Krazy Kat by … Not-Herriman
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The responses to the King Features survey for suggestions to a comic revival brought varying responses as to which character to bring back in new strips. But they seem united in agreement that bringing back Krazy Kat would be sacrilege. (For the record I marked Krazy on #2 and for #3 Krazy was the only one I marked “very unhappy.”) But let’s not forget that non-George Herriman Krazys have appeared.
Krazy Kat © King Features Syndicate
The above may be profane versions of the Herriman magnum opus,
but there is a version not by George Herriman that had his tacit approval.
Toward the end of his life “Garge” was fighting deadly illnesses. At times he was too sickly to keep Krazy Kat on schedule and King Features bullpen artist Bob Naylor stepped in to keep the strip going until Herriman could return. He even seemed to acknowledge Naylor.
above: January 1, 1944 (Saturday) by George Herriman
As Mark Kausler sez (scroll down):
[Herriman] foreshadows the week of 1-2 to 1-8-44 in the strip for 1-1-44, as Krazy says “Wot this progrem nids is a guess artist”. And starting 1-2-44 that’s just what the strip gets. Garge was not well in January of 1944 and had to be hospitalized for what he called “dropsy”. Today we call it edema. So an old friend of Herriman’s pinch hit for him on Krazy Kat.
Mark Kausler’s Catblog has posted some of those Bob Naylor guest strips.
above: February 28, 1944 by Bob Naylor
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