The AAUGH.com newsletter is sent only to those who request it. If you haven’t requested the newsletter, then someone has forged your address. Respond to this message to let me know, and I’ll take you off the list.
* PEANUTS TREASURY: NOW AVAILABLE
*IT’S PREORDER TIME
*PEANUTS 2000 — QUITE A BOOK!
*BOOK NEWS FROM THE SAN DIEGO COMIC CON
PEANUTS TREASURY NOW AVAILABLE
Regular newsletter readers may remember that I’ve talked about the new edition of the Peanuts Treasury, a big hardcover strip reprint which AAUGH.com couldn’t offer? Well, things have changed! Now we can offer it, and let me tell you, this book is a great deal. It’s a large hardcover (9" by 11") with about 250 pages of strips from 1959 through 1967, a great era in Peanuts. The Sunday strips aren’t in color, alas, but when you consider the price: $9.98 — wow! I’ve been buying these things to give as gifts, even buying spares in case a sudden gift need comes up.
===============================================================
IT’S PREORDER TIME
With a wave of new books and videos coming out over the next few months, it’s time to preorder so you’re the first one on your block to have them! Head over to http://AAUGH.com and on the front page you’ll find links for: Peanuts 2000 — the new strip reprint book It’s the Pied Piper, Charlie Brown — the new animated special A Charlie Brown Christmas: The Making Of A Tradition — book DVDs of three classic Peanuts specials and more! The prices are in place, the discounts are good, so it’s time to get on it!
========================================================
PEANUTS 2000 — QUITE A BOOK!
I’m holding in my hands a copy of Peanuts 2000, the new strip collection. Oh, sure, the book won’t be available until early next month — this is one of the perks of being the AAUGH.com guy!
This book has every strip from 1999, plus the 2000 strips. And here’s the big surprise: they’re ALL in color. That’s right, the dailies as well as the Sundays have been colored. Some purists might complain, but it does inded look sharp. And 163 pages of full-color Peanuts is a great deal at the cover price ($11.95 US), and an even better deal if you get it through http://AAUGH.com and thus get your discount.
There is one problem, however. An error has crept into the first printing; they left out the final daily and the final Sunday strips (the ones in which Schulz said goodbye), even though the back claims to include the "unforgettable farewell strip"! The publisher swears that this will be fixed with the second printing. So does that make this first printing a special find for the collector, or does it just make it flawed? That’s for you to decide for yourself.
I saved my copy of the farewell strip, so I’m not worried that it’s missing in the book. This is a keen, keen volume. Rerun is a full-fledged character, taking over the strip in this great run, but your favorites are still there as well. Not just the core crew, either; the Beagle Scouts are there, as are Olaf and Andy, Franklin, Lydia. We have lost love and forgotten book reports. This is good stuff, folks.
===============================================================
BOOK NEWS FROM THE SAN DIEGO COMIC CON
Thanks to some wonderful guests, the two Peanuts panels at the San Diego con went wonderfully. There were a lot of good reminscences about Schulz and the strip, some nice insight, and some laughs. And, most importantly for this newsletter, some news about upcoming books.
On the definite projects list, Ku Liang of Ballantine Books confirmed that they would be reprinting all of the last five full years of Peanuts, one year per book, released in reverse order. (Peanuts 2000, described above, is the first of these books.)
Jean Sagendorph of United Media let us know that the A Charlie Brown Christmas: The Making Of A Tradition book is designed to make a matched set with Peanuts: A Golden Celebration, with a silver cover to match the gold cover of the Golden Celebration. This will be one to put under the Christmas tree!
And everyone who has dealt with Chip Kidd in regards to the Art of Peanuts book (due next year) say that he’s gotten access to a lot of things that you’ve never seen in any book before, and with Chip’s abilities as a designer, this should be a keen volume.
In terms of possible books under consideration, they’re once again looking at the possiblity of doing a "complete Peanuts" in some form. Don’t count on it, though; there are a lot of problems with putting together such a project. Also under consideration is a book collecting the comic strips from May 27th, when other cartoonists paid tribute to Schulz and Peanuts. (There are some interesting-but-unlikely other projects under consideration as well; more news on them if they come any closer to reality.)
======================================================
That’s all the news for this issue. Keep thinking good thoughts, and let me know if there’s any way that AAUGH.com could serve you better. (We just had someone suggest that we add a page on French-language Peanuts books to the collector’s guide. Anyone second that request?)
–Nat Gertler Main madman http://AAUGH.com
