James Sturm, a cartoonist himself who wrote and drew The Golem's Mighty Swing, another graphic novel about baseball, provided Rich Tommaso with a drawn draft of the story to be used as a guide. Tommaso then used both pen and brush to finish Sturm's roughs. The text was written in a separate document.

The photos of the Farm Security Administration-Office of War Information (FSA-OWI) Collection were critical in providing visual reference for the authors. The searchable database of black-and-white photographs has thousands of striking photographs documenting rural life during the Jim Crow years.

The prints of American artist Thomas Hart Benton were also influential in the shaping of the look and feel of the book. Tommaso studied the dramatic lighting and compositions of Hart’s inspired prints.

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