What the well-dressed cartoonist is drawing.

We’ve got a cover for The Great American Story of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the Peanuts Gang! (part of the History of Fun Stuff line) which comes out in just a couple of weeks. It’s an eye-catching piece, and I like it… but with a wry smile at its intentional ridiculousness. I mean, I’ve always chuckled at stage photos that have cartoonists working with a tie on, but at least that’s just an excess. Working with a jacket on is an actual interference with drawing. And here this cartoonist is holding up two finished, inked strips that he presumably inked with his two #2 pencils. And for some reason, he’s done two non-consecutive strips on a single page. Oh, and someone stuffed Pig-Pen into the wastebasket.

The book is available for preorder, in both hardcover and paperback (a mere $3.99 for the latter!)

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 …