Kings in Disguise is a multiple Harvey and Eisner awards winner, and is considered one of the hundred best comic book stories of all time.

[4] One of the central characters of On the Ropes was an 18-year-old communist activist named Freddie Bloch, whose background stated that he participated in the Ford Plant Strike of 1936.

Rather than adapt the play directly, Vance countered with an offer to produce a six issue mini-series Kings In Disguise that was a prequel to On the Ropes.

Kings in Disguise was issued in trade paperback by Kitchen Sink in 1990 with the Dark Horse Presents interlude inserted into the original story.

[9] Freddie Blochs is a young 13-year-old boy in 1933 California, whose life falls apart when his single father abandons the family and his older brother is arrested for robbing a local store to provide for the two.

They are rescued by a rather nasty, cruel homeless man named "Snake" and his traveling companion, a young girl who has a crush on Freddie.

However, with help from the young girl he rescued from a cruel pimp, he has started to regain some of his faith in God as he convinces Sam that Freddie deserves better than the hobo life.