Although Dumm's work was characterized by one reviewer as "ham-fisted," whose characters all look "45" years old,[2] Pekar "had great appreciation for Gary as an artist and as a person.
"[3] Dumm also collaborated with Pekar as the primary artist on two full-length books, Ego & Hubris: The Michael Malice Story, and Students for a Democratic Society: A Graphic History.
In the early 1990s, Budgett and Dumm co-wrote and drew stories for Eternity Comics' Plan 9 From Outer Space: Thirty Years Later and their own erotic series Shooty Beagle and Woofers & Hooters (both with Eros Comix).
He contributes a regular strip (illustrated bios of blues people) to the newsletter Music Makers Rag.
The book is inspired by a true-life tragedy in 1916, dealing with tunneling beneath Lake Erie.