It’s Par for the Course, Charlie Brown collects golf-related strips from across the entire run of Peanuts. It’s not a complete collection, nor does it claim to be, but it certainly covers the major golf eras of the strip. In fact, reading this forced me to realize how golf came and went within the strip; there was an era early on when the kids played golf, and then Snoopy picked up the sport in the late 1960’s, and there was a large gulf between. The book has only one strip for the years 1955-1967. I can’t help but wonder if this reflects the amoutn of golf that Schulz was playing at various times of his life.

A self-covered (i.e., no dust jacket) hardcover, this book is fairly well put together as a gift item for a golfer. And it really is aimed at golfers; there are a number of strips that depend on golf terminology that will pass by the golf ignorant among us, particularly in the later section where Charlie Brown gets into his “old golf philosopher” mode of the later years.

Once again, the strips are all in black and white, even thought the decorations around the strips are in color. While it’s always nice to see Schulz’s linework clearly, there are a few Sundays which really gained from color.

For those of you who like your Peanuts books utterly golf-free, The Complete Peanuts Volume 3 is now shipping. This covers 1955-1956, and was reviewed previously in this blog.

And finally, for those of you who ask me from time to time what I’m up to: the latest book I’ve edited, 24 Hour Comics All-Stars, is now shipping, and I’m spending my time taking care of my daughter and gearing up for 24 Hour Comics Day.

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