The Katzenjammer Kids - Cultural Legacy

Cultural Legacy

• Art Clokey, the creator of Gumby, has claimed that The Katzenjammer Kids inspired the creation of Gumby's nemeses, The Block-heads.
• Playboy frequently featured in its late 1970s-early 1980s "Playboy Funnies" pages a spoof of the Katzenjammer Kids called "The Krautzenbummer Kids" with adult style gags.
• The February, 1955, issue of Mad (#20) had a satire by Will Elder, "The Katchandhammer Kids!", in which "Hans and Feetz" grow up to become gangsters.
• The Captain and the Kids has been published as an annual comic book in Norway since 1987. When no more reproducible material was available in 2001, Per Sanderhage, the editor of the Danish comic strip agency PIB, negotiated a deal where Ferd’nand cartoonist Henrik Rehr would redraw 32 pages loosely based on old magazine clippings for the annual. In spite of the artistic/ethical questions this raises regarding the testament of Dirks' original work, the arrangement continues on to this day.
• The Katzenjammer Kids is also published as an annual comic book in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. To date, only original versions of the strips have been used.
• In July 2009 a street in Heide, Germany (where Dirks was born) was named after the cartoonist.