Synopses & Reviews
Frank O. King (1883-1969) created what is arguably the longest-running story in comic strip history, Gasoline Alley. Begun in 1919 as a simple topical gag strip about the new fad of automobiles, in 1921 the tone of the feature changed forever with the introduction of a foundling baby named "Skeezix." Inspired by King's own son, Robert Drew, the life and development of Skeezix soon became the strip's focus, following him through childhood, adulthood, and his own eventual parenthood. Neglected for nearly eighty years, this gentle masterpiece of comics is collected here for the first time ever, a fifty-year long "graphic novel" which captured the flavors of its time as well as the ineffable sense of all of life's passage. Supplemented by dozens of King's personal photos, new biographical notes and appendices, Walt and Skeezix can now finally take its place as one of the most human comic strips ever drawn.
Review
"Gasoline Alley clearly belongs in the cannon as a deeply American masterwork of cartooning." Time.com
Review
"Although King's drawing style is gaining in mastery to handle the strip's growing seriousness, the major progress here is in the story." Booklist
Review
"Brilliant....Offering a serenely witty portrait of Wisconsin working-class life." New York magazine
Review
"Walt and Skeezix is a jewel of a book, a treasure just waiting to be discovered." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Review
"The strips are a treat to read, both for themselves and as historical documents; the accompanying commentaries delve into the background and values of Gasoline Alley and the life of a great, but overlooked, American cartoonist." Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Review
"What can be seen in this volume certainly qualifies it as one of the most loving and lyrical evocations of everyday life in American literature." The Star-Ledger (Newark)
Synopsis
Walt and Skeezix: Book Two collects the Gasoline Alley strips by the great American cartoonist Frank King from 1923 to 1924. King was the first cartoonist to have his characters age in real time and have modern story lines, a landmark conception for comic strips in the early twentieth century. There is a new eighty-page introduction by journalist Jeet Heer.
Synopsis
"Gasoline Alley clearly belongs in the cannon as a deeply American masterwork of cartooning." --Time.com
Walt and Skeezix: Book Two collects the Gasoline Alley strips by the great American cartoonist Frank King from 1923 to 1924. King was the first cartoonist to have his characters age in real time and have modern story lines, a landmark conception for comic strips in the early twentieth century. There is a new eighty-page introduction by journalist Jeet Heer.
About the Author
Cartoonist/designer
Chris Ware is the author of
Jimmy Corrigan: The SmartestKid on Earth, Quimby the Mouse, and the Acme Novelty Datebook (D+Q, 2003).Ware was born in 1967, two years before Frank King's death.