GASOLINE ALLEY Original Comic Strip Art FRANK KING 10-8-41 Nina Doctors Office

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GASOLINE ALLEY Original Comic Strip Art FRANK KING 10-8-41 Nina Doctors Office:
$109.95

Greetings. You are offerding on the original art for the daily comic strip GASOLINE ALLEY written and drawn by the legendary FRANK KING.

Publication Information and Description: This particular daily comic strip was published on October8,1941,and features fourpanels. The artwork area is approximately 22.5” by 6.125”. The strip is signed “King”in the finalpanel and is hand-dated \"10-8\" in the first panel. The strip was distributed by the Chicago Tribune as per thecopyrightindicia in the finalpanel.

This is NOT a copy or stat or proof. This is the original art, drawn by Frank King. Great contrast of black and white and wonderful details by a true master of the form. Kings’s legendary feel for storytelling was married to a deft mastery of pen and ink. His technique is simply breathtaking. Strategically placed black solidsframe the action and story.A brilliantand outstanding example of King’s virtuoso writing and art, featuring Nina Clock (Skeezix\'s future wife) working in adoctor\'s office and speaking with Mrs. Flax, the wife of one of the doctors in the office.

The art is titled \"Ears full\" in pencil to the left ofthe art. While Skeezix has taken a job in Detropolis,Nina Clock remains in their home town,workingas a secretary for three doctors in a medicaloffice. Here, Nina fields a call from Mrs. Flax (wife of Dr. Flax), who proceeds to chew her ear off about the down side of marrying a doctor; her final advice is not to marry one! How Nina is actually speaking with her, though, is a bit of a mystery as the phone lacks acord. Equally fascinating arethe patients in the waitingroom who are chatting away about everything from medical ills to WWII in Europe to who\'s the oldest (82\'s a mere child and at 85, \"You ain\'t so dinged old yourself\").

A wonderfulpre-WWII(less than2 months before Pearl Harbor and America\'s entry into the war) example ofthis classiccomic strip with somestrong inks and nice details.The line work on Nina is much darker than the background, focusing our attention forward, even though we want to eavesdrop on the what the patients are saying.Just wonderful design and Nina\'s facial expressions are perfect (gotta love her look in panel 3 and the shy smile in panel 4).These aretypical King touches thatbeautifullyenhance the strip withdynamic lighting and realistic details. The patients look like folks you\'d see in a doctor\'s office.Nina, as always,looks gorgeous (even at work!).A classic Kingstrip from a peak GA year.

Character and Artist Information:

GASOLINE ALLEY was written and drawn by Frank King (1883-1969) from 1919 to 1969. After 1959, King wrote the strip, which was drawn by his assistants Bill Perry, Dick Moores and Jim Scancarelli.

As per Jerry Weist, in his seminal book, The Comic Art Price Guide,

“[Gasoline Alley is] One of America’s most important strips. Frank King transformed the focus of Walt Wallet and his garage co-workers in 1921 to the rearing of the baby he found on his doorstep. From that day on, the characters aged daily with the readers. Baby Skeezix grew up, went to war, married his childhood sweetheart, and fathered a new generation of characters. Like a Norman Rockwell painting, King’s contribution to the comics is Americana at its best.”

Colton Waugh, in his book The Comics (MacMillan 1947), the first serious study of the medium, describes Gasoline Alley as

“…the cream of the Daily News-Patterson strips…a quiet, faithful, tender picture of suburban America. ...one of the most faithful and cheering pictures of the ordinary business family that we have to show. The simple plot of Gasoline Alley is the growth of its characters. It is a wonderful thing to see. Skeezix is an American - long may he wave; he is one who makes us believe in ourselves.”

And, finally, perhaps no one has summed up the feel and impact of Gasoline Alley better than Russ Cochran, dean of American comic art fans, collectors, dealers and saleeers, who wrote

“Tom Brokaw called them \"The Greatest Generation\", and he was right. He was talking about the Americans who were born during the depression years, and who went to war against Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, and then came back home to the USA to create the post-WW2 boom which led to the wonderful peaceful decade of the 1950s. Frank King told the story of this generation in his timeless masterpiece, GASOLINE ALLEY.

Through this comic strip, we all watched as Skeezix grew up, learning all the important lessons of life from his father, Uncle Walt. We were with him when he first courted and fell in love with Nina Clock, and we were with him when he went to War for his country. When he was wounded, every reader could identify with some soldier that they knew who was wounded or even killed, standing up for the values of 1940s America. We could identify with Uncle Walt, Judy, and Corky, as they worried about their boy overseas. We could identify as Skeezix\'s love for Nina grew, and when he proposed to her. And when the Great War was over, we could identify with Skeezix coming home to a changed America, having to find his place in a peacetime world, going into business for himself, having his own family, and, with the advice of Uncle Walt and Nina\'s father Grandfather Clock, a farmer, finding his way and becoming the epitome of the average American.

There were no divorces in the Wallet family, no drugs, no riots, no drunkards, just an average American family going through their daily lives, facing hard times, enjoying the simple things, and celebrating the life of an extended family. I was the Skeezix of my family. Since I had no older brother, Skeezix was my older brother, and he taught me how to handle the job of growing up to be a good man. My Dad was Uncle Walt, and his friends were Doc and Avery and all the other characters that brought such a warm and wonderful life to the people of GASOLINE ALLEY. Frank King led millions of us through this process of growing up in the 1940s and 1950s.

Who was the all-time greatest American cartoonist? We have to choose between Frank King, Chic Young and Charles Schulz, who used their characters to entertain and teach.”

Condition: This art is in overall excellent condition ondrawing board. There are no stats, white outor paste-overs.Minor corrections to art. Full margins all around.A few minor smudges, stains and spots to the art.Line through lower section of the strip denotes \'floor\' of the strip for those papers printing it in reduced size. Tribune engraving room stamp on reverse. Wonderful early1940sera Americana.

Don’t let this one pass you by. A “must” for Gasoline Alley or Frank Kings fans, comic book or strip or illustration art collectors, or anyone who appreciates a piece of true Americana and a wonderful piece of art. This is a greatGasoline Alley strip featuringan awesome actionscene with Nina at work.PrimeGA strips are super rare and many afficianados of the strip consider 1941 to have been one of its peak years! This is a beautifully renderedGA original.

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