Questions answered

Delicate Sparky

I tweeted out the cover to Kop Op, Charlie Brown the other day, as part of a series of ridiculous Peanuts items. And after a comment from a respected member of the comics profession noting that it must be a trace, I tweeted out what was clearly being traced, the cover …

Discounts

Discount biography

Today there’s a Kindle deal on the biography Sparky: The Life and Art of Charles Schulz, a mere $1.99. Amazon shipping is running slow at the moment, overwhelmed with orders from those of us trying not to leave their homes… but Kindle and other digital deliveries are going smoothly. I …

Not That Charlie Brown

A better pitcher than Charlie Brown

Ladies, gentlemen, and those who identify otherwise, let me introduce you to: Charlie Brown! Charles Edward Brown was a professional baseball pitcher… briefly. In 1897 he pitched four games for the Cleveland Spiders, a Major League Baseball team of the day. This left-hander started four games, and is credited with …

Classic finds

That’s a he’ll of a thing!

Sometimes I go looking for a picture of a Peanuts book item I once wrote about, only to discover that I wrote it so long ago that it was before the AAUGH Blog (well, then an email newsletter) had pictures. And since I wrote about this on May 2, 2001, …

Upcoming releases

The Gang’s going soft!

In October, I told you about a hardcover book that appeared to be a Costco exclusive, collecting two of the AMP kid-aimed strip reprint books, Snoopy: Cowabunga! and Charlie Brown and Friends. Now it looks like those of you who are not Costco members will get a shot at this book as …

Upcoming releases

Upcoming books of Schulz interviews and Sundays

Coming from Fantagraphics in October is “What Cartooning Really Is”: The Major Interviews with Charles Schulz. This offers up four interviews with Sparky, conducted by Fantagraphics head Gary Groth, film critic Leonard Maltin, novelist Laurie Colwin, and comics historian Rick Marschall. For those with a hefty Peanuts research bookshelf, the …

New releases

Superman’s Pal, Famous Fussbudget

This cover, one of a couple for the recent issue 7 of the current Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen series, is by my ol’ pal Steve Lieber (we wrote The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Creating a Graphic Novel together.)

New releases

Review: No Rest for the Easter Beagle

When you work on Peanuts stories for the beyond-the-strip media, you are told not to modernize them. Even though you shouldn’t shout “this takes place in the past”, the Peanuts kids will continue to inhabit a world filled with wired telephones, where the kids play with marbles but not fidget …

Upcoming releases

The new Only Necessary cover

AAUGH Blog reader Asher kindly pointed out that I had messed up including a link to my review of the previous edition of the Chip Kidd book Only What’s Necessary, so I’ve fixed that post, and here’s the link again! Meanwhile, we now have a front cover image for the …

Upcoming releases

Not just a Peanuts book, THE Peanuts Book

Coming out this fall for the 70th anniversary of Peanuts is a 200 page hardcover that is titled simply The Peanuts Book. (There is a chance that I will have a very minor involvement in this book, so out of caution, I’m raising the ethics flag and just running the …