Each volume in this series reprints two full years of Sunday strips, or 104 full-page, black-and-white Sunday strips (Herriman did not incorporate color into the strip until 1935). Krazy Kat is a love story, focusing on the relationship of its three main characters. Krazy Kat adored Ignatz Mouse. Ignatz Mouse hated Krazy Kat, the expression of which was in throwing bricks at Krazy's head. Offisa Pup loved Krazy and sought to protect "her" (Herriman always maintained that Krazy was genderless), mostly by throwing Ignatz in jail. Each of the characters was ignorant of the other's true motivations. This simple structure allowed Herriman to build entire worlds of meaning into the actions, building thematic depth that led critics like Gilbert Seldes and E. E. Cummings to recognize Herriman's genius almost immediately. Each of Fantagraphics' Krazy Ignatz volumes is designed by Chris Ware, creator of the wildly successful ACME Novelty Library series. This beautiful volume includes material never collected before.

    Each volume is edited by the San Francisco Cartoon Art Museum's Bill Blackbeard, the world's foremost authority on early 20th Century American comic strips, and designed by Jimmy Corrigan author Chris Ware. In addition to the 104 full-page black-and-white Sunday strips from 1927 and 1928 (Herriman did not use color until 1935), the book includes introductions by Blackbeard, vaudeville historian Ben Schwartz and reproductions of rare Herriman ephemera from Ware's own extensive collection, as well as annotations and other notes by Ware and Blackbeard. Krazy Kat is a love story, focusing on the relationships of its three main characters. Krazy Kat adored Ignatz Mouse. Ignatz Mouse just tolerated Krazy Kat, except for recurrent onsets of targeting tumescence, which found expression in the fast delivery of bricks to Krazy's cranium. Offisa Pup loved Krazy and sought to protect "her" (Herriman always maintained that Krazy was genderless) by throwing Ignatz in jail. Each of the characters was ignorant of the others' true motivations, and this simple structure allowed Herriman to build entire worlds of meaning into the actions, building thematic depth and sweeping his readers up by the looping verbal rhythms of Krazy Co.'s unique dialogue.

    High-Spirited Rose is Rose is the fifth collection featuring the high-spirited high jinks of the Gumbo family-Rose, her husband, Jimbo, and her cherished son, Pasquale. We can count on the imaginative Rose, who lightens her household load by occasionally assuming an alter ego, Vicki, a black-leather-clad biker babe. This collection features original artwork sure to please fans. More than any strip today, Rose is Rose challenges its readers to relive their childhood feelings of wonder and awe. Brady began his beloved Rose is Rose strip in 1984.

    Containing over 150 cartoons that stretch across the length of Wilson's ouevre, Gravediggers' Party is a pumpkin-stuffing collection of the weird and the wild, the strange and the supernatural, appreciated by only the most discerning ghoul. (You know who you are.)

    Now, here surfaces Greetings From Sherman's Lagoon, the answer to the long-time pleas of loyal followers of Sherman the shark and his sea urchin pals. Those who regularly read the silly yet sophisticated strip will enjoy seeing how its art, humor, and characters have evolved. Cartoonist Jim Toomey has mastered the look and personality of the creatures that his readers have come to love: Sherman and his significant-shark-other Megan, Fillmore the turtle, Hawthorne the cranky hermit crab, and other coral critters. Just as early Snoopy drawings more closely resembled a beagle, says Toomey, the characters more closely resemble fish. Toomey adds that his early strips adhered less to story lines and were more focused on delivering a gag-a-day. Longtime fans and newer readers alike are sure to enjoy noting similarities and differences for themselves in this hilarious turn-back-the-clock collection.