Editing George Herriman (section)

==Work==

===Style===

Within the seeming strictures of the strip—the recurring characters, the Krazy–Ignatz–Offisa Pupp love triangle—Herriman improvised freely with the story, the shifting backgrounds, and the sex of the ''Krazy Kat''{{'}}s title character.{{sfn|Anderson|1999|pp=147–148}} Among the multicultural influences Herriman mixed in his work were those of the Navajo{{sfn|Anderson|1999|p=147}} and Mexican.{{sfn|McDonnell|O'Connell|Havenon|1986|pp=78–79}} He made creative use of language{{sfnm|1a1=Berger|1y=1996|1p=124|2a1=Estren|2y=1974|2p=112|3a1=Ito|3y=2003}} with a poetical sense,{{sfnm|1a1=Waugh|1y=1947|1p=57|2a1=Johnson|2y=1999|2p=208}} employing multilingual puns{{sfn|Baetens|2012|p=109}} in a fanciful mix of dialects from different ethnic backgrounds.{{sfnm|1a1=Anderson|1y=1999|1p=159|2a1=McDonnell|2a2=O'Connell|2a3=Havenon|2y=1986|2p=63}} Herriman used [[metafiction]]al techniques associated with [[postmodernism]];{{sfn|Soper|2008|p=83}} his characters were self-aware,{{sfn|Johnson|1999|p=208}} he frequently drew attention to himself and his drawings as drawings in his strips, and he emphasized the subjectivity of language and experience.{{sfn|Soper|2008|p=83}}

{{wide image
|1   = Krazy Kat 1917-11-04 original cropped.png
|2   = 600px
|3   = Herriman played with page structures, as with this circular panel, surrounded by borderless panels. He drew with a loose, spontaneous line, and had his characters speak in dialect-heavy, poetic dialogue.
|alt = A circular panel from a comic strip, surrounded by borderless panels. Within the circular panel, from left to right, are an anthropomorphic stork, mouse, and cat. The stork to the left says, "Pause, 'Ignatz', Pause!! What 'Krazy' says is true, they are twins—hark to the tale I will tell you—." The cat, hands on its hips, says in dialect speech, "Oh, I'm so gled, Mr. Stork, y'see 'Ignatz' is such a skeptikle l'il chep, he doubts me." ["Oh, I'm so glad, Mr. Stork, you see 'Ignatz' is such a skeptical little chap, he doubts me."]}}

Herriman drew with what cartoonist Edward Sorel called a "liberated, spontaneous-looking style&nbsp; ... &nbsp;a cartoon counterpart of [[expressionism]]".{{sfn|Sorel|1992|p=25}} It was organic, and his pen strokes had a dynamic, thick-and-thin range which Sorel describes as instantly recognizable and difficult to imitate. The ''Krazy Kat'' Sunday pages showed Herriman experimenting most freely—each had a unique panel layout and logo,{{sfn|Sorel|1992|p=25}} and the jumbled panels could be circles, irregular shapes, or borderless.{{sfn|Anderson|1999|p=152}} In his last few years, Herriman's arthritis led to an ever-scratchier style of art; he used a knife to scratch out whites from inked surfaces, giving the artwork the look of a [[woodcut]].{{sfn|McDonnell|O'Connell|Havenon|1986|p=85}}

===Collections===

[[File:Sollies Ville - Chris Ware - P1200285.jpg|right|thumb|alt=A color photograph of a seated, middle-aged man with a receding hairline. He is wearing spectacles, a white undershirt and a light blue collared shirt. He looks left past the camera.|[[Chris Ware]] designed the complete ''Krazy Kat'' Sundays series ''Krazy and Ignatz''.]]

''Krazy Kat'' has been [[Krazy Kat#Reprints and compilations|collected]] in a variety of formats over the years, though Herriman's other strips have been less frequently reprinted. ''George Herriman's Krazy Kat'' (1946) was the first ''Krazy Kat'' collection;{{sfn|Tashlin|1946}} it featured an introduction by poet {{not a typo|[[E.&nbsp;E. Cummings]]}}.{{efn|Cummings had attended [[Harvard University]] with Gilbert Seldes.{{sfn|Gabilliet|Beaty|Nguyen|2010|pp=287}} }}{{sfnm|1a1=McDonnell|1a2=O'Connell|1a3=Havenon|1y=1986|1p=221|2a1=Boxer|2y=2012}} Comics historian Bill Blackbeard began compiling a complete collection of ''Krazy Kat'' Sundays beginning in 1988, but the publisher [[Eclipse Comics]] went bankrupt in 1992, before the series was complete.{{sfnm|1a1=Heer|1y=2010|1pp=13|2a1=Bloom|2y=2003}} Blackbeard's thirteen-volume{{sfn|Boxer|2012}} ''Krazy and Ignatz'' series was published by [[Fantagraphics Books]] beginning in 2002, and was designed by Chris Ware.{{sfn|Heer|2010|pp=10–11}}<!-- Reprinted in this series were also ''Us Husbands'', ''Little Tommy Tattles'' and ''Mrs. Waitaminnit''.{{citation needed|date=September 2012}}--> In 2010, Sunday Press Books released ''Krazy Kat: A Celebration of Sundays'', which reprinted a selection of ''Krazy Kat'' Sundays and some of Herriman's pre-''Krazy Kat'' work in a {{convert|14|×|17|in|cm|adj=on}} format, which approximated the original printed size of the strips.{{sfn|Mautner|2011}} In 2012, IDW began issuing a three-volume ''Baron Bean'' reprinting,{{sfn|Comic Book Resources staff|2012}} and Fantagraphics will release ''George Herriman's Stumble Inn''.{{sfn|Cornog|2012}} Fantagraphics has also announced plans to collect the complete ''Krazy Kat'' dailies at an unspecified time.{{sfn|Mautner|2011}}

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