Name: The Complete Peanuts 1953-1954
ISBN: 9781560976141

The Complete Peanuts 1953-1954

Charles M. Schulz

The complete Peanuts

Colton Ray

Classic.
Iconic.
Funny.
Morose.
Art.

It's so great to go all the way back to the beginning and see these now-familiar characters at their inception. In this volume, we witness the first ever Peanuts strips, where everything was uncharted territory. Charlie Brown had yet to adopt his sad-sack personality and was feisty and prankish. Snoopy starts off a mere dog that seems to wander between homes and has yet to find a voice. We get to know the first Patty, Violet, and Shermy, all of whom would later give up the spotlight to more memorable characters. We see the introduction of Lucy before she became a "fuss-budget." Here, she's a wide-eyed, innocent kid. We witness the births of both Schroeder and Linus, who start off mute, but eventually develop early versions of their personalities. 

It's a great collection. Perhaps I'll finish all 25 volumes by the time I'm 30!

The Complete Peanuts 1983-1984

Charles Schulz

We are now in the mid-1960s, one of Schulz's peak periods of creativity (and one third of the way through the strip's life!). Snoopy has become the strip's dominant personality, and this volume marks two milestones for the character: the first of many "dogfights" with the nefarious Red Baron, and the launch of his writing career ("It was a dark and stormy night..."). Two new characters―the first two from outside the strip's regular little neighborhood―make their bows. Roy (who befriends Charlie Brown and then Linus at summer camp) won't have a lasting impact, but upon his return from camp he regales a friend of his with tales of the strange kids he met, and she has to go check them out for herself. Her name? "Peppermint" Patty.

1965–1966

The Complete Peanuts Vol. 8

Sally Brown―school phobia, malapropisms, unrequited love for Linus and all―elbows her way to center stage, at least among the humans, and is thus the logical choice for cover girl... and in her honor, the introduction is provided by none other than Broadway, television and film star Kristin Chenoweth (Wicked, Pushing Daisies), who first rose to Tony-winning fame with her scene-stealing performance as Sally in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. Two long Summer-camp sequences involve Charlie Brown and Peppermint Patty, who has decided that Charlie Brown is madly in love with her, much to his clueless confusion. Snoopy shows up at camp as well, as does Peppermint Patty's new permanent sidekick, the one and only Marcie. The eternally mutable Snoopy mostly shakes off his World War I Flying Ace identity and turns into Joe Cool, college hipster extraordinaire. And in three long sequences he writes a fan letter to his favorite author, Miss Helen Sweetstory, then goes on a journey to meet her, and finally enlists Charlie Brown's help when her latest opus, The Six Bunny-Wunnies Freak Out, falls afoul of censors. Also, Woodstock attends worm school, falls in love with a worm (perhaps the most doomed unrequited Peanuts love story ever!), and is nearly eaten by the neighbors' cat... Peppermint Patty is put on trial for another dress code violation and makes a very ill-advised choice in terms of lawyers... Snoopy turns Linus's blanket into not one but two sportcoats... Lucy hits a home run...and the birth of one Rerun Van Pelt!

1971–1972

The Complete Peanuts Vol. 11

These years are especially fecund in terms of new canine characters, as Snoopy is joined by his wandering brother Spike (from Needles), his beloved sister Belle (from Kansas City), and... did you know he had a nephew? In other beagle news, Snoopy breaