Note: To unsubscribe from this newsletter, just respond and let me know. –Nat
IN THIS ISSUE:
* SNOOPY IS IN DA HOUSE (OF REPRESENTATIVES)
*THE RETURN OF A BOY NAMED CHARLIE BROWN
*THE NEXT BOOK — AVAILABLE FOR ORDER
*TEN DOLLAR OFF COUPON FOR AAUGH.COM
*ODD PEANUTS BOOKS: PEANUTS PIRATES STRIKE AGAIN??
==================================================================
SNOOPY IS IN DA HOUSE (OF REPRESENTATIVES)
I just got word from my contact on the staff of the U.S. House Of Representatives (yes, AAUGH.com does have friends in high places): Today, the House will be taking up a bill to allow the ceremony giving Schulz the Congressional Gold Medal to take place in the Capitol Rotunda! Don’t expect a lot of debate or votes against this one, folks.
==================================================================
THE RETURN OF A BOY NAMED CHARLIE BROWN
The folks at Metro Books, who last year returned the hardcover collection Peanuts Treasury to print after many years of absence, have done it again. This time, they’ve reissued A Boy Named Charlie Brown, the book version of the film about the spelling bee, in its original large size. This has plenty of images from the film. It does *not*, however, have the lyrics to the songs, so if you’re looking to memorize "I before E", this book won’t help you.
North America: http://AAUGH.com/go.htm?1586631888 In the UK: http://AAUGH.com/uk/go.htm?1586631888
Of course, if you really want to learn the song, just get the video tape of the movie!
North America (NTSC VHS) http://AAUGH.com/go.htm?B00005BCMT
This tape is not available in PAL format in the UK (but if you need something, how about Race For Your Life, CB?: http://www.aaugh.com/uk/go.htm?B00004U8LW )
==================================================================
THE NEXT BOOK — AVAILABLE FOR ORDER
It’s A Big World, Charlie Brown, the book collecting strips from 1997, is now available for pre-order. Put in your order now, and the book will ship when it’s published in a couple months. (And yes, the discount is already in place. Sometimes when you preorder, you end up ordering at full cover price — but at the moment, this book is offered with a 10% markdown in the UK, and 20% in the US!) So head on over to check it out–or just to take a gander at the cover art…
North America: http://AAUGH.com/go.htm?0345442709 In the UK: http://AAUGH.com/uk/go.htm?0345442709
(And ignore the part of the page where it says the author is Charles Chulz. Oy!)
==================================================================
TEN DOLLAR OFF COUPON FOR AAUGH.COM
If you head over to http://AAUGH.com now, you’ll see an online coupon to save five dollars off any purchase of $35 or more for orders from the US shop (or anything you order from Amazon once you click through, not including zStores or auction items.)
What I’m *not* putting on the site — at least, not yet — is the coupon for $10 off any $65 purchase. With Father’s Day right around the corner, this is a good time to go shopping for books, videos, and electronics — and while you’re at it, preorder yourself It’s A Big World, Charlie Brown! (Please note that only shipments going to the same location count toward the $65.) This coupon works the same way as the one on the site, only the code for it is DEALJUNEHAND
==================================================================
ODD PEANUTS BOOKS: PEANUTS PIRATES STRIKE AGAIN??
I just received an interesting book from an eBay bid. It was sold as a Japanese comic book with Peanuts material, but unless my eyes deceive me, it’s actually Chinese. (The difference can be hard to tell, since Japanese writing includes a Chinese-derived character set. However, this comic doesn’t seem to have the simpler characters that Japanese uses in addition to the Chinese ones.) And it does indeed have some Peanuts strips in it.
How can I tell it’s a pirated item? Well, for one, there is no visible copyright given to United Feature Syndicate. Even in foreign books, you’ll find a copyright notice in English.
But the more obvious giveaway: the drawings aren’t by Schulz! The strips are genuine Schulz strips, but they’ve been redrawn (presumably traced.) It’s odd that they don’t just reproduce the art directly, as they do in this comic with some art from Mad Magazine, mainly the work of the talented Sergio Aragones. Then again, Sergio has seen his own work redrawn in foreign lands, usually by folks who are trying to pass his work off as their own. In at least one case, however, Sergio’s comic Groo was redrawn by a legitimate licensor who simply didn’t have the appropriate stats to reproduce the work from. (When Sergio pointed out that the stats can be bought from the publisher for $5/page, the licensor replied that he was paying less than that to have it redrawn!) So perhaps they didn’t have clean copies to work from.
Peanutsesque characters are even drawn into the lead story of the comic, with a clearly-Snoopy dog and a Linus-like boy thrown in with the older leads of the story.
Judging from the fashions presented (and the aging of the paper), I’d say this black-and-white comic was published in the early ’70’s. I reckon it was probably a Taiwanese product, but I’ll have to get a Chinese reader to take a look at the indica to see if there are useful details there.
==============================================================
Well, that’s all the news from Pineview Corners, where all men are invisible, all dogs are fighter pilots, and the children are shorter than the panel border. Tune in next time for more news and weak attempts at humor!
–Nat, nat@aaugh.com proprietor http://AAUGH.com
