the complete peanuts (or fantagraphics: S/D)

I keep worrying that these will all sell out by the time I have the money/shelfspace to collect them. I have about seven or eight volumes at the moment. Was rereading one the other night and this one was killing me.

http://www.chronicle.com/blognetwork/edgeofthewest/files/2008/11/27/244094zoom.gif

They've been pretty good about reprinting them, albeit verrrrrrrry slow. But I've found Fantagraphics to be very responsive if you write them directly asking about e.g. their plans to reprint a thing. There's also the softcover editions which are new enough that I expect they're all still in print.

fucking hell

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/6d/5d/d5/6d5dd584e9214741e53fdce4d1e9b5c2.jpg

Schulz has no need for your "Snoopy minus Snoopy"

The Complete Zap Comix on sale for $310 (today only): http://www.fantagraphics.com/the-complete-zap-comix/

Today’s deal (good for another few hours?) is Jaime Hernandez: The Fantagraphics Studio Edition for 33% off.

My son and I were reading the first Complete Peanuts volume, and came to a Charlie Brown & Violet “Let’s play house” strip. My son said “wait a minute,” and pulled a Calvin & Hobbes book off the shelf that he had recently borrowed from a friend. He flipped through and found a Calvin & Susie “Let’s play house...” strip with a very similar joke (the kids emulate messy adulthood too closely). Watterson was probably paying direct tribute to Schulz. Anyway, I thought it was cool that my son happened to pick up on it (he tried it again later with two “bathtime” strips that weren’t such a close match).

When we read these early strips together, I sometimes do this dumb thing where I point out instances of Schulz “padding out” a one- or two-panel gag into four panels — marking time with duplicative dialogue, Charlie Brown muttering to himself, etc. (The lesson is reinforced by a Lil’ Folks book we have, that has actual, side-by-side examples of Schulz expanding a one-panel LF gag into a Peanuts strip later on.)

I don’t know why I find it necessary to train my kid to read strips like some kind of critic-in-training — though I was proud tonight when I asked him to pick out the single panel in a Sunday strip that contained the entire joke, and he did it easily.

(For the record, I also point out how other/most strips use the entire four panels to develop the joke.)

(Also for the record — this was the Sunday strip in question.)

Man, the drawing on that is so gorgeous.

He just showed me a strip where Snoopy is worried about getting in trouble, and imagines himself in an electric chair. "I don't get what Snoopy is thinking." I said, don't worry about it.

I dig Fanta's new look: https://blog.fantagraphics.com/fantagraphics-a-new-improved-look/

Has anyone been reading L&R Vol. 4 (the individual issues)? I'm waiting for the collections to be published.

Also, I'll put this here (FG has published a few Nancy collections) –

I think Bushmiller can be great, but I don't quite get the cartoonist/critic obsession with Nancy. The 1959 strip deconstructed in that famous essay is... fine? It's not one I would have ranked among the top strips (and even the analysis, while impressive, doesn't quite convince me).

I've read the essays and stuff, but feel like picking apart what makes the strip great is sort a case of dissecting the frog, you know?

Like, Bushmiller's gags can be great and the strip was pleasingly "minimalist" and "reduced to its essence," or whatever. Beyond that, it's all just sort of elaboration of the obvious.

Nothing wrong with learning frog (or any other) anatomy.

<3 this panel

https://i.imgur.com/QxHqymh_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium

My son asked me to explain this strip; I read it and exclaimed, “Jesus Christ!”

Which date?

Oh, sorry, thought I had linked directly. Jan. 5, 1958

Lol the more things change

He also asked about this strip (think I got the link right this time)—which was a segue into discussing some stuff we’ve talked about a little in the past, but which I’m never really “ready” to tackle.

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/peanuts/images/8/83/19540503.gif/revision/latest?cb=20130630140841

Sorry, don’t think that’s working. May 3, 1954

https://peanuts.fandom.com/wiki/May_1954_comic_strips

9/9/58 cracks me up.

So does 8/28/58.

Schulz could be razor-sharp sometimes.

we stan a queen

https://i.imgur.com/BqGgl4J_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium

Omg the newspaper one was an actual lol

Thanks for that wiki link btw! Never seen them all out like that

Brutal

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/peanuts/images/7/7a/19580625.gif/revision/latest?cb=20130813004328

Jesus christ

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/peanuts/images/c/ce/19580829.gif/revision/latest?cb=20130814004004

Yeah - the direct links don't work, for whatever reason (what's the date?)

weird, those ones work for me (and are indeed brutal).

I just see grey "placeholder" graphics. Gimme the dates!

if you erase everything after .gif in the links they work

groovy - thx

I came across the "spaghetti" one that I posted upthread (3 years ago) - it's just perfect.

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/peanuts/images/7/7a/19580625.gif

Argh!

https://i.imgur.com/Bej1UAR.gif

https://i.imgur.com/BSPORcb.gif

The last one is v goth

November 19, 1961 has to be the pinnacle of something: https://peanuts.fandom.com/wiki/November_1961_comic_strips

The apparent home of the Great Pumpkin as per Charlie Brown!
https://essexnewsdaily.com/headlne-news/22270

xp I love that one, I remember reading it as a kid

fun fact: when my mom was a teenager in the 50's, her high school boyfriend wrote to Charles Schultz and told him how much she liked the strip. In return, Schultz sent him maybe three framed original strips. My mom kept them for many decades (librarians lol) and eventually donated them back to the Schultz museum. so I gre up totally steeped in the Peanuts ethos, I remember seeing the actual framed strips she had as a kid.

"grew up"

Woah - that's so awesome. And kudos to your mum for sending them to the Schulz museum.

Lord above that Sunday strip. Starting to understand the Chris Ware influence now

It's the "Mom..." lines that just take it to "that place."

Spring 1959 is a high point; Schulz was really in the pocket: https://peanuts.fandom.com/wiki/March_1959_comic_strips