Walt and Skeezix, Vol. 5: 1929-1930

Walt and Skeezix #5

by Frank King, Chris Ware, Jeet Heer

The latest volume in the acclaimed series, designed by Chris Ware

Frank King’s Gasoline Alley remains one of the truest chronicles of American domestic life, tracing the joys and heartbreaks of a typical middle-class family from the giddy 1920s to the Great Depression to World War II and after. In book five of the ongoing series, the Wallets and their friends continue their daily rounds: Uncle Walt and his friends play the stock market, a risky proposition on the eve of the Depression; Walt also takes his wife, Phyllis, on an extended vacation to England; cousin Lora starts dating boys; and Skeezix, now ten years old, has his first serious case of puppy love after being entranced by the coquettish new neighborhood girl, Sally.

The award-winning cartoonist and designer Chris Ware will add a special treat to the volume: a DVD that shows select scenes from King’s home movies of the 1920s. Augmenting the already impressive photographs that have accompanied this classic comic strip reprint series, the DVD demonstrates King’s protean artistic talent and the links between his own family life and that of his beloved cartoon characters.

Genres: Comics, Comic Strips

400 pages, Hardcover

First published April 12, 2011

About the author

One of the pioneering giants of American comic strips, Frank King was born in Cashton, Wisconsin in 1883. He joined the staff of the Chicago Tribune in 1909, a newspaper which was known for aggressively developing comics to build circulation. Almost from the start of his career, King's cartoons were frequently featured on the front page of the Tribune. After creating a string of minor hits, he made his lasting mark in 1919 by creating Gasoline Alley, which became one of the most widely syndicated and read strips in North America until King's death in 1969. He spent most of his life in Chicago and Florida.

Reviews

[Jerstyn Morehay · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 1929-1930 daily continuity of Gasoline Alley finds Walt and Phyllis mainly grappling with a fortune-level inheritance from their adopted son Skeezix's biological father, a Ruritanian aristocrat whose plane went down in the Atlantic, and against the boy's biological mother, a selfish opera diva. Alongside the melodrama, Frank O. King injects his usual slice-of-life humanity as dramatic events develop, recede into the background, and as the simple day-to-day of life goes on. Editor Jeet Heer and designer Chris Ware contribute fascinating biographical information about King and his family moving from their well-to-do Chicago suburb to a luxurious estate in Florida, and the comparison between the comics-page storyline of sudden wealth and the real-life upward mobility of the King family seems quite apt. Walt, Phyllis, Skeezix, Corky, and the rest never ended up leaving their Gasoline Alley, but King and his family did, and a bonus DVD collection of hours and hours of beautiful home movies King made of his family, friends, life in Glencoe, and numerous farflung vacations -- in his native Wisconsin, way out in California, down to the Southwest, abroad to Europe -- suggest he was never happier, perhaps, than in his own Gasoline Alley days. At least he had his strip to draw/write while luxuriating lonesomely on his Folly Farm in Kissimmee, Florida for the next three decades.

[The other John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Volume five of the Gasoline Alley collection continues the shenanigans. The spirit of the times is reflected as the stock market craze hits the Alley denizens. Skeezix is mostly unaware of a large inheritance he has tied up in legal wranglings. Instead he's more concerned about playing with his friends, forming the "Alley Rangers". The adult Alley gang continues to take road trips as neighbor Avery converts his tin lizzie into a mobile home. Walt, meanwhile, takes little jaunts out to the farm, and down to Florida and, later, Brazil

[Vincent Desjardins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume of Frank King's collected 'Gasoline Alley' strips covers the years 1929-1930. This is the period in which the great depression began but, other than a mention or two of falling stock prices, there is little evidence of it in the lives of King's characters. There is a long story arc in this volume that involves the question of whether or not young Skeezix (who is 9 by the end of the book) will inherit the estate of Col. Coda, his real father. There is some intrigue and back and forth guessing as to the outcome, but it does tend to drag on a little too long. This particular storyline made me dislike Phyllis (Auntie Blossom) as it shows her to be materialistic and snobbish. She talks frequently about all of the things (clothes, new car, travel) she needs to buy for herself after Skeezix receives his inheritance. Walt is forced to constantly remind her that the money will belong to Skeezix and needs to be saved for his education. Apparently, even the newspaper syndicate that distributed the comic strip felt the inheritance plot was dragging on for too long as they supposedly told King that they wanted him to wrap up the storyline and get back to more of the day to day comic life of the Alley characters. When the strip devotes itself to domestic life or Skeezix playing with little brother Corky or the members of the Alley Rangers (his club house pals), it is charming, funny and timeless. As usual the book comes with a wealth of supplemental materials, photos, sketches, letters and even a DVD of Frank King's home movies (which I have yet to watch). I look forward to the next volume in this great series.

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first volume of this series was a lot of fun, but this one has a long story about Skeezix's inheritance and it just drags and drags. It's pretty great before the story starts and when it ends, though. The supplementary material about Frank King's life is spectacular, though I've yet to watch the DVD of King's home movies.

[Micah · Rating 5 out of 5]

So this is what preceded the "graphic novel." Great story, very readable, lively illustrations. Creates a vivid portrait of the times.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

In which Phyllis makes herself unlikable.

An extra star for Avery.