Oh, Good Gravy!

How many errors can you find in this first paragraph of a review of Schulz and Peanuts?

Charles M. Schulz’s original syndicated comic strip, called L’il Folks, appeared in just seven newspapers. Shortly afterward, he renamed it Peanuts, and the rest is legend. At the time of Schulz’s death in 2000, the names of Charlie Brown, Linus and Lucy Van Pelt, Schroeder, Peppermint Patty, Snoopy, and the rest of the gang were known to 300 million readers in 75 countries. Royalties from newspaper syndication, toys, games, TV specials, and commercials for Met Life and Ford brought in billions. Schulz’s international celebrity and monetary rewards should have added up to an immense satisfaction. But no, according to David Michaelis’s new biography.

It a surprise when a former editor of Time (one Stefan Kanfer) writes with the accuracy of a third grade book report…

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General
The 75th Anniversary

I sat down to write a nice, long something on the 75th anniversary of Peanuts, because it’s a 75th anniversary, because this is the official marking of Peanuts being a cultural presence after the end of the strip for half as long as the strip was being made, and because …

Discounts
Big Fantagraphics sale and other Peanuts notes

One thing about the switch from the previous blog-by-mail system to the current one is that if there were multiple blog posts in a day, the old system would send a single digest email while the new one will send an email for each post. Not wanting to flood people’s …

General
On Peanuts and Gender

This weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the sold-out Transpose Theatricals production of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown in North Hollywood, California. The production featuring an all-trans and non-binary cast was a fun one, the cast brought great talent and a enthusiasm and really filled out their characters …