The AAUGH blog

Been a slow news period, but it’s about time to do some more flipping through The Peanuts Collection, the upcoming slipcased hardcover look at Peanuts which I provided the text for. We’re up to page 18 here, and this spread is about advertising and Peanuts. The text talks about some of the Peanuts-centered ad campaigns, and also how advertising has actually helped Peanuts. It’s really the visuals that make this spread. There’s an early ad for Peanuts itself, pictures of some MetLife items, some Dolly Madison ad drawings, and some Schulz sketches for Butternut Bread ads. The biggest shot on the spread is a Peanuts ad for the Ford Mustang.

Suddenly, I can hear a few of you attentive folks sharpening your pencils to write me a corrective email, letting me know that I obviously meant Ford Falcon, as that was the car the Peanuts characters advertised. So let me cut you off by pointing out two things: 1) pencils are a really lousy way to write email, and 2) no, I actually mean Mustang. I was surprised by this one myself when we found it in the Schulz Museum archives.

But this full-color ad piece for the 1965 Mustang serves a double purpose – it’s also a pocket. Reach into it and you can pull out a reduced reproduction of A Scrapbook about Your Falcon, which you have seen discussed previously on this blog and in my online Museum of Odd Peanuts Books.

The next spread is on Snoopy, filled with the history of everyone’s favorite well-eventually-they-decided-he-was-a-beagle. And this spread has a reduced reproduction of the educational Snoopy’s First Code Book tipped in (“tipped in” being publishing talk for “glued to the page”.)

Then there’s a spread on Peanuts in animation, and immediately after that (and very much linked to it), a spread on Peanuts and Christmas. The text talks a lot about A Charlie Brown Christmas, of course, but the pictures bring in not only that, but Peanuts ornaments, a single cartoon from Charlie Brown’s Christmas Stocking (a 1963 insert in Good Housekeeping magazine), and a removable greeting card. Now, this isn’t the reproduction of some high-print-run Hallmark card; this was a card which Schulz designed custom for the actor who played Schroeder in the San Francisco cast of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown – so if you don’t have one of its original print run of 100, here’s your change to have it.

We’re not halfway through the book yet, but I best get on to other things. But first, since I’ve been talking about removable items, let me bring up a related topic. I’ve already been facing the question coming in via email “if I buy this book, and send it to you, will you sign it and send it back?” Now, I don’t want people sending whole books through the mail – it’s both too much of a chance of getting damaged, and too much of a hassle on this end. With previous books, I’ve been willing to send out signed bookplates – stickers that you stick on the inside front cover (excuse me, “tip in”), and voila, it becomes a signed copy! But for this book with its removable items, I think it might make more sense for people to send me the removable item and a SASE, and I’d sign it and send it back. The first removable item on page 9 should fit easily into a standard envelope, and that would keep things simple. You can let me know what you think of this suggestion by emailing questions@AAUGH.com .

(It is possible I will be doing some signing appearances for this book, but it is not yet definite. If any are scheduled, I will announce it here.)

If you have a favorite bookstore and want to preorder, the ISBN is 978-0316086103 (US edition), 978-1741730685 (Australian edition), or 978-1-84773-827-1 (UK edition.) For those who like to order from your favorite online sites, here are the links:

• Amazon
• Indybound
• Borders
• B&N

For those of you who are coming to Comic-Con in San Diego next week and want to say “hi”, well, I certainly don’t want you to miss the Peanuts panel to catch my mostly-aimed-at-retailers 24 Hour Comics Day panel. However, I have arranged to do a signing at the Prism Comics booth (#2146/2148/2049) on Friday from 9 to 10 AM. I won’t have my upcoming The Peanuts Collection book to show, alas, but I’ll be glad to see any of you AAUGH Blog readers.

So the San Diego Comic-Con 2010 is coming up in just under 2 weeks, and if you look at the schedule of talks, you will find this:

Friday, 2:00-3:00 Peanuts Turns 60— On October 2, 1950 the Peanuts comic strip launched in seven American newspapers. Little did anyone know the impact this comic strip would have around the world for decades to come. Nearly 60 years later, Peanuts appears in over 2,200 newspapers, in 75 countries and 21 languages. The animated specials have become a seasonal tradition and thousands of consumer products are available in every country around the world. Moderator Jerry Beck (animation historian/cartoon producer/consulting producer to Warner Bros., Universal, and Disney), Comic-Con special guest Jeannie Schulz (widow of Peanuts creator Charles Schulz), Paige Braddock (creative director of Charles M. Schulz’s studio in Santa Rosa), Andy Beall (fix animation lead for Ratatouille, Wall-E, UP), Stephan Pastis (creator of Pearls Before Swine), and Marge Dean (general manager, W!ldbrain Animation Studios), present an in-depth foray into the work of Charles M. Schulz and what new things fans can look out for from Peanuts. Warner Premiere is joining the celebration with a sneak peek of something all new from Peanuts that fans won’t want to miss. Room 25ABC

Know what else is on the schedule?

Friday, 2:30-3:30 The 24-Hour Comics Day Challenge— Can you create a full 24-page comic from scratch in 24 hours? Popular comics creators give out tips and tricks to help you complete the challenge this year and have your comic included in the international 24-Hour Comics collection. Or are you interested in hosting a 24-Hour Comics Day event in your area? Nat Gertler (publisher of About Comics and founder of 24-Hour Comics Day) and Portlyn Polston (Brave New World Comics, Newhall, CA) can tell you how to create and advertise a successful event at your store, school, or library. Room 12

That’s right – the one and only panel that I’m on, and it’s overlapping with the big Peanuts panel. That means that I’m going to have to miss the Peanuts panel, with its preview footage of what’s obviously Happiness is a Blanket, Charlie Brown (and “Warner Premiere” means this is direct-to-video, folks.) And it means that the huge room for the poor Peanuts panel will be empty, because all of the AAUGH Blog fans will be over at my panel, soaking in the goodness that is me… right? Right?

Oh, all right. Go to the Peanuts panel. Have a good time, and let me know about any new news they announce there. Just don’t gloat to me about how abso-mazing it was, okay?

That’s me, holding up the leather-bound Easton Press edition of A Charlie Brown Christmas: The Making of a Tradition, which I scooped up with a little recent birthday money. With this purchase, I now own every edition of print adaptations of A Charlie Brown Christmas. Well, every one that I know of. Every one that’s out so far, that is. There will be one or two new ones out this fall, and if I don’t snag those, the completeness of my set shall come to an end… but what are the odds of that happening?

(Some people seek to triumph by bringing peace or curing diseases. Me, I set my sights lower… and I win!)

I still haven’t gotten clearance to talk about that October book.

But for those of you who asked, there is more info to be linked to!

As I’ve said before, when I’m on the “inside” of some project, I’m not always free to talk about the details.

But no one can fault me for linking to a listing that’s already on Amazon….