Customer Reviews

The Complete Peanuts 1975-1976 (Vol. 13) (The Complete Peanuts)

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This collection is probably the most familiar as far as remembering when the cartoons came fresh from the newspaper. It starts off with Charlie Brown wishing Lucy a happy New Year. "I'm not finished with the LAST year!" she protests (Wait until you're older, Lucy! Those years are gonna go even faster!). Snoopy finds out quickly that others like Lucy and Violet don't care to skate with him (he gets his hat pulled various ways!). One of the funniest stories involved Peppermint Patty (she was always my favorite female character in Peanuts and I don't care if you hate her or not) falling asleep in class and asking Snoopy to watch the house (he does, but her house gets robbed and since Snoopy is stuck on the water bed he can't do much!). Schroeder gets a pair of Elton John glasses for Beethoven's birthday. One time, Lucy asks her would-be "boyfriend" who he thinks is better- Elton John or Beethoven (the result- first prize for the dumbest question!). We also get to meet Snoopy's brother Spike and Truffles, who Linus meets while hunting truffles (he falls in love with Miss Truffles but alas, so does Snoopy- and you can guess which one wins!). Charlie Brown and Peppermint Patty have to share a desk since there's a shortage (hence the name of the Peanuts Parade book "Don't Hassle Me With Your Sighs, Chuck comes here). Further evidence that the dim-witted female athlete has a crush on her Chuck. Linus' toast burns and he tries to share it with fussy Woodstock who doesn't appreciate burnt toast much! Charlie Brown's pitching mound is slowly sinking since others are borrowing soil from it (he finally says enough is enough and demands it back to normal!). Sally compliments her school and tells it "You have cute steps," which is the 1st time the school ever got a compliment like that! As others have noted, we're at the halfway point of Peanuts so get yours now!

Here we have the 13th volume in Fantagraphics series of books reprinting the entire run of Peanuts, covering 1975 and 1976. This is one of the greatest comic strips of all time. The most notable characters introduced this time around are Snoopy's brother Spike and his sister Belle. If you are a Peanuts fan, you need this book.

Volume 13 of The Complete Peanuts (1975-1976) continues the unmatched genius of Charles Schulz. Yes there is some silliness in this volume, and yes some of the characters are clueless and seem to lack all common sense, but this is COMIC strip, and comedy it delivers. Where else will you see a dog ice skate? A talking school building isn't beyond the realm of possibilities in that world.

One of the fascinations of this whole series is how reading the strips volume by volume can transport me back in time. Early on, Charles Schulz really didn't comment much of the American culture of the time with the exception of sports references here and there. At this point in his career, Schulz is including lots of little observations about life as we knew it at the time. For example, in Volume 13, reference is made to the "pet rock" and the "mood ring" both of which were huge cultural phenomenon at the time. Also the love affair Americans had with tennis is demonstrated throughout this volume. However, the decline in morals, which had started at this time isn't mentioned.

The characters continue their development under our watchful eyes. Charlie Brown is even more insecure than before if you can believe that.

I am constantly taken back to what I was doing when these particular panels were appearing in the daily paper. Thank you Charles Schulz for the stroll down memory lane and for creating these tidbits of sanity and silliness for us.

I highly recommend.

Be afraid... be very afraid... the legion of Snoopy relatives is now officially on the march! Well, actually, that was the least of Schulz' problems during the mid-1970s. While the cartoonist's craftsmanship remains at a high level, "the PEANUTS of the absurd" that began to gain momentum in the late 1960s and early 1970s now commands the lion's share of attention. Charlie Brown's baseball mound "floating out to sea" during a rainstorm and "thinking/talking" at a rate that quickly catches up to that of the school building, Peppermint Patty and Marcie flying Snoopy's doghouse to Michigan in the Powder Puff Rally (I though that Patty learned that Snoopy WAS A DOG not that long ago?), and, worst of all, a clueless Peppermint Patty attending the "Ace Obedience School" under the mistaken assumption that it's a private school... next to all of this, the debut of Snoopy's droopy-mustachioed brother Spike in August 1975 seems like a fairly mundane occurrence. Spike, after all, hadn't begun conversing with cacti yet. Snoopy's sister Belle would follow in mid-1976, and the black-and-white-furred die was cast after that, but Spike's two appearances in this volume -- which include a Thanksgiving visit to Charlie Brown's and some royal hospitality dished out by a surprisingly munificent Lucy -- are very enjoyable.

