The first year of Percy Crosby's "Skippy" comic strip is one of the best collections of strips about childhood I've ever seen, and was an inspiration for Charles Schulz, Hank Ketcham and many others. After that year, it became something of a mixed bag. This collection from 1928 to 1930 does have some gems that harken back to that glorious first year. But there are many clunkers, with some curious (and sometimes tedious) storylines that reflect Crosby's increasingly intense political and social viewpoints. The readers of the day must have been mystified and taxed by Crosby's 10-year-old characters spouting long-winded political diatribes during the 1928 presidential race. And in 1930, another departure from style occurs when Vesey Street is overtaken by a youthful protection gang, the Jacketeers, who terrorize young and old alike. Skippy is the lone resistance, who gradually rallies the cowering faithful to his side as he mounts a clever and effective campaign against these hooligans. The episode comes to a confusing non-resolution when Skippy, who has been ridden way out of town on a railcar by the Jacketeers, eventually makes his way back to a town and family who had feared the worst. And that's where that story ends, with no mention of the fate of Vesey Street. Crosby was committed to a mental hospital later in life, and some of these strips make me wonder if that sentence was as entirely unjust as I had believed it to be. Crosby was an immense talent, and one of the best comic strip illustrators I've ever seen. But he must have been quite trying at times as a creator, friend or family member. Perhaps he would have benefited from today's modern medicines and mental health treatment. ( )