I’m a big fan of “Peanuts.” Always have been. Something about the combination of simple drawings, unique characters, and that ineffable quality I term “heart” keep it in the forefront of my comics reading. And with fifty years of back issues to enjoy, there’s always something new that I haven’t read. Charles Schulz penned over TWELVE THOUSAND comic strips before his death, and his creations have been featured in dozens of animated specials and features. I divide the “Peanuts” eras into two broad eras: Pre-Peppermint Patty and Post-Peppermint Patty. Pre-PP, we had characters like Violet and Patty, Roy and Shermy who were supporting characters, didn't have a whole lotta personality, and were usually the “straight men” to other characters. They were a year or so older than Charlie Brown, Lucy, Schroeder and Linus, and they were eventually phased out when Peppermint Patty and Marcie showed up.

My only reprimand at my last job was when I suggested that Peppermint Patty and Marcie were the first widely accepted lesbian couple…that’s just a side note.

My favorite era for the adventures of Charlie Brown and his friends comes from about 1958 until 1965…a relatively narrow period, but when some great things were happening. Charlie Brown’s sister Sally was born, the characters’ designs and personalities gelled, and we began to see those great specials, most notably the “Charlie Brown Christmas,” and “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.” After this point, I think things started to go downhill…not too drastically, but when I read collections from this period I laugh a lot more than I do reading the later strips.

Henry Holt & Company Publishers has a line of books out now called “Peanuts Classics.” This FORTY-BOOK series collects the best of the “Peanuts” strips from the very beginning through the late 1990’s. I own several of these and just picked up another that I finished reading today: “Peanuts Every Sunday.”

“Peanuts Every Sunday” collects the Sunday comic strips from 1958-1961; and although it doesn’t reprint every one of those cartoons, it gives you 125 pages of smiles, laughs, and “good griefs!”

These strips really focus on four characters: Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, and Lucy. I’ve always loved all four characters, Charlie Brown as the everyman who just can’t win; Snoopy as the crazy kinda guy you’d like to think you are; Linus as the savant who’s good at schoolwork, theology, baseball, and blankets; and Lucy, who’s one of the nastiest fussbudget b!tches in Western Literature, but who does have a heart in there. Somewhere. I’ve got an older sister, and we often compared her unfavorably to Lucy…sometimes now I feel bad about that. But not often. Schroeder, Sally, Violet, Pig Pen, and Patty are all in this collection as well, but not as much.

The best strips are the ones where you can see the running gags develop; some of these include Linus boxing with Snoopy (who wears the boxing glove on his nose), Charlie Brown’s struggles with his kite, and Lucy’s neverending quest to undermine Linus’ happiness.

“Peanuts” has always been about the dark humor found in children’s cruelty to each other, and this is seen best in a strip midway through the book, where Lucy happens to find one of Charlie Brown’s shirts (he had left it over there whilst running through the sprinkler), and puts it on, launching into a parody of Good Ol’ Charlie Brown that’s both cruel and hilarious. Lucy, Violet, and Patty are all on the verge of wetting themselves with glee when Charlie Brown comes on the scene, says “Well hello there Charlie Brown…You Blockhead!” and leaves, his dignity somehow intact.

Other classics include the inception of the Christmas Pageant idea (later immortalized on television) and Linus and Charlie Brown waiting for the Great Pumpkin (Chuck was replaced by Sally in the special). This is a wonderful collection of both sweet and mean-hearted comic strips; through it all, good ol’ Charlie Brown is somehow the target, peer, and hero of these children. He’s their leader, he’s their scapegoat, and sometimes….just sometimes, he wins.


Recommended: Yes