* THE COMPLETE LI’L FOLKS
* MORE ON THE COMPLETE PEANUTS
* WHOOPS!
* CATCHING UP
* UP LAST: ON FIRST
THE COMPLETE LI’L FOLKS
Hot on the heels of the announcement of The Complete Peanuts comes
details of another vital collection of hard-to-find material.
That LI’L FOLKS project that we mentioned here a while back?
Well, Derrick Bang, who is putting the book together for the Schulz
Museum, has let us know that yes, it is what so many hoped for. ALL
of the Li’l Folks comics that Schulz did for Minnesota newspapers
will be in this book. For those of you who don’t know what Li’l
Folks is, it’s the precursor to Peanuts. Schulz did several
single-panel gags per installment, all featuring kids with no
adults present. It doesn’t have a real continuing cast like
Peanuts did, but it does have that great sense of humor.
I know Derrick’s been doing some good research into this material
and has already gotten some interesting tidbits, so even though
I’ve read most of the cartoons (literally hundreds) I’m looking
forward to sitting down with this book.
This volume is scheduled to be available only from the Schulz
Museum. It won’t be available through AAUGH.com… although
I will of course be giving you order details when the time
is right.
When’s it coming out? No exact date is set yet, but we expect
you’ll be able to put it under people’s Christmas trees this
year.
Is this a good time to be a Schulz fan or what?
===================================================================
MORE ON THE COMPLETE PEANUTS
I’ve been getting a ton of questions about the Complete Peanuts
hardcover series I announced last newsletter. Luckily, I’m also
in contact with some of the folks behind this effort, so I can
get, if not a ton of answers, at least a few useful ones.
The good news: yes, they’re starting at the very beginning.
Volume 1 will reprint all the strips from 1950, 1951, and 1952.
That ships in the Spring of 2004.
Then they’ll keep going in order until it’s time to release
Volume 25, with all of the strips from 1999 and the few
from 2000. The bad news? That book comes out in the Spring
of 2016.
That’s right. They’re only doing 2 books a year. That makes it
easier on the pocketbook, of course, but it won’t be so good
for those of us not blessed with patience.
Each volume will have introductory material. It’s still
being worked out who will write the introductions. The books
will also each have an index in the back.
I expect to have more news about this shortly.
===================================================================
WHOOPS
Last newsletter, I included a link to a page where Easton Press
was advertising their fancy hardcover edition of PEANUTS 2000.
Well, that’s almost true.
I included a link to a page that used to have that book listed.
By the time I actually sent the newsletter out, Easton had updated
their site and that listing on that page was gone. However, the
book itself is not — you can get the expensive version of Peanuts
2000 by calling (in the US) 1-800-211-1308 and asking for item
1150.
Also available is a deluxe version of A PEANUTS CHRISTMAS, the
lackluster strip collection, for $90 — that’s item 1151.
For fifty cents less there’s A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS: THE
MAKING OF A TRADITION.
These books are leather bound and accented in 22 karat gold.
===================================================================
CATCHING UP
Things are hectic in my life, and I’d fallen behind in keeping
a couple parts of the site up-to-date. I cut down a bit on
my sleep last night and updated the list of upcoming Peanuts
books — http://AAUGH.com/upcoming.htm — and the newsletter
archives — http://AAUGH.com/archive/ — so that you can refer
to all the news without digging through your old email.
===================================================================
UP LAST: ON FIRST
Last but not necessarily least on today’s agenda is WHO’S ON
FIRST, CHARLIE BROWN?, another strip collection coming from
Ballantine. This one ships this coming April, at a price of
$13.95.
===================================================================
Well, that’s it for this newsletter, but as you can tell there’s
always new news to come. Feel free to send me your comments and
questions. And oh, if any of you is seeking opinions on the new
TV season, head over to http://www.gertler.com/nat/tv/ where I’m
reviewing the new shows.
–Nat
nat@AAUGH.com
