In this issue:
* CHARLIE BROWN GOES BACK TO SCHOOL
* DOUBLE BRITISH BOOKS
* SCHULZ MUSEUM ANNIVERSARY
* LI’L FOLKS, BIG NEWS
* SOME TEES ARE JUST A TEASE
CHARLIE BROWN GOES BACK TO SCHOOL
The new themed strips collection IT’S BACK TO SCHOOL, CHARLIE BROWN!
has now been released. This paperback collection has 315 strips
about school and education. Unlike previous school-oriented
collections, this book draws from across the entire run of the
strip, starting with strips from the very first year. And there
are strips in here which I’m fairly sure have not been in any
other U.S. book, although there are also some familiar favorites
here.
There are a lot of good strips in here, and while it does have
some of the curious faults that plagued A Peanuts Christmas
(strips pulled out of the middle of continuities, strips with
only a passing relevance to the theme at hand), it has much
less of that problem than the Christmas book, and the design
work on the book is generally better. The strips are all published
in black and white (even the Sundays, alas) against backgrounds
designed to look like the covers or interiors of old school
theme books. The design doesn’t overwhelm the reading experience.
They do vary the number of strips per page, frequently running
only one daily on a page, but the total number of strips is
respectable so this is not a problem.
A few interesting errors crop up. On page 12, a panel of a strip
is accidentally repeated, leaving a panel out of the gag. And
while the strips are generally presented in order of publication,
there are a couple slip-ups along the way. Most notable is the
last strip run, which bears the date of April 4th, 2000… which
was after the last new strip appeared. This is actually the
rerun of a strip from 1974, and should have appeared toward the
center of the book.
They have left the date and copyright notices on the strips,
which shouldn’t matter to the casual reader but is good news
for the more obsessive among us. And it does let us indeed
verify that the early strip where Charlie Brown says he was
too young for school came after strips where he said he was
going to school.
All in all, a nice book, and one worth having or giving.
You can order it now at http://AAUGH.com/to.htm?0345452836
(My favorite I-don’t-recall-seeing-these-before strips in
this book include a couple about the banning of a Helen
Sweetstory book, and one early 1950s strip in which a
passing comment from Lucy suggests that she believes her
parents bought her.)
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DOUBLE BRITISH BOOKS
You bought them when they were the Snoopy Stars series! You bought
them again when they were reprinted as the Snoopy Features series!
Okay, looking at my ordering record, you didn’t buy the Snoopy
Features series, but dadgummit, you’re getting another chance!
Ravette Publishing is launching the SNOOPY 2-IN-1 series, taking
two books of the Snoopy Features series (strip collections built
around specific themes, not all Snoopy) and releasing them as a
single volume.
The first two volumes in this series are being released
simultaneously in September. Remember, these orders will
go through the UK branch of Amazon, so you cannot mix them
with regular AAUGH.com orders.
SNOOPY FEATURES AS THE FLYING ACE
+ SNOOPY FEATURES AS THE LITERARY ACE
http://AAUGH.com/uk/to.htm?1841611778
SNOOPY FEATURES AS THE FITNESS FANATIC
+ SNOOPY FEATURES AS THE MATCHMAKER
http://AAUGH.com/uk/to.htm?1841611786
This month brings the UK its own editions of some of the
serial strip reprints:
I TOLD YOU SO, YOU BLOCKHEAD (incomplete collection of 1992’s strips)
http://AAUGH.com/uk/to.htm?1841611824
NOW THAT’S PROFOUND, CHARLIE BROWN (incomplete collection of
1991’s strips)
http://AAUGH.com/uk/to.htm?1841611816
IT’S A DOG’S LIFE, SNOOPY (complete collection of 1998 strips)
http://AAUGH.com/uk/to.htm?1841611794
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SCHULZ MUSEUM ANNIVERSARY
The Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, California is celebrating
its first anniversary August 15th-18th, with a new exhibit
(From Elzie C. Segar to Frank Wing – A Legacy Continued),
previews of the next animated special, and special features:
Friday, August 15th: an appearance by Yoshiteru Otani, the
artist who designed the big wooden Morphing Snoopy sculture
and the tile mural where a big Peanuts picture is actually made
up of thousands of strips.
Saturday, August 16th: Lee Mendelson, producer of the Peanuts
specials, will be speaking. Derrick Bang, maintainer
of the Peanuts FAQ, a key guy over at the Peanuts Collectors Club,
and author of 50 Years of Happiness: A Tribute to Charles M. Schulz
will be on hand as well. Plus, free root beer floats for
everyone, and door prizes throughout the day!
Sunday, August 17th: More root beer floats! More door prizes!
and Paige Braddock, creative director of Charles M. Schulz Creative A
ssociates, will talk about the Peanuts licensing process. Paige
is a talented cartoonist in her own right, and her Jane’s World
series is available both as an online comic strip and comic
book.
Monday, August 18th: Free admission! Plus, Pearls Before Swine
cartoonist Stephan Pastis talks about how Schulz influence the world
of cartooning.
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LI’L FOLKS, BIG NEWS
Derrick Bang (see above) and the Schulz Museum are producing
a publication about the proto-Peanuts panel from the St.
Paul Pioneer-Press, LI’L FOLKS! Those early Schulz cartoons
about kids, seen by few, are a wealth of both funny material
and insight into where Peanuts came from, so I’m quite
interested to see what these folks are offering up.
I will, of course, have more details for you as the
as-yet-unannounced release date approaches…
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SOME TEES ARE JUST A TEASE
About a month back, Camp Snoopy sent out an email announcing a
bunch of Linus-related items, to go along with the Looking For
Linus statue exhibit currently going on in St. Paul. There
was one item that particularly caught my eye:
http://www.campsnoopy.com/detail.asp?product_id=779918
Go there and take a look at that “Linus Swinging Tee” and
see if you notice what I did.
….
You noticed? Good. That’s right. It looks like a perfectly
nice shirt, one that many people will be glad to wear, but
that claim that it’s “sure to please either your Linus or
Snoopy fan”, that’s not going anywhere. Because, of course,
it’s not a Linus Swinging Tee at all. It’s a Rerun Swinging
Tee. The art on it is taken from the August 10th, 1997 strip.
Now, Rerun and Linus are frequently easy to confuse (there
is a reason he’s named “Rerun”, after all.) I wouldn’t pick
on these guys, but:
1) Camp Snoopy exists solely as a Peanuts licensee. They
are in the Peanuts business. They should know better.
2) They were informed of their error, one which might lead
people to buy the wrong item as a gift for Linus fans, over
a month ago. I gave them plenty of chance to correct their
catalog. Hey, if they insist on looking like idjits, there’s
only so much one can do to help them.
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Let me know if you have any questions, suggestions, or concerns!
I’ll send out more news when I have it.
–Nat
proprietor
http://AAUGH.com
