conversely in view of the broad and vicious racial hatred in his lifetime, this vibe may have been what put off the typical feature editor: and reader. Krazy Kat's Coconino County and its denizens are reflective of a real truth, and thus a mine for humor, still the rampant disrespect of authority and general ambiguity did little to recommend itself to them.
It is only the American character that created an artist like George Herriman, A quiet, humble man who spoke a large truth to generations of Americans up to the nascent Civil Rights movements of the 1950s on.
These strips were clipped from newspapers and are approx. 14 inches wide.
Seasons greetings to all! I have been assembling a sort of ad hoc catalog of my collection of Sunday sections from four newspapers in the years 1983-1995. It is a challange to decide how to do this, but I see it as school learning my craft. I hope this will be of general interest to other strip fans.
Watch this blog for much Guitar and Comics love in 2016.
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