Walt and Skeezix

The Gasoline Alley gang enters a new decade with this volume; Skeezix moves from childhood to early adolescence and the high spirits of the 1920s give way to the Great Depression of the 1930s. Walt and Phyllis Wallet travel to England, an extended tour that echoes the real life journey taken by cartoonist Frank King and his family in the late 1920s. While his parents are away, Skeezix tries to solve the mystery of an arsonist. Now entering his teens, Skeezix comes to the fore of the strip as an adventurous boy surrounded by a gang of likeminded pals, and Gasoline Alley becomes an influential pillar of teenage-culture, soon to be widely imitated in Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland films as well as Archie comics. Designed and edited by Chris Ware (Building Stories), this sixth volume of Walt and Skeezix is a celebration of and homage to American middle class life in the early twentieth century. An introductory essay from comics historian Jeet Heer (In Love with Art: Francoise Mouly's Adventures in Comics with Art Spiegelman), historical appendices from City of Chicago cultural historian Tim Samuelson, and tons of extras make this book a Gasoline Alley fan's dream come true. King's artwork continues to flowerand his flair for finding the affective kernel in each day of his characters' lives never flags.-Booklist. The loveliest rediscovery of the vintage-comic -strip renaissance is [WALT AND SKEEZIX].- Washington Post