In this issue:<\/p>\n
* REVIEW: A TRIBUTE TO SPARKY
\n
\n* PEANUTS AT THE BOOK EXPO
\n
\n* MUSEUM OF ODD PEANUTS BOOKS
\n
\n* LINUS ON THE LOOSE!<\/p>\n
REVIEW: A TRIBUTE TO SPARKY<\/p>\n
The Schulz Museum’s book A TRIBUTE TO SPARKY is an
\ninteresting collection of cartoons drawn for or about
\nCharles Schulz reflecting on his illness, subsequent
\nretirement, and passing. It’s not an attempt to
\npresent every tribute piece, but merely the ones in
\nthe museum collection that were displayed in a series
\nof exhibitions. Even within that limitation it
\nrepresents the work of over a hundred cartoonists,
\nsomewith multiple pieces.<\/p>\n
The cartoons are a mix of personal “get well” drawings
\nsent to Sparky, strips done for the “let’s surprise
\nSparky with Peanuts references in every strip” day that
\nSparky never lived to see, and various editorial, daily,
\nand speciality strips done during that period. The works
\nare a mix of quality, and even some that would have
\nseemed touching on their own merely seem redundant in a
\nsea of similar strips. Some of the pieces are exceptional.<\/p>\n
The reproduction is high-quality shots of the original
\nart, and for anyone who has not seen much original comics
\nart it could actually be quite educational. You’re able
\nto see the paste ups, erasures, white-outs, blue lines,
\nand other signs of the physical creation of comics.<\/p>\n
The book puts one strip on each 11″x8″ page. It would
\nhave been nice had they rotated the vertically-oriented
\nstrips to give them more room; the lovely work on
\nNon-Sequitir and especially Art Spiegelman’s two-page
\nstory from The New Yorker would have been clearer with
\nmore space. (The Spiegelman item is a particular treat;
\nnot only is it a fine, insightful, and personal piece
\nof work, but what’s reproduced here is not the final
\npiece but a preliminary version, loose and sketchy,
\nletting you see some of Spiegelman’s process.)<\/p>\n
A few minor errors have cropped up in the book; a small
\ntypo here, an incorrect strip date there. But the errors
\nthat really frustrate me are the ones in the drawings
\nthemselves, with Schulz’s name being misspelled or with
\nSnoopy being identified as “The Red Baron”. Gah! You’re
\npaying tribute to the man, know what it is you’re
\npaying tribute to! (But as someone who has spent a fair
\namount of time with cartoonists, let me note that the
\noverall tone of admiration is indeed sincere. There is
\na very strong affection for both Sparky and his work in
\nthe cartooning fields.)<\/p>\n
The book is printed on heavy paper with thick covers.
\nIt’s wire bound, an interesting choice but not one
\nthat I’m happy with. Yes, it lets the book lie open
\nflat, useful if you’re displaying the contents or using
\nit as a reference work. However, wire bindings are easily
\nbent, and the lack of a proper spine makes the book
\nanonymous on the bookshelf.<\/p>\n
All in all, an interesting volume, a special one, and
\none that a serious Peanuts book collector should own.
\nThis is only available through the Schulz Museum store,
\nbut as noted earlier they are accepting phone orders.
\nCall (707) 579-4452 during museum hours (remember,
\nthey’re west coast and closed Tuesdays) and ask for
\nthe museum store. Price is $30 plus shippping.
\n
\n==============================================================<\/p>\n
PEANUTS AT THE BOOK EXPO<\/p>\n
This past weekend I was at Book Expo America, the country’s
\nbiggest bookseller convention. Publishers were there in
\nforce, showing off what they have coming up. Alas, there
\nwasn’t much visible for the Peanuts book fan; Paradise
\nPress had a variety of Peanuts coloring and activity
\nbooks on display, and the folks at Andrews McMeel had
\na picture of the 2004 Peanuts wall calendar on display
\n(and shots of a couple other Peanuts calendars in their
\ncatalog).<\/p>\n
The Andrews McMeel booth did have something that should
\nmake the Peanuts fans envious: a preview of a Complete
\nFar Side collection. A two volume slip-cased set has
\nevery one of the 4000+ syndicated Far Sides (over 1000
\nof which aren’t in any previous Far Side book), including
\ncolor reproduction, plus various other pieces, a forward
\nby Steve Martin, and more. This is coming out in October,
\npriced at $135… but you can chop $40 off of that by
\npreordering it now at http:\/\/AAUGH.com\/to.htm?0740721135 <\/p>\n
I hope that when the eventual Complete Peanuts is done,
\nit is done in as classy a manner.<\/p>\n
Without my Peanuts fan hat on, the show was a lot of
\nfun. There was always something to see, whether it was
\na group of Buddhist monks pushing their publications
\na few aisles away from hardcore adult material, booksellers
\nzooming around trying to get all the free autographed books
\nthey can, or handicapped folks zooming around on Segways.
\n
\n==============================================================<\/p>\n
MUSEUM OF ODD PEANUTS BOOKS<\/p>\n
I’ve now added a new article on the website, a piece
\nabout various strange and weird Peanuts books that
\nhave been produced over the years. Those of you who
\nhave been reading this newsletter for a while (or have
\nread the archives) have seen most of these books described,
\nalthough now you’ll get to see full color photos of them!
\nThis piece started out as an article in the most recent
\nHogan’s Alley magazine, but I’ve already expanded it and
\nwill likely continue to expand it as I find more weird
\nitems. Check it out at:
\n
\n http:\/\/AAUGH.com\/guide\/oddbooks.htm
\n
\n==============================================================<\/p>\n
LINUS ON THE LOOSE!<\/p>\n
Once again, the city of St. Paul will be home to a surfeit
\nof superior statues, in this case status of Linus Van Pelt.
\nDozens of statues are now being placed throughout the city,
\nthere for the tourists to admire. There are some keen
\nphotos of the statues in progress at:
\n
\n http:\/\/www.startribune.com\/stories\/462\/3896334.html<\/p>\n
I expect that there will once again be a booklet of photos
\nof the statues available through Camp Snoopy in the Mall
\nOf America. (And speaking of Camp Snoopy, did you realize
\nthat the U.S. military actually has a “Camp Snoopy”? It’s
\nat the Qatar International Airport, and acts primarily
\nas a forwarding point for supplies sent to the Middle
\nEast.)
\n
\n==============================================================<\/p>\n
Well, that’s the news for now. No major new book
\nannouncements today, but I’ve got my ear to the
\nground.<\/p>\n
As always, let me know if there are any questions, confusions,
\nsuggestions, suspicions, derisions, accusations, acclaims,
\nor new email addresses!<\/p>\n
–Nat
\n
\n nat@AAUGH.com
\n
\n proprietor, http:\/\/AAUGH.com<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In this issue: * REVIEW: A TRIBUTE TO SPARKY * PEANUTS AT THE BOOK EXPO * MUSEUM OF ODD PEANUTS BOOKS * LINUS ON THE LOOSE! REVIEW: A TRIBUTE TO SPARKY The Schulz Museum’s book A TRIBUTE TO SPARKY is an interesting collection of cartoons drawn for or about Charles … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","filesize_raw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aaugh.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aaugh.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aaugh.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aaugh.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aaugh.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aaugh.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aaugh.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aaugh.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aaugh.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}