Peanuts by the numbers

My focus is, and always will be, on Peanuts as a work of art. I draw interest and amusement from how that work of art is presented commercially.

But it’s also a matter of business, and not a small business at that. So images like this one being distributed by the new purchaser of much of the Peanuts rights is an interesting reminder of that other end of things… the end that in many ways makes the ongoing presentation of the art possible, but seems so removed from the heart of it. I flinch a bit when 2/3s of the images shown are from the recent Peanuts movie, rather than things drawn by Schulz (and I say that with much respect for the careful effort the moviemakers did indeed put it.)

But none of this gets in the way of the fact that the strip continues to be available to be read, and that interesting things inspired from it continue to be produced.

Click to enlarge.
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