Peanuts go Blu-Ray

I’m back from Comic-Con, and what did I get there? Strange foreign germs, apparently. Lots of cough medicine and bed rest and all the TV shows that are stored up on my pseudoTivo, that’s what’s called for.

Anyone who went there for the Peanuts stuff may have been a mite disappointed. The little astronaut Snoopy statues apparently never showed up. Still, there was lots of good stuff for any cartoon fans, and one of the TV voices of Charlie Brown was on hand for autographs.

Anyhow, for those of you for whom DVD is too low-resolution a way to watch old television, we have the upcoming October 6 Blu-Ray release of A Charlie Brown Christmas. It’ll basically be a Blue-Ray version of the DVD release (same featurettes, same second special – It’s Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown), but with one special bonus that you didn’t get as a bonus with the DVD version — and that’s a DVD version of the special! And also a digital version for those who want to carry A Charlie Brown Christmas on their pocket devices.

But for those of you — okay, I admit it, those of us — who don’t have a Blu-Ray player, October 6 also brings a release of interest. I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown hits DVD in a new edition. And while you may have this special on DVD already, it’s the first DVD release for the second special on the disc, Happy New Year, Charlie Brown. And then there’s a new featurette taking a look at the place of Rerun in Peanuts, with input from Jeannie Schulz, Lee Mendelson, and your humble AAUGH blogger (unless they wise up and edit me out.)

Now excuse, me… I’ve got to go edit our video shopping page to add a column for Blu-Ray. (sigh.)

Upcoming releases
A box of squares

This May, Fantagraphics is collecting the various small square Peanuts books they’ve published into a new box set, Peanuts All Year Round Mini Collection. This includes: A Valentine for Charlie Brown — Valentine’s Day and romance strips Batter-Up Charlie Brown! — baseball strips Waiting for the Great Pumpkin — Halloween …

Upcoming releases
Game Day returns

Back in 2020, Fantagraphics dropped Game Day, a boxed set of sports-themes Peanuts strip reprint paperbackss, as a Costco exclusive. Next June it’s coming back, this time in hardcover and available through the usual sources. Designed as a Father’s Day gift, it should be good for anyone who likes Peanuts …

Upcoming releases
An unauthorized? biography

In the past, I’ve talked about the Charles Schulz biographies that are produced as part of bulk lines of biographies for school libraries, very brief, photo-heavy things meant to give kids something to write book reports about. Well ABDO, a company that has produced just such a biography in the …