In the comic book business, we have this annual event called Free Comic Book Day. On that day (usually the first Saturday in May), anyone can walk into almost any comic book store worthy of the name and get a comic book for free.

Now, you can’t get just any comic book on their shelves. Most of the major publishers create special Free Comic Book Day comics, which they sell to stores at a very low price so that the stores can give them away for free. And this time around, Fantagraphics (publishers of The Complete Peanuts) are offering The Unseen Peanuts, a collection of strips in comic book format — which will be the first time we’ve seen a Peanuts comic book in traditional American comic book format since 1964! And the contents — over 100 strips that had gone unreprinted in books before The Complete Peanuts rolled around… I’m not yet clear on how many of them are already reprinted in The Complete Peanuts, and how many are to be reprinted in upcoming volumes. In any case, this is a comic book that Peanuts collectors should want. The interiors are black-and-white.
A couple notes of caution:

• Not every store will have The Unseen Peanuts. There are certain comics that shops are required to have on hand to be recognized as a Free Comic Book Day location, but The Unseen Peanuts is not among them.
• Those stores that have it won’t have unlimited quantities. Get there early.
• You won’t be able to grab as many copies as your little fists can hold. Different stores have different policies about Free Comic Book Day. Some let you take only one comic book, some let you take a bunch… but generally not more than one of the same comic.

I’ll have more on this as Free Comic Book Day approaches.

By the way, if that cover image seems familiar as a cover, you’re probably remembering this book from earlier AAUGH Blog posts (or the Museum of Odd Peanuts Books):

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