Customer Reviews

The Complete Peanuts 1963-1964

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This collection contains an amazing array of strips not seen since they were printed in newspapers. It seems that the publishers of the paperback collections wanted to delete any reverences to specific events or people that were connected to 1963, giving the paperbacks a "timeless" quality.

For example, there's a strip were Snoopy chases two birds off his doghouse, and remarks "I don't trust birds since I saw that movie!"
He is of course referring to Hitchcock's "The Birds" released in 1963.
I loved seeing this strip! What a shame it was lost for 44 years. There is also a strip where Sally asks her brother about Walt Disney. And one strip which was truly a revelation: SCHULZ PARODYING HIMSELF. Linus commenting on the value of a warm puppy! Terrific!

Don't miss this collection, fans!!

On February 27th, 1963 Linus Van Pelt told Charlie Brown "No problem is so big or so complicated that it can't be run away from." Luckily, Fantagraphics did not heed this advice when taking on the Herculaen project of compiling one of the longest running comics in history. Charles Schulz's "Peanuts," one of the most influential newspaper comic strips ever produced, spanned a generation. It began small, a mere blip, in 1950 and grew to a literal empire that encompassed television, musical theater, books, movies, and advertising. While many derided its rampant commercialism and "cheesy feel good" aura, many others embraced it as an artistic masterpiece that spelunked the human psyche in unique ways. The strip didn't end until 2000 when Schulz retired from his lifelong passion. That leaves some fifty years of daily and Sunday strips to compile. Approximately three hundred and sixty-five strips a year for fifty years multiplies out to one dang big number. If ever a problem to run away from existed, it's this one. Undeterred, Fantagraphics has taken on this twelve and a half year twenty-five volume behemoth. The series so far has spanned fourteen years and seven volumes. In that time "Peanuts" went through considerable changes. "The Complete Peanuts" allows those who weren't there to experience the development and evolution of this masterwork.

When the strip began it focused on Charlie Brown. The artwork was less sophisticated and the characters' personalities were subject to fluctuation. Overall, it more resembled the single-panel strip Schulz drew for the St. Paul Pioneer Press from 1947 to 1950, called "Lil' Folks," than the strip we know today. Schulz returned to single panel cartooning between 1957 and 1959 with "It's Only a Game." But the success of "Peanuts" led him to focus all of his efforts on Charlie Brown, the gang, and that morphing beagle. By 1963, Snoopy dominated the strip. He had become more human than dog. As Snoopy changed from a "real" dog that barked into a surrealistic dynamo with language capabilities, the strip followed him. The physical jokes became more exaggerated (a line drive unclothes Charlie Brown on 3/27/64, Schroeder muffles Lucy with a musical staff on 8/6/64, and Linus's wastebasket towers with rubbish on 7/22/64) and the strip lost some of the cruel hard edge it had in the 1950s (contrast the first two volumes in the series with this one). Lucy in particular was toned down and Charlie Brown's ubiquitous failings became more and more comical and less outright depressing. Schulz also experimented with some new characters. Many didn't last long, such as "3," "4," and "5," who appear in this volume. But some, like Peppermint Patty, who finally appears in the next volume, had staying power. And Snoopy would continue to develop in some interesting new directions. The 1960s were underway, John F. Kennedy was President for half of this volume, the Beatles had landed in America, and the Vietnam war was just beginning to escalate. Some signs of the times appear late in this volume as prototype woodstocks picket with grammatical symbols such as "!," "?" and ";" (from 9/1/64 to 9/12/64). Confrontations and violence occur between the "!" birds and the "?" birds. Snoopy even calls some of them "fanatics" (9/7/64) and decries "it's hard to know what to believe" (9/4/64). These particular strips provide brilliant abstractions of the trouble brewing in the larger world in 1964. Lastly, the 12/6/64 Sunday strip could provide oodles of intellectual fodder for analytic types. Freda wants Snoopy to hunt his natural enemies, rabbits. Instead, he dances and frolics with them. The strip's third panel includes an insert that proclaims "Happiness is loving your enemies." On the last panel, Charlie Brown asks "Now what was that all about?" as if we're supposed to ask ourselves that same question. Brilliant strips like this transcend the funny pages and "Peanuts" included many such moments.

