Vintage 1934 GASOLINE ALLEY Daily ORIGINAL ART Superb FRANK KING Classic STRIP

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Vintage 1934 GASOLINE ALLEY Daily ORIGINAL ART Superb FRANK KING Classic STRIP:
$328.99

Gasoline Alley by Frank King original drawing for a newspaperdaily comic strip Chicago Tribune Syndicate published on January 31, 1934 india inkon heavyweight art paper signed in the last panel 7 x 20 inches Very Fine

Gasoline Alleyis acomic stripcreated byFrank Kingand currently distributed byTribune Media Services.

First published November 24, 1918, it is the second

longest running comic strip in the US (afterThe Katzenjammer Kids) and has received critical accolades for its influential innovations.In addition to inventive

color and page design concepts, King introduced real-time continuity to comic strips by showing his characters as they grew to maturity and aged over generations.

The strip originated on theChicago Tribune\'sblack-and-whiteSunday page,The Rectangle, where staff artists contributed one-shot panels, continuing plots

or themes. One corner ofThe Rectangleintroduced King\'sGasoline Alley, where characters Walt, Doc, Avery, and Bill held weekly conversations about

automobiles. This panel slowly gained recognition, and thedaily comic stripbegan August 24, 1919 in theNew York Daily News.

The early years were dominated by the character Walt Wallet.TribuneeditorJoseph Pattersonwanted 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 historianDon Markstein:

Promotional art by Frank King (c. 1941), highlighting Skeezix\'s marriage proposal to Nina Clock.After a couple of years, theTribune\'s editor, Captain Joseph Patterson, whose influence would later have profound effects on such strips asTerry and the PiratesandLittle 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 dayGasoline Alleyentered 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 adopted father Uncle Walt. Unlike most comic strip children (likethe Katzenjammer Kidsor 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 continually elapsed in

a major comic strip over generations. By the time the United States enteredWorld War II, Skeezix was a full-grown adult, courting

girls and serving in the armed forces. He later married Nina Clock and had children. In the late 1960s, he faced a typicalmidlife crisis.

Walt Wallet himself had married Phyllis Blossom and had other children, who grew up and had kids of their own. During the 1970s and 1980s, underDick Moores\'

authorship, the characters briefly stopped aging. WhenJim Scancarellitook over, the natural aging was restored.

The strip is still published in newspapers in the 21st century. Walt Wallet is now well over a century old (114, as of January 5, 2014), while Skeezix has

become anonagenarian. Walt\'s wife Phyllis, age an estimated 105, died in the April 26, 2004 strip, leaving Walt a widower after nearly eight decades of

marriage. Walt Wallet appeared as a guest atBlondie and Dagwood\'s anniversary party, and onGasoline Alley\'s 90th anniversaryBlondie,Beetle Bailey,

Dennis the Menace, andSnuffy Smitheach acknowledged theGasoline Alleyanniversary in their dialogue.Snuffy Smithpresented a character crossover with

Walt in the doorway of Snuffy\'s house where he was being welcomed and invited in by Snuffy.In May 2013 at the Cartoon retirement home Walt is at a dinner

when Maggie\'s (ofBringing Up Father) pearl broach is stolen;Fearless Fosdickis his usual incompetent self trying to catch the thief; cameos include

\"retired\" cartoons such asLil\' Abner;Smokey Stover; Pogo and Albert. There is even the appearance of an active cartoon character,Rex MorganM.D.

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