Not That Charlie Brown

Charlie Brown shows

On Wednesday, September 7, 1887, a horse named Charlie Brown, owned by one H.P. Brown, came in third place at a race at the annual fair for California’s Seventeenth Agricultural District, consisting of Placer and Nevada County. This would have been more impressive had there been more than three horses …

Not That Charlie Brown

Charlie Brown in black and white

Found another Charlie Brown of history. In 1875, Charlie Brown and his brother Derry, as well as some other individuals, were accused of rounding up fellow African Americans in order to kill the white men of Mississippi. This was at a time when race issues were playing out in some …

Not That Charlie Brown

Charlie Brown has been in town for a long time

Back in 1884, there was a Native American (of the Calpella band) farmer who knew English better than the fellow members of his band, so he ended up doing a lot of the translation for them. He’d been born in Santa Rosa, California, in the town where the Schulz Museum and his …

Comic book Peanuts

You’re a Good Kite Man, Charlie Brown

Trivia note: The supervillain Kite Man first appeared in a Batman story in 1960… but it wasn’t until a 1986 issue of Hawkman that writer Tony Isabella announced that his real name is Charles Brown.

Upcoming releases

The best and the best, and friends of friends

Coming out on the same day in December are two board books, one named A Best Friend for Woodstock, and the other, A Best Friend for Snoopy. Is this a coincidence? Or are they linked somehow? Could it be that they go together… that it turns out that the unnamed best friend …

Upcoming releases

Linus, visionary

There are some more kids storybooks coming up later this year. In August, we learn that Lucy Knows Best, with Kama Einhorn on adaptation and my occasional collaborator Robert Pope on the art. (For one of Robert’s non-Peanuts books, the About The Author section claims that he is a theologian at …

Upcoming releases

The Washington Post looks at Seth and Complete Peanuts

The Washington Post gives a well due look at Seth and his efforts at bringing The Complete Peanuts together. He has done great things in establishing a usable, functional look to the series, and is now facing with the difficulties introduced with volume 26, which includes a lot of material …

Uncategorized

Raspberry Beret meets Red Baron

Apparently, last month, rock legend Prince included “Linus and Lucy” in his set list. That’s a recording I’d love to hear.

General

David Liverett

Word has come out that David Liverett died on Friday at the age of 72. His contribution to Schulz scholarship was his book They Called Him Sparky, an oral history book on Schulz’s involvement in the Church of God. This was a book that I reviewed favorably when it came out, …

New releases

Messy Like Pigpen and other Like books

Kindly deliveryman has brought me two books in the [blank] Like [character] series, Messy Like Pigpen and Cool Like Snoopy. Now, when I review a book, I try to do it with consideration as to who the target market is… but in this case, I’m really not sure. These are board books, so …