The Complete Peanuts 1955-1956
- Book Review,
by Charles M. Schulz, et al
From Booklist
The uniform hardcover series reprinting all 50 years of the classic comic strip Peanuts continues. Many ingredients that would sustain the strip for a half-century are already in place, from Linus' dependence on his security blanket to Schroeder's rejection of Lucy in favor of Beethoven to Snoopy's efforts to impersonate other species. A few elements on view in this third volume in the series would soon vanish, however, such as Charlie Brown's loudmouthed counterpart, Charlotte Braun. On the other hand, a long-lasting device debuts when Lucy first snatches the football from Charlie Brown's impending kick. Only a few topical references--coonskin caps, Willie Mays, Howdy Doody--betray these strips' age. As Simpsons creator Matt Groening points out in the introduction, "there was nothing cutesy or condescending about the Peanuts gang." These early strips show that as well as timeless humor, it is such melancholic aspects as natural-born fussbudget Lucy's bitterness and Charlie Brown's frustrations over baseball, kites, valentines, and just about everything else he attempts that make them resound to this day. Gordon Flagg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Aaron McGruder, creator of The Boondocks, writing for Spin
I was surprised by how insanely funny the early strips were.
The Onion
As essential as pop texts get.
Booklist
Consider replacing those tattered old Peanuts paperbacks with this definitive series.
Publishers Weekly starred review
A treat...a package with mass appeal.
Comics Buyer's Guide
Even the most demanding Peanuts fan couldn't ask for more. [Grade:] A+.
Aaron McGruder, creator of The Boondocks, writing for Spin
I was surprised by how insanely funny the early strips were.
The Onion
As essential as pop texts get.
Booklist
Consider replacing those tattered old Peanuts paperbacks with this definitive series.
Publishers Weekly starred review
A treat...a package with mass appeal.
Comics Buyer's Guide
Even the most demanding Peanuts fan couldn't ask for more. [Grade:] A+.
Book Description
The New York Times best-selling series continues! The third volume in our acclaimed series takes us into the mid-1950s as Linus learns to talk, Snoopy begins to explore his eccentricities (including his hilarious first series of impressions), Lucy's unrequited crush on Schroeder takes final shape, and Charlie Brown becomes...well, even more Charlie Brown-ish! Over half of the strips in this volume have never been printed since their original appearance in newspapers a half-century ago! Even the most dedicated Peanuts collector/fan is sure to find many new treasures. The Complete Peanuts will run 25 volumes, collecting two years chronologically at a rate of two a year for twelve years. Each volume is designed by the award-winning cartoonist Seth (It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken) and features impeccable production values; every single strip from Charles M. Schulz's 50-year American classic is reproduced better than ever before. This volume includes an introduction by Matt Groening (The Simpsons) as well as the popular Complete Peanuts index, a hit with librarians and collectors alike, and an epilogue by series editor Gary Groth.
About the Author
Charles M. Schulz was born November 25, 1922 in Minneapolis. His destiny was foreshadowed when an uncle gave him, at the age of two days, the nickname Sparky (after the racehorse Spark Plug in the newspaper strip Barney Google). In his senior year in high school, his mother noticed an ad in a local newspaper for a correspondence school, Federal Schools (later called Art Instruction Schools). Schulz passed the talent test, completed the course and began trying, unsuccessfully, to sell gag cartoons to magazines. (His first published drawing was of his dog, Spike, and appeared in a 1937 Ripley's Believe It Or Not! installment.) Between 1948 and 1950, he succeeded in selling 17 cartoons to the Saturday Evening Post— as well as, to the local St. Paul Pioneer Press, a weekly comic feature called Li'l Folks. It was run in the women's section and paid $10 a week. After writing and drawing the feature for two years, Schulz asked for a better location in the paper or for daily exposure, as well as a raise. When he was turned down on all three counts, he quit. He started submitting strips to the newspaper syndicates. In the spring of 1950, he received a letter from the United Feature Syndicate, announcing their interest in his submission, Li'l Folks. Schulz boarded a train in June for New York City; more interested in doing a strip than a panel, he also brought along the first installments of what would become Peanuts—and that was what sold. (The title, which Schulz loathed to his dying day, was imposed by the syndicate). The first Peanuts daily appeared October 2, 1950; the first Sunday, January 6, 1952. Diagnosed with cancer, Schulz retired from Peanuts at the end of 1999. He died on February 13, 2000, the day before Valentine's Day—and the day before his last strip was published—having completed 17,897 daily and Sunday strips, each and every one fully written, drawn, and lettered entirely by his own hand —an unmatched achievement in comics.
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