With rise of graphic novels, this history of will appeal to parents who want to keep the story alive for future generations. The cartoons are "old school"- not like the style of many current graphic novels or history. But the style is very fitting for the story that occurs in the 50s and 60s. The book is true to its time. So the children will experience both what cartoon books looked like 50 years ago, as well as the events from 50 years ago.
The comic reprints are reproduced from actual classic comics, and sometimes reflect the imperfection of books that are decades old. Many people enjoy these authentic characteristics.
New edition of Israel Escamilla.
Gasoline Alley is a comic strip created by Frank King
Early years:
The strip originated on the Chicago Tribune's black-and-white Sunday page, The Rectangle,
where staff artists contributed one-shot panels, continuing plots or themes. One corner of The
Rectangle introduced King's Gasoline Alley, where characters Walt, Doc, Avery, and Bill held
weekly conversations about automobiles. This panel slowly gained recognition, and the daily
comic strip began August 24, 1919 in the New York Daily News.
Skeezix arrives:
The early years were dominated by the character Walt Wallet. Tribune editor Joseph
Patterson wanted to attract women to the strip by introducing a baby, but Walt was not
married. That obstacle was avoided when Walt found a baby on his doorstep, as described by
comics historian Don Markstein:
Promotional art by Frank King (c. 1941), highlighting Skeezix's marriage proposal to Nina Clock.
After a couple of years, the Tribune's editor, Captain Joseph Patterson, whose influence
would later have profound effects on such strips as Terry and the Pirates and Little Orphan
Annie, decided the strip should have something to appeal to women, as well, and suggested
King add a baby. Only problem was the main character, Walt Wallet, was a confirmed
bachelor. On February 14, 1921, Walt found the necessary baby abandoned on his doorstep.
That was the day Gasoline Alley entered history as the first comic strip in which the characters
aged normally. (Hairbreadth Harry had grown up in his strip but stopped aging in his early 20s.)
The baby, named Skeezix (cowboy slang for a motherless calf), grew up, fought in World War
II, and is now a retired grandfather. Walt married after all, and had more children, who had
children of their own. More characters entered the storyline on the periphery and some grew
to occupy center stage.
Skeezix called his adoptive father Uncle Walt. Unlike most comic strip children (like the
Katzenjammer Kids or Little Orphan Annie), he did not remain a baby or even a little boy for
long. He grew up to manhood, the first occasion where real time was shown continually
elapsing in a major comic strip over generations. By the time the United States entered World
War II, Skeezix was an adult, courting Nina Clock and serving in the armed forces. He later
married Nina and had children. In the late 1960s, he faced a typical midlife crisis. Walt Wallet
himself married Phyllis Blossom and had other children, who grew up and had kids of their
own.
