IDW Publishing and the Library of American Comics will launch a series of books collecting the complete Skippy strips, by Percy Crosby, in Summer 2012.  Crosby’s Skippy was a popular newspaper strip, published daily from 1925-1945, that had a profound influence on cartoonists that followed, including Charles Shulz, Walt Kelly, and Garry Trudeau.  Jules Feiffer said of Crosby, “Percy Crosby caught lightning in a bottle and learned how to draw with it.”

The Complete Skippy will be edited by Jared Gardner and Dean Mullaney.  The books will be designed by Lorraine Turner and will contain a continuing biography of Crosby by Gardner.  His story is an interesting one. He broke out in Life magazine with Skippy in 1923, followed by his move to newspapers in 1925.  In the 30s, Crosby became increasingly political and his political views found their way into his strips, perhaps to a greater degree than any previous cartoonist’s.  Personal problems, including alcoholism and divorce, led to much turmoil for Crosby.  He ended his life with sixteen years of forced incarceration in a mental institution.

In its time, Skippy was a cultural phenomenon; the film version won an Academy Award for the director in 1931.  Toys, comics, books, and other licensed products were popular.

The first hardcover volume of the archival hardcover series will contain the daily strips from 1925 through 1927.