John Benson had already made an unsuccessful attempt to produce a collection of Gasoline Alley comic strips through Kitchen Sink Press in the 1990s.
He introduced some of the strips's prime material to Chris Oliveros of Drawn & Quarterly, convincing him that it was worth publication.
Chris Ware had also been collecting the strip in clippings and merchandising, and Drawn & Quarterly reached out to him for additional material once the project had started.
Introductions and biographical pieces are written by Jeet Heer and extra material such as photographs, memorabilia, drawings, sketches, excerpts from Frank King's diary and essays are included.
[4] According to The New York Times, the first volume of the series managed to sell over 10,000 copies from its release in June, 2005 to January, 2007.
Club,[13][11] Geist,[14] Kirkus Reviews,[15] The New Yorker,[6] NPR,[12] PopMatters,[8] Publishers Weekly,[5] Time[16] and The Washington Post.