Other highlights include: a spider on the flyball (8/8/64); Snoopy ends a game of catch with his slobber (11/1/64); Snoopy guards the house with a machine gun (4/21/63); Charlie Brown's run-ins with his baseball anti-hero Joe Shlabotnik; "The seat is jammed" (6/22/63); the "we prayed in school today" Sunday strip (10/20/63); Linus's speech to the snowmen (12/29/63); Lucy creates a slideshow of Charlie Brown's faults and bills him for it (1/24/64 - 2/8/64); the parody on "Happiness is a warm puppy" (6/20/64); Snoopy's doghouse gets a full cleaning (6/22/64 - 6/30/64); Linus's reaction to Lucy's "think of the power" (10/5/64); Snoopy's sarcastic jumping up and down (11/27/64). Some strips will look familiar to long time readers, but many will not. Also, some names from the past emerge. The only complaint remains the lack of color on the Sunday strips. But such an immense project probably necessitated some corner-cutting. In the end, we're far better off with black and white Sundays than without this outstanding series. With each volume the "Peanuts" legacy becomes clearer.

A good addition to this series. The only let-down is that we're seeing more and more strips that have already been collected in other Peanuts books. It was bound to happen though, so I'm not knocking off a star for this.

There are two real gems to this book.
One is the story where Linus (my absolute favorite Peanuts character) runs for class president. I'm betting Schultz had a lot of fun with this. He lampoons the entire election process. This includes the speeches and promises, the press coverage, the polling, and everything else.

The other gem is even more important to me. This is where the title of my review comes into play. They had the great Bill Melendez write the foreward for this book.

Mister Melendez was an animator who wound up directing every single Peanuts movie and special ever made. In addition to this, he also did the voices of Snoopy and Woodstock on most of them (the exceptions being those few specials where Snoopy actually talked). Considering his close association with Schultz and his creation, he really should have been the one to write the foreward back in book 1 when this series started. Instead, throughout this series, we'd get nothing but celebrity endorsement after celebrity endorsement.

I was actually afraid that they'd do this entire series without so much as mentioning the man. Thankfully, these fears came to naught with the release of this book. Like I said, "they finally got it right".

The foreward itself is only 3 pages, but the quality makes up for it. Melendez talks about the events that led up to him meeting Schultz, his first impressions of the man, and how they went from a car commecial to a Peabody Award-winning special ("A Charlie Brown Christmas"), and then to a long and enjoyable career making other animated Peanuts titles (some great; some not so great). This is a story that certainly merits more than 3 pages, but Melendez takes the space he's given and manages both to inform and to satisfy.

If you're a Peanuts fan (especially if you're a Linus fan), click on that buy button. Trust me, you won't regret it.

This volume continues reprinting strips from the 1960's, where Schulz was at the top of his form. Snoopy still has a ways to go in his development, the bird(s) who would evolve into Woodstock and his friends are starting to play a more prominent part in Snoopy's life, Pepermint Patty and her friends have yet to appear, but the rest of the Peanuts cast has more or less become their recogniseable selves by this time. A number of the gags and storylines in these strips were later re-used in various TV specials and on "The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show". It is nice to finally see these strips in their chronological order (it is surprising to learn that two strips about Charlie Brown's attempts at obtaining a Joe Shlabotnik baseball card were actually written a year apart, and ran in the reverse order than they were printed in "Peanuts Treasury", because they fit together so well the way Holt, Rhinehart and Winston's editors had them sequenced). As with all the Complete Peanuts books, it is also good to see the strips (especially the Sunday pages) reprinted the way Schulz drew them, as opposed to being reformatted into a comic book page format, or worse, the crazy scattered layouts of the Faucett-Crest paperbacks (which sometimes would pull the artwork out of the panels). This particular book has the best reproduction quality of the new book series so far. Of course, the best reason to buy this book (and the others in this set) is because Peanuts is still one of the best comic strips of all time.

