Walt and Skeezix, Vol. 7: 1933-1934

The new volume of the Eisner-nominated series, designed and edited by Chris Ware

This new volume, Walt and Skeezix 1933-1934, opens amid tough times, as the Depression grinds into its fourth year. Against this setting, a con artist sets up a storefront in town for Continental Corncob, a fictitious company established to dupe would-be investors. Somehow Walt Wallet and the Gasoline Alley gang are roped into the scheme, with the promise that they could earn steep returns if they purchase shares in the allegedly thriving company.

The lean economic climate motivates young Skeezix and his friends to find inventive ways to earn money, although not always with the intended results. For their first project, they create a local newspaper for the neighborhood kids but are forced to shut down after the corner printshop burns down. Later, they start an after-school delivery service on roller skates, but the new business folds after a rival undercuts their prices with a cheaper alternative.

Frank King was one of the pioneering masters of cartooning, and this ongoing series serves as a fascinating historical document of early- to mid-twentieth-century American life. Edited and designed by Chris Ware (Building Stories, Monograph) and featuring an introduction by the comics historian Jeet Heer (The New Republic), this new volume also includes never-before-seen photographs and rare archival documents from the private collection of the King family.