The strip was authored by Milton Caniff and originally appeared in newspapers between 1934 and 1946 by the Chicago Tribune Syndicate with over 31 million readers.
The series' first volume won the 2008 Eisner Award in the category Best Archival Collection - Project - Comic strips.
The material was sourced from Dean Mullaney's private collection with supplemental pages from Cartoon Research Library at Ohio State University.
Introductions were written by Pete Hamill, Howard Chaykin and Bruce Canwell, putting the strip and its plotlines in historical context.
[5] The hardcover volumes of the Master Collection are published in portrait orientation, each measuring 11 by 14 inches (approximately 368 by 286 millimeter).