I've written reviews for all of the previous versions of the Complete Peanuts and they are all glowing. The 7th installment continues that trend. What amazes me about this book is that there are still a lot of strips that I have never seen before (I'd say 20-25%). I figured as the series continued, I would see less and less unfamiliar comics, but there are still quite a few I don't recall ever seeing. The other reviewers do a good job hitting the highlights, so I won't repeat, but it just is fun to see a complete series instead of the partial series of a particular topic (Snoopy in the hospital comes to mind, I had seen maybe half of the strips over the years, but this collection tells the whole story).

You want this book, you need this book. The next edition (which will come out this fall and will have Charlie Brown on the cover) will begin the biggest shift in the direction of the strip when Peppermint Patty is introduced. I can't wait.

The appearance of another volume in this series every six months or so is a moment of great pleasure to me. I have been a Peanuts fan since reading the collections my grandmother used to have at her house. In this volume, I read a number of strips I remember first reading at my grandmother's.

There are also some great strips that don't stand out so clearly in my memory. My favorite sequence is probably when the gang decides to remodel Snoopy's doghouse. The extensive interior of Snoopy's house is a place I've always wanted to visit and these tantilizing peeks into what it is like make for great reading.

Linus is featured on the cover of this 7th volume of The Complete Peanuts. Animator Bill Melendez writes the introduction of this volume, sharing what it was like to animate Charles Schulz's work. Some of the gags featured both in A Charlie Brown Christmas and It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown are featured in cartoon form are featured here("Obviously, we're separated by denominational differences!" and "If Beethoven was so great, how come he never got his picture on a bubblegum card?"). The cartoons were featured in You Can Do It, Charlie Brown, As You Like It, Charlie Brown, and the last collection featuring Sunday cartoons exclusively Sunday's Fun Day, Charlie Brown. Snoopy's doghouse gets flooded but his Van Gough survives, Linus writes a short story and reads it to an unimpressed Snoopy, Snoopy has to go to the hospital and comes back with a warm embrace from his master, Charlie Brown and later gets chewed out from Lucy and suddenly feels at home, Sally gets her own library card, Charlie Brown searches desperately for a Joe Shlabotnik baseball card, Schroeder hosts a Beethoven's birthday bash, Linus runs for Student Body President (which would also become the basis for You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown) and even vows to purge "the spiritual Babylon," Lucy throws a tantrum when her birthday party is cancelled, Linus is forced (by Lucy, of course) to participate in the PTA Christmas peagant, Violet gets a little violent and wants to clobber Charlie Brown (he tries to talk common sense with her but alas "I had to hit him. He was starting to make sense!"), Linus makes several snowmen and calls them all together for a "meeting," Charlie Brown gets pitcher's elbow, Linus' blanket is featured in a Science Project and gets temporarily confiscated by the "blanket hating Grandma" (whom, of course, we never get to see), the little red haired girl asks Charlie Brown to join her for lunch (or does she?), Lucy takes piano lessons and gets Schroeder a little jealous when she mentions she'll be using "a real piano," however, he congratulates her probably sarcastically when she learns what a Middle C is (he also gets enthusiastic when Lucy says her Aunt Marion warns her not to marry a musician), Sally learns not to play jacks on a hot sidewalk, Linus learns not to leave his sister's crayons out in the sun Lucy tries to point out Charlie Brown's faults (later used in the movie A Boy Named Charlie Brown)and she charges him $143 (imagine what she'd charge now!) and in a more poignant moment, Linus tries to get Lucy to count her blessings. For Christmas, Charlie Brown puts a tree out by Snoopy's doghouse but has to choose between unplugging one of Snoopy's personal items! A new character named 5 is introduced ("My father changed all our names to numbers. I also have 2 sisters named 3 and 4."). However, the numerical trio didn't last long (though you could see them all in the dancing sequence of A Charlie Brown Christmas). Also, Charlie Brown has a special manager's t-shirt, which he wears in some of the baseball cartoons. It seems like Sparky was on a roll during this time with great ideas, but the next volume will feature a more transitional era.

