Three-legged Woodstock

Here’s the cover of the upcoming book of Woodstock strips — and I’m hoping that it’s a draft design rather than the final cover. My problem is not just that when this image is run at full cover size, the lack of a fourth leg on the chair would be evident. No, I’m more concerned about the text that refers to Woodstock as “the smallest peanut”. Peanuts is the title of the strip, but it isn’t something to call the characters, an association that Schulz seemed to particularly loathe. I mean, just because there is a film called Jaws does not mean that one would refer to Richard Dreyfus’s character as “the smallest jaw”.

(At times, the cast as a whole is refered to as “the Peanuts gang”, which is more reasonable. Still, in the modern nomenclature it does make them sound like an organized band of ruffians.)


By the way, if anyone is looking for copies of the previously-descrived Architects for Snoopy, one of the AAUGH Blog readers purchased a number of them from the museum over a decade back and still has a few he’d be willing to sell. He notes that the catalog was offered in both English and French; he has the English edition. Email me at nat@AAUGH.com and I will give you an email address to contact him.

Upcoming releases
A book I’d not expected to resurface

Back in 2011, Schulz’s granddaughter Dena Hodges issued the first two chapters of  a memoir called In the Shadow of the Family Dog. As I noted in my review at the time, the chapter and the description of the project made it clear that the focus was her relationship with …

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 …