The most ambitious standard narrative (and that's STILL a stretch) here involves Snoopy breaking his leg ("or paw, or shank, or whatever it's called" -- thanks, Lucy) in February 1976 after tripping over his supper dish. Schulz milks this simple idea for over a month, even working it into the beginning of yet another futile baseball season for Charlie Brown (Peppermint Patty insists on trading Marcie for Snoopy without knowing Snoopy's current condition). Earlier, Patty and Charlie have to share a desk at Patty's school after the traditional PEANUTS gang's "depressed" school building collapses (now there's a fantasy element kick-starting a relatively reasonable plot with a vengeance). This tag-team goes about as well as one might expect. Schulz tries (I think) to introduce a new character, the googly-eyed Truffles, who becomes the object of an unlikely romantic rivalry between Snoopy and Linus and then just as quickly vanishes from sight. (That might actually have been a good thing; I applaud Schulz' attempt to give Truffles an unusual character design, but Truffles comes off looking like Wednesday Addams, or the kind of girl who may harbor a suppressed tendency to spit pea soup and revolve her head like a spinning top.) The "Ace Obedience School" sequence, I'm sorry to say, rivals "Break a Leg, Snoopy" as the longest narrative in the volume. Yes, it's funny in a silly sort of way, but you start feeling sorry for poor, deluded Peppermint Patty long before it's over. A year before being "schooled", in October '75, Patty also falls for Linus' Great Pumpkin propaganda hook, line, and sinker, bewitched by the prospect of ordering up a new baseball glove. Can this credulous kid REALLY be the self-assured tomboy who freely dispensed advice about "l'amour" in several PEANUTS TV specials?

Robert Smigel provides the foreword for this volume -- and, given that he freely jokes about his relative obscurity compared to the "introductionistas" who have come before, I don't feel so bad that I'd never heard of him before now. His intro is actually one of the better ones in the series, touching as it does upon highlights of the specific era covered by this collection.

I love Peanuts and this is where it really gets good. I saw a lot of strips that I never saw before. Like the one on 7/12/76 where Snoopy says wait come back have some doughnuts and potato chips with your cup cake. A lot happens in this book so let me tell you all about it.

First, Snoopy stays with Peppermint Patty while she is alone but than burglars come and steal all the furniture and Snoopy can't help because he is stuck on a water bed. Peppermint Patty then gets stuck and then Marcie comes but gets stuck as well.

Then, Snoopy and Linus go truffle hunting and end up meeting a girl named Truffles. Lucy wins the award for the most stupid question of the year, Sally kisses Linus, and Snoopy worries a wolf will come and blow his house down. Charlie Brown goes to camp and meets his favorite ball player and gets an autograph ball signed by him. Meanwhile Peppermint Patty and Marcie fly in the Annual Powder Puff Derby which is on Snoopy's doghouse. But when they need it the most Snoopy is using it and ends up in a big fight with Peppermint Patty.

Snoopy's brother Spike pays a visit but is so thin Lucy goes decides to fatten him up. Peppermint Patty waits in the pumpkin patch for The Great Pumpkin but when Linus finds out she asked The Great Pumpkin for a baseball glove Linus gets mad and says that you don't ask him for a present you have to wait for what he brings you.

Snoopy goes to Needles to spend Thanksgiving with Spike and the coyotes. On the way Spike goes to Snoopy's house and spends Thanksgiving with Charlie Brown and Snoopy forgets he left Linus's blanket in the dessert but Spike finds it and sends it to him. Peppermint Patty tries to teach Marcie how to play football but it doesn't go so well.

Woodstock get the vapors, and the school building collapses and Charlie Brown has to go to Peppermint Patty's school and sits next to her. She likes it at first but than starts to criticize him and they get sent to the office and have to write 100 times I will not create a disturbance in class.

Then, Snoopy breaks his foot and has to wear a cast for 6 weeks. Marcie tries to make caps on Peppermint Patty's baseball team but does not do a good job at it. Charlie Brown floats out to sea on a pitcher's mound. Sally moves into Charlie Brown's room for the first time. Snoopy wants to play tennis in Wimbledon but goes to Kansas City instead to find his sister Belle and her teenage son.

Marcie and Peppermint Patty go to camp and a kid keeps calling Marcie names and she keeps hitting him for it. His name is Floyd and all he was doing was calling Marcie Lambcake because he likes her. But as Marcie says "If someone calls you Lambcake, when you know you're not a Lambcake, that's sarcasm." We hear new phases like You're weird, Sir and You're weird, Marcie.

Then in the longest storyline Charles Schulz ever wrote we see Peppermint Patty go to Ace Obedience School given to her by Snoopy which she thinks is a Private school. On her first day Peppermint Patty says "We spent the whole first day just learning how to sit." That part always cracks me up. This storyline lasted 6 and a half weeks.

Peppermint Patty has to read a book for Christmas Vacation and can't decide what to read. We don't find out until the next book. Peppermint Patty should have been on this cover because she is in 160 comics while Frieda is only in 3.

Well, I think I made my point about this book. I hope a lot of people read and like this review because I worked hard on it. I really loved it and I hope everyone who buys it loves it too. Enjoy!

