?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 400 - $ 600
JOE MUSIAL (1905-1977) Katzenjammer Kids. 2-page spread for animated book.
Published in Illustration for The Katzenjammer Kids Animated Novelty Book(John Martin's House, Inc., 1945). Pen and ink on artist board. 432x254 mm; 17x10 inches, sheet. Not signed, but with editorial marks in margins and verso.
This illustration contains the designs for all the components of the die-cut paper machinery included on a single spread. The action in the final book works as follows: when the lever is pushed down, the Katzenjammers Hans and Fritz hide in a tree while their rival Rollo pricks The Captain with a pin, who then jumps in the air. The book is credited to Harold Knerr, but the interior illustrations far more closely resemble the hand of Joe Musial, a long-time staff artist at King Features who did ghost work for a range of comic strips. Around this time Musial drew many memorable covers for the Ace Comics Katzenjammer Kids series. Musial officially took over the Katzenjammer Kids comic strip duties in 1956.
