George Herriman - Reception and Legacy

Reception and Legacy

Krazy Kat was popular with the public, intellectuals and critics. Writers and artists such as T. S. Eliot, Pablo Picasso, Gertrude Stein Joan Miró, Jack Kerouac, E. E. Cummings, Umberto Eco and Fritz Lang were enamored with the strips. In 1921, composer John Alden Carpenter, long an admirer of Herriman's, approached the cartoonist to collaborate on a Krazy Kat ballet. Woodrow Wilson refused to miss any installment of Krazy Kat, and would bring it to cabinet meetings. Herriman's illustrations for Archie and Mehitabel won the praise of writer E. B. White.

Cartoonist Edward Sorel claims that Krazy Kat's lack of popularity later in its run was largely due to Hearst editorial policies. He said that, although Hearst himself championed the strip, the "lowbrow" type of reader his papers attracted were unlikely to appreciate Herriman's style of work.

Following Herriman's death, the strip was discontinued, unlike most popular strips which were continued by other cartoonists after their creators' deaths. His stature was such that, decades after his death, his work was displayed in art galleries.

The strip has had a lasting influence on a large number of cartoonists. Mutts creator Patrick McDonnell calls Krazy Kat one of his foremost influences, and is co-author of the heavily-researched Krazy Kat: The Comic Art of George Herriman (1986). Will Eisner discovered Herriman's comics when he was selling newspapers in the 1930s. He called Krazy Kat "the big strong influence" on his own work. Art Spiegelman called Herriman one of his "conscious influences". Herriman's influence on American underground comix, such as in the work of Robert Crumb, Denis Kitchen and Bobby London, was widespread, for his shape-shifting, psychedelic backgrounds, lack of respect for convention, and his irreverence. Journalist Paul Krassner called underground cartoonist Robert Crumb "the illegitimate offspring of Krazy Kat". Chris Ware was so taken with Herriman's work that he made a pilgrimage to Monument Valley to see with his own eyes the desert landscapes that inspired much of Herriman's art.

"I always thought if I could do something as good as Krazy Kat, I would be happy. Krazy Kat was always my goal."

Krazy Kat was a primary influence on other cartoonists such as Charles Schulz of Peanuts, Bill Watterson of Calvin and Hobbes, and the Italian Massimo Mattioli. Walt Kelly paid homage to Herriman in some of his Pogo work. Children's literature scholar Philip Nel has detected Herriman's influence in the works of Dr. Seuss, especially in his zig-zagging, Coconino County-like backgrounds. Seuss himself expressed fondness for Krazy Kat. In 1987, Jay Cantor wrote a postmodern novel called Krazy Kat: A Novel in Five Panels, in which the retired Krazy and Ignatz contemplate a comeback in a post-atomic world.

Since 1997 the Small Press Expo has held the annual Ignatz Awards, in honor of Herriman's mouse from Krazy Kat. It recognizes talent in independent comics publishing. Krazy Kat was ranked first on The Comics Journal's list of the greatest comics of the twentieth century.