The 13th Volume in Fantagraphics republishing of the complete Peanuts, THE COMPLETE PEANUTS 1975-1976 could also be subtitled "The Peanuts of the Absurd". In the past Schulz had toyed with some absurdist plotlines, e.g. the talking school building. However, between 1975-1976, Schulz took those ideas to a whole new level. The talking school returns but ends up falling apart because of depression, Charlie Brown's pitcher mound floats away during a major rainstorm, and Snoopy's stomach (and later feet) has conversations that Snoopy sometimes hears and sometimes doesn't.

The longest sequence in this volume is where Snoopy breaks his leg. There's about six to eight weeks worth of consecutive strips (including some Sunday strips) dealing with the saga of Snoopy breaking his leg and trying to recuperate. I'm not sure, but I have a feeling that either Schulz or someone in his family must have broken a leg sometime not too distant from this storyline.

Besides Snoopy breaking his leg, this volume introduces us to one of Snoopy's brothers, Spike, and a sister, Belle. I never knew about Belle until I saw the SNOOPY'S REUNION special. However, Spike was one of my favorite Peanuts characters. I'm not sure what it was, but there was something about Spike's lonely existence in the Arizona desert that particularly appealed to me. Snoopy goes to visit Spike and Spike comes to visit him for Thanksgiving which leads to a memorable holiday for both dogs.

Peppermint Patty is featured in a majority of strips in this volume. There's a storyline where Peppermint Patty spends Halloween in a pumpkin patch with Linus. There's the storyline where Charlie Brown's school building collapses and he ends up having to share a desk with Patty at her school for several weeks. There's a story where Peppermint Patty and Marcie try to fly Snoopy's doghouse to a Powder Puff competition in Michigan and there's an incredibly long storyline where Peppermint Patty leaves regular school to attend a private school recommended to her by Snoopy, the Ace Obedience School. She graduates near the top of her class and thinks she's done with school for life until she is shown the truth.

It seems that Schulz thought about introducing a new character to the strip, a girl named Truffles back in 1975. Linus and Snoopy get lost in the woods and are rescued by Truffles. They both fall head over heels for her, but Snoopy is more quick in the ways of love that poor Linus. After a few weeks of strips about Truffles, she leaves to return home and other than a Christmas card at the end of the year she's never heard from again in this volume. Truffles has an appearance completely different than any previous Peanuts character.

Towards the end of this volume I came across a strip that is featured in the revival edition of the musical YOU'RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN. It features Charlie Brown and Linus talking about Linus's grandfather and how old he is.

It should also be noted that it is in this volume of strips that the Cat Next Door's name is revealed. The vicious cat that Snoopy is frightened of, yet still teases is named World War II.

The introduction to THE COMPLETE PEANUTS 1975-1976 is written by Robert Smigel. Like some of the other introduction writers, it's fitting that a person of Smigel's humor write the introduction for this absurdist collection of "Peanuts" comics. His introduction is one of the best in the series so far and touches not only how "Peanuts" influenced his own life, but how the strip interacted with and reflected parts of history.

This isn't the best collection of "Peanuts", but it does capture the evolution of the strip into a new era. It's a must for any "Peanuts" fan or anyone who is a serious fan of comic strips.

What wonderful storylines are covered in this volume? Well, among the many great moments, we have Peppermint Patty leaving school and ending up in dog obedience school. We have a suicidal talking schoolhouse. We have the first appearance of Snoopy's brother, Spike.

Anyone who follows my reviews knows how much I love the Peanuts comic strips. The appearance of this series, which will ultimately bring together all the daily strips, is amazing. I encourage anyone who loves the series as I do to check out these books.

I've been reading these sets in progression, and, though I'm a fan of Schulz's earlier stuff, his imagination and wit continue in these, the years of 1975 and 1976. His main focus in these strips seems to be building up the character of Peppermint Patty, as well as giving life to inanimate objects (the baseball mound, the school (although he was introduced earlier), etc.).
Great continuation. This is the first time I'm reading Peanuts in their entirety, and now I finally get to know what all the fuss is about.

It's amazing to see this volume of complete peanuts reaches the half of 50 years of the comics full of energy and the same passion that Charles Schulz has created. I must say that the 60's and the 70's are the best ever.
It's a must have book not only for the fans but also for the ones that really appreciate a very good art. Let's wait for the next half.

This set of comic strips were produced by Charles Schulz, when for the first time in his life, he was happy. He ended some of his old gags with the school building thinking (spoiler-Alert-he has the building fall down!) I believe that Schulz was his funniest when he was unhappy at home! Lucy was more bitting, Linus was more thoughtful, Snoopy was more creative, etc. AFter this book set, Sparky tones down the funny and goes into formula strips. Sad for him, funny for us, then happy for him,sad for us. SIGH!