188O-1944 Comic Strip Artist

One of the Greats.

Born to French-Creole parents in New Orleans, George Herriman grew up in the rich culture of the southern bayous. A lifelong animal lover and vegetarian, his comic strips usually featured talking animals. He began cartooning in 1901, and when "Krazy Kat" became an independent strip in 1913, he created one of the most enduring characters of the century. Herriman was the most celebrated, and in many people's minds the greatest, comic strip artist of his time.

Crusades.

Herriman's characters often went on quixotic crusades, following their plans at the expense and ruin of everyone around them. From 1904 to 1910 he drew a strip for the New World called "Major Ozone's Fresh Air Crusade." In 1909 and 1910 he played with another called "Gooseberry Sprig." It featured talking animals, off-center plots, and barely sketched settings. In 1910 he began drawing "The Dingbat Family" for the...