Wednesday, September 5, 2012

The Complete Peanuts 1985-1986 (Vol. 18) (The Complete Peanuts)

The Complete Peanuts 1985-1986 (Vol. 18) (The Complete Peanuts) Review



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In this volume, the ’80s are in full swing while the Peanuts crew deals with camp, Santa Claus, and the runaway merchandising of “Tapioca Pudding.”

Peanuts reaches the middle of the go-go 1980s in this book, which covers 1985 and 1986: a time of hanging out at the mall, “punkers” (you haven’t lived until you’ve seen Snoopy with a Mohawk), killer bees, airbags, and Halley’s Comet. And in a surprisingly sharp satirical sequence, Schulz pokes fun at runaway licensing, with the introduction of the insufferably merchandisable “Tapioca Pudding.” Also in this volume: Peppermint Patty wins the “All-City School Essay Contest” with her “What I Did During Christmas Vacation” essay, but snatches defeat from the jaws of victory with a disastrous acceptance speech… Charlie Brown, Linus, Sally and Snoopy go to “rain camp” one year, and “survival camp” the next… The World War One Flying Ace gets the flu and is nursed back to health by a French Mademoiselle (Marcie)… Sally gives Santa Claus a heart attack (literally!)… Lucy talks Charlie Brown into posing in swim-trunks for their school’s “Swimsuit issue”… Peppermint Patty gains a crabby tutor… Linus suffers a crisis when addressed for the first time as “Mister”… plus another return appearance by Molly Volley, Snoopy’s accidental destruction of his dog house (with a cannon!), and lots of near-Beckettian strips set in the desert starring this volume’s cover boy, the one and only Spike! It’s another two years of hilarious, heartwarming strips from the great Charles M. Schulz. 344


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Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Peanuts 2000: The 50th Year Of The World's Favorite Comic Strip

Peanuts 2000: The 50th Year Of The World's Favorite Comic Strip Review



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"Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy . . .
how can I ever forget them. . . ."
--CHARLES SCHULZ

How could any of us ever forget them? For fifty years, Charles Schulz and the whole Peanuts gang have delighted millions of readers around the world. Now, in celebration of the artist who quickly became a national treasure, this special anniversary volume brings together for the first time in book form, the last year of the Peanuts comic strip. With Peanuts 2000, there's no need to say goodbye to old friends.


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Monday, September 3, 2012

The Complete Peanuts 1983-1984 (Vol. 17) (The Complete Peanuts)

The Complete Peanuts 1983-1984 (Vol. 17) (The Complete Peanuts) Review



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Snoopy's brother Spike and Peppermint Patty take starring roles in the latest Collection for the years 1983 and 1984 of one of the world's most popular newspaper comic strips.

As Peanuts reaches the mid-1980s, Charles Schulz is still creating and playing with new characters, and in this volume Snoopy’s deadpan, droopy-mustached brother Spike takes center stage: Surrounded by coyotes in the desert where he lives and who are attacking him with rubber bands, he sends a frantic message to Snoopy who launches an expedition to save him. Then, he makes the long trek back to Snoopy’s neck of the woods accompanied by his only friend (a cactus, of course)… and throughout the rest of the book, pops up in hilarious, Waiting for Godot-style vignettes set in his native Needles.

In romantic news, the Peppermint Patty-Marcie-Charlie Brown love triangle of overlapping unrequited love heats up (well,kind of ), while Linus continues to vociferously deny that he is Sally’s “Sweet Babboo”; of course, Lucy’s unsuccessful pursuit of Schroeder remains unabated. Also, a romance blossoms between two of Snoopy’s “Beagle Scout” birds. (We will pass over Spike’s brief attraction to one of the coyotes.)

In what is probably his most baroque and hilarious baseball-involved humiliation yet, Charlie Brown agrees to join Peppermint Patty’s team the “Pelicans” only to discover that he’s wanted not as a player but as a mascot… Linus gives up his security blanket and forms a support group for other kids who are trying to do the same… and Peppermint Patty manages to be held back in school (leaving a “Snoring Ghost” to take her place in the rest of the class that has advanced) and yet get to go on a European trip with her dad, sending back periodic dispatches from the road. All this plus appearances from Franklin, Rerun, and the rest of the gang in these strips from a period of Peanuts that’s far less well-known than the endlessly-collected 1960s and 1970s eras…

Black & white throughout


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Sunday, September 2, 2012

Being a Dog Is a Full-Time Job (A Peanuts Collection)

Being a Dog Is a Full-Time Job (A Peanuts Collection) Review



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Filled with a year's worth of strips, this book from cartoonist-philosopher Schulz is certain to top the list of his smashing volumes. The world's most famous beagle works hard in his job as a dog, as portrayed in the pages of this humorous yet thought-provoking strip.


