Non-Schulz Peanuts appear again

An intrepid AAUGH Blog reader (hi, Michael) called our attention to issue 59 of Alter Ego, a magazine on comic book history. In there is an interview with Al Plastino, long-time comic book artist, former cartoonist of the Nancy comic strip, and most relevant to this discussion, the guy whom United Feature Syndicate had tapped for taking over Peanuts should something happen to Schulz (back before it was decided that Such Things Would Not Be Done.) Among the illustrations for the article are small but clear reproductions of three Plastino Peanuts dailies, showing us what might have been. It’s not Schulz, but then again, what could be?

Plastino had a similarly never-to-be-loved-by-fans role in comic books. When Jack Kirby (whose role as the original artist behind the Fantastic Four, Hulk, X-Men, and so many more make most important artist in American comic book history) started doing Superman comics, the editor wasn’t satisfied with the look of the character, and had Plastino redraw all of the Superman heads.

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Animated Peanuts
Officially, it’s a “Super Chubby”

When I reviewed the 2015 book adapting the TV special It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, I had this to say: The book that’s titled It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (adaptation by Kara McMahon, art by Scott Jeralds) takes basically the whole special and simplifies everything. It briefly tells you that Charlie …

New releases
Review: Letters to Snoopy

Ah, I’m behind in reviewing some things, but I need to clean up my living room of book clutter in preparation for an upcoming oarty… and if I want to remove a Peanuts books from the room and put it up in the AAUGH,com Reference Library, I have to review …

New releases
A different kind of coffee table book

If you have a coffee table, you should have a “coffee table book”, a large, heavily illustrated color volume that your guests can easily and casually flip through, (Charles M. Schulz: The Art and Life of the Peanuts Creator in 100 Objects is a good choice, of course.) But you …