Bidspirit auction | George Herriman

George Herriman - George Herriman - Krazy Kat - Tiger Tea, 1936. pencil and ink on thin cardboard 54,5 x 13 cm Daily comic strip from June 10, 1936, for ”Krazy Kat.” Can a strip that ran for over 30 years have no plot and yet never be boring? If the strip in question is ”Krazy Kat, ” the answer is yes, and this is the magic that made Herriman immortal thanks to his masterpiece, published from 1910 to 1944. The plot, if you can call it that, is almost always the same: a brick, thrown by a mouse, at a cat that adores it. Although the characters develop as their biographies extend over time and their families grow, the plot never thickens, never develops. But all this came to an incredible halt for almost a year. From May 15, 1936, to March 17, 1937, Herriman used his daily comic strip to develop one of the strangest adventures of the inhabitants of Coconino County: Krazy Kat discovers a stash of Tiger Tea (a potent catnip tea) that grants those who drink it tiger-like strength and ferocity, eventually even giving them stripes. In the final strips, every animal except Krazy rejects the Tiger Tea, preferring not to aspire to the biggest cat, but rather to aspire to the biggest animal of their species (fish want to be like sharks, mice like rats). For Herriman, this story is not only strangely plot-driven and strangely timely (the film ”Reefer Madness, ” about the dangers of marijuana use, came out the same year), but also strangely didactic, with its Aristotelian message that everyone should strive for self-realization, not self-transformation. And perhaps there's another, hidden moral, subconsciously offered: characters under the influence of the plot (or marijuana) lose their personalities, becoming like everyone else. Ultimately, we see Herriman return his characters to their pre-”Tiger Tea” state, and the plot self-destructs, turning into a fable about the evils of plot. Perhaps Herriman has learned his lesson. After the ”Tiger Tea” saga, he returned to his original plot—the daily brick throw—and never abandoned it again. In this incredible strip, we see a tiger-striped Krazy Kat consoling his alter ego, who despairs, wondering just where Krazy Kat has gone. Signed and dated. Dimensions 54,5 x 13 cm