The Complete Peanuts 1975-1978, Vol. 13-14 [Box set] [Hardcover]

Charles M. Schulz (Author), Robert Smigel (Introduction), Alec Baldwin (Introduction), Seth (Cover Design)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 27, 2010 | Series: The Complete Peanuts

A gift set of the thirteenth and fourteenth Complete Peanuts volumes, in a handsome and durable slipcase.

The Complete Peanuts 1975-1976: Good grief, Charlie Brown, we're halfway there! That’s right! With this volume, The Complete Peanuts reaches the halfway point of Charles M. Schulz’s astounding half-century run on the greatest comic strip of all time. These years are especially fecund in terms of new canine characters, as Snoopy is joined by his wandering brother Spike (from Needles), his beloved sister Belle (from Kansas City), and... did you know he had a nephew? In other beagle news, Snoopy breaks his foot and spends six weeks in a cast, deals with his friend Woodstock’s case of the “the vapors,” and gets involved in a heated love triangle with Linus over the girl “Truffles.” The Complete Peanuts 1975-1976 features several other long stories, including a rare “double track” sequence with two parallel narratives: Peppermint Patty and Snoopy travel to participate in the Powderpuff Derby, while Charlie Brown finally gets to meet his idol Joe Shlabotnik. And Peppermint Patty switches to a private school, but commits the mistake of allowing Snoopy to pick it for her; only after graduation does she realize something’s not quite right! Plus: A burglary at Peppermint Patty’s house is exacerbated by waterbed problems... Marcie acquires an unwanted suitor... Charlie Brown and Peppermint Patty become desk partners... The talking school building collapses... Lots of tennis jokes... and gags starring Schroeder, Lucy, Franklin, Rerun, Sally, and that vicious cat next door. It’s another two years of Peanuts at its finest! Featuring an introduction by comedian Robert Smigel (Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, Saturday Night Live).

The Complete Peanuts 1977-1978: As the 1970s wind down, the last two recurring Peanuts characters have fallen into place: Snoopy’s brother Spike and the youngest Van Pelt sibling, Rerun. But that doesn’t mean Schulz’s creativity has diminished; in fact, this volume features an amazing profusion of hilariously distinctive new one- (or two-) shot characters! For instance, in an epic five-week sequence, when Charlie Brown, found guilty by the EPA of biting the Kite-Eating tree, he goes on the lam and ends up coaching the “Goose Eggs,” a group of diminutive baseball players, Austin, Ruby, Leland, and —did you know there was a second Black Peanuts character, aside from Franklin?—Milo. Also: a tennis-playing Snoopy ends up reluctantly teamed with the extreme Type “A” athlete Molly Volley... who then reappears later in the book, now facing off against her nemesis, “Crybaby” Boobie. (Honest!) Add in Sally’s new camp friend Eudora, the thuggish “caddymaster” who shoots down Peppermint Patty and Marcie’s new vocation, an entire hockey team, and a surprise repeat appearance by Linus’s sweetheart “Truffles” (creating a love triangle with Sally), all in addition to the usual cast of beloved characters (including the talking schoolhouse and the doghouse-jigsawing cat, who gets ahold of Linus’s blanket in this one), and you’ve got a veritable crowd of characters. Introduction by 30 Rock's Alec Baldwin.

It’s another four years of the greatest comic strip of all time, full of laughs and surprises. 1461 black-and-white comic strips

Editorial Reviews

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.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 688 pages
• Publisher: Fantagraphics (September 27, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1606993763
• ISBN-13: 978-1606993767
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 8.7 x 2.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #149,398 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars STILL BETTER THAN THE REST! September 12, 2010

By VOICE OF VICTORIA

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

If you are looking for a place to start a collection of these Fantagraphics volumes try the collections from the mid 50's through to around 72. On the other hand if you have collected the others these are still most worthwhile. The difference is that these are quieter and in a lower key and volume. Lucy has quietened down and CB is not as anguished and hysterical. If you can believe David Michaelis author of 'Schulz and Peanuts' this is because Charles M was now happy in his second marriage and his first wife had been a model for Lucy in the 50's and 60's. OK so these are a bit less strident than the strips on which he made his reputation but they are still better than 95% of other people's work. Peanuts changed constantly throughout it's history and continues to change here. I for one will be glad to stay on board.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Beginning... April 23, 2011

By Timothy J Walburg

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

In my opinion this is the last of the truly good 'Peanuts' years. After this Schultz started to copy other success' of the time. Garfield and his love affair with lasagna mirrored by Snoopy and his love affair with cookies and the single panel gag sometimes reminiscent of 'The Far Side'. So this set for me is bittersweet. In these volumes are collected strips that I had cut out of the newspaper and glued into a scrapbook.

Very funny years: 'Truffles' and the waterbed saga were ones that I remember very well from my youth. This could also be the beginning of the end of the longer stories too. I quit reading the funnies around 1980 and didn't pick them up again for a few years so I'm not sure when the strips started becoming one-liners.

I sold my scrapbook to my great surprise at a comics shop in 1980 or thereabouts. Like many things I didn't give much thought about in my youth I now wish I had that fat old scrapbook still in my possession.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Still the best srtip of the 20th Century December 3, 2010

By Zack

Format:Hardcover

I had made the decision last year to no longer purchase the wonderful and amazing Fantagraphics box sets of Peanuts "Featuring Good Old Charlie Brown." But... well, the sets are so amazing I went ahead and purchased this year's four year collection. As others have pointed out, Schulz was in decline over the last half of his career, but pinpointing the exact point is difficult, at least for me. I am not unhappy with my purchase, as Schulz is one of the most consistent writers, mixing humour with philosophy and religion, and usually hitting me just right. While I had decided that the box set ending with 1974 was the last of the strips I would re-collect, I cannot say that the downward slope is especially noticeable in the present set, and all that I can say is that I miss the 50's and 60's mindset. These are not bad strips at all, it is just a new philosophy of cartooning, and while it is not the path I would have chosen for the characters to go down, I would not have been able to create the characters and the series in a million years, so I will just try my best to enjoy the ride. It is enjoyable, just different than the past.

Funny, though, to think back to a musing I made in my twenties, hoping that Schulz would have the sense to go out on top, and not decline like Ernie Bushmiller and the Nancy series. I think I sensed that "Superstar" Snoopy was beginning to be the tail wagging the dog, so to speak, and unfortunately I was making that observation right about the time the un-hoped for began to happen. I agree with some of the other reviewers that Bill Watterson got the timing right with Calvin and Hobbes (but wish he had as long a prolific period as Schulz had.)

For all that, I still can recommend this set, as Schulz is still the best. We are so fortunate to have had him.