It's hard to believe that Peanuts was already a veteran of some 13 years by 1963. It is the strips of the 60's that I think people most associate with Peanuts. This is the era that gave birth to the first Peanuts animated specials. It's certainly clear that Charles Schulz had a firm grasp on his characters looks and personalities by this time. In this volume we see the characters as we probably know them best. The futility of Charlie Brown's baseball team as they lose their opening game 184 - 0; Lucy tempting Charlie Brown with yet another try at holding the football so he can kick it; Linus' almost neurotic fears contrasted by his childlike philosophy; and Snoopy being Snoopy.

Many of these strips, over 150, are seeing print for the first time since they appeared in newspapers over forty years ago. These certainly include references to news events of the day such as Charlie Brown lamenting the fact that Willie McCovey didn't hit the ball two feet higher (Schulz did live in the San Francisco area, after all...). Baseball plays a big part in this collection, particularly in the Spring and Summer strips from 1963. Charles favorite (unnamed) player goes o for 5 and commits three errors and promptly gets sent down to the minors. Seems even Charlie Brown's heroes struggle just like him. Another hilarious topical reference is when Snoopy scares away a couple of birds who land on his doghouse. Seems Snoopy doesn't trust birds ever since "that movie", i.e. Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds.

Linus is once again back in the Pumpkin Patch at Halloween time, waiting for the arrival of the Great Pumpkin and doing his best to convince his friends, and himself, that the Great Pumpkin really exists. A couple of the strips from this book would make it into It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! animated special, including Linus accidentally saying "If" the Great Pumpkin appears, rather than "when".

My favorite Peanuts strips were always the Christmas ones. In the 1963 strips, Linus is terrified when Lucy volunteers him to sing Jingle Bells in the school's Christmas program in front of the PTA. In 1964, we see more strips which helped to make the classic A Charlie Brown Christmas as Linus is readying for another school play, this time playing a shepherd where he will read his famous line from the bible when he explains the meaning of Christmas. Schulz was truly amazing!

The book features an introduction by Bill Melendez who was Schulz' partner on all of the animated specials and talks about how Charlie Brown Christmas all came about. Fantagraphics continues to do an amazing job by reprinting all of these classic Peanuts strips in chronological order.

REVIEWED BY TIM JANSON

A 2007 summer reading list mini review.

Peanuts has been a lifelong obsession with me. Their first t.v. special came out when I was a toddler. One of the first record albums, I recall listening to was "Your'e a good man Charlie Brown" which contains acted out scenes of many of the strips in this volume. I also grew up across the street from a public library and spent countless hours reading every book of Peanuts reprints I could get my hand on.

I especially like the 1963 to 1964 strips because they initiate two of my favorite Peanuts storylines: the one please line, and Joe Shlabotnik. By the one please line, I refer to the strips where the peanuts gang are lined up to buy movie tickets. Sequences like these afforded Schulz the opportunity to put most of his characters in one strip. Joe Shlabotnik is the name of Charlie Brown's favorite ball player who gets sent down to the low minors in this tome. When Patty asks in the 5-9-64 strip if he had feet of clay, Charlie browns reply is "No, he had a low batting average."

One of the best indicators of the staying power of Peanuts is that I am seldom able to read mine as my seven year old daughter is constantly borrowing them. Apparently, she is beginning the same lifelong obsession with peanuts that I have. Good grief!

I love each and every one of these timeless volumes and look forward to the release of the next one. The Complete Peanuts is a time capsule for the years 1963 and 1964 and represent well their times as each of the previous volumes have done.

The mention of Rachel Carson, the author of Silent Spring is a case in point or the mention on January 28 of Willie McCovey's near homerun months earlier. I turned 15 in 1963 and for me as I read each strip in turn my mind turns back to where I was living (I grew up in the Navy and moved around a great deal) what school I was attending and even who my friends were. Each of these volumes is a trip down memory lane in so many ways.

This, of course, ignores the sheer charm of these strips. Charles Schulz was such a genius. I still miss him each morning when I look through the funny pages and don't see Peanuts on the page. What a loss.

Get the 1963, 1964 volume and prepare yourself for a trip down back to a more innocent and simpler time.

Peace