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Thursday, August 30, 2012

The Complete Peanuts 1983-1986 Gift Box Set (The Complete Peanuts)

The Complete Peanuts 1983-1986 Gift Box Set (The Complete Peanuts) Review



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This box set collects the years 1983-1986 of one of the world's most popular newspaper comic strips.

Once again, a box set combining the latest volume (1985-1986) with the previous (1983-1984), complete with slipcase, available at a bargain price. 688 Illustrations


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Tuesday, August 28, 2012

The Complete Peanuts 1950-1954 Box Set

The Complete Peanuts 1950-1954 Box Set Review



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Collecting the first and second volumes of The Complete Peanuts (1950-1952 and 1953-1954) in one handsome collector's slipcase designed by the cartoonist Seth, this is the perfect gift book item.

In The Complete Peanuts 1950-1952: This first volume, covering the first two and a quarter years of the strip, will be of particular fascination to Peanuts aficionados worldwide: Although there have been literally hundreds of Peanuts books published, many of the strips from the series' first two or three years have never been collected before—in large part because they showed a young Schulz working out the kinks in his new strip and include some characterizations and designs that are quite different from the cast we're all familiar with. (Among other things, three major cast members—Schroeder, Lucy, and Linus—initially show up as infants and only "grow" into their final "mature" selves as the months go by. Even Snoopy debuts as a puppy!) Thus The Complete Peanuts offers a unique chance to see a master of the art form refine his skills and solidify his universe, day by day, week by week, month by month. This volume is rounded out with Garrison Keillor's introduction, a biographical essay by David Michaelis (Schulz and Peanuts) and an in-depth interview with Schulz conducted in 1987 by Gary Groth and Rick Marschall, all wrapped in a gorgeous design by award-winning cartoonist Seth.

In The Complete Peanuts 1953-1954: Our second volume is packed with intriguing developments, as Schulz continues to create his tender and comic universe. It begins with Peanuts' third full year and a cast of eight: Charlie Brown, Shermy, Patty, Violet, Schroeder, Lucy, the recently-born Linus, and Snoopy. By the end of 1954, Pigpen and his dust cloud join the crowd. Linus, who still doesn't speak, begins to emerge as one of the most complex and endearing characters in the strip: garrulous and inquisitive yet gentle and tolerant. And, in this volume, he acquires his security blanket! Charlie Brown is becoming his best-known self, the lovable, perpetually-humiliated round-headed loser, but he hasn't yet abandoned his brasher, prankish behavior from Volume 1. And, Lucy, this book's cover girl, has grown up and forcefully elbowed her way to the center of the action, proudly wearing her banner as a troublemaker, or, in Schulz's memorable phrase, a "fussbudget". For readers unfamiliar with the early years of the strip, Snoopy's appearances here may come as the biggest surprise: he behaves, for the most part, like a dog! But, although he doesn't yet walk upright, sleep on top of his doghouse, or possess a fantasy life, Snoopy has started thinking for himself and his evolution continues its fascinating course within these pages. If you watch carefully, you'll catch his very first shark impression. The vast majority of the daily and Sunday strips collected here are not currently available in any in-print Peanuts collection. Dozens of them have not been reprinted since their initial appearance in newspapers over 50 years ago. Introduction by Walter Cronkite. Over 1500 black-and-white comic strips


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Peanuts Guide To Life

Peanuts Guide To Life Review



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Essentially, this is the best of the best of 50 years of Peanuts, the comic strip by the late Charles Schulz featuring Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, Snoopy, and the rest of the beguiling little gang. Peanuts debuted in 1950 and became a global phenomenon, with book collections selling more than 300 million copies in 26 languages and television specials rerun year after year. To create this all-new Peanuts Guide to Life, we’ve combed through decades of comic strips to find those single panels which contain such pithy observations as “Babysitters are like used cars. You never know what you’re going to get,” and bits of wisdom like “Never lick ice cream off a hot sidewalk.” Each droll, stand-alone “speech bubble” or punchline appears with cartoon art. The panels are organized into short chapters, such as “Love” and “Life’s Little Quirks.” For the millions of faithful Peanuts fans, this is a collection of “greatest hits” to cherish and enjoy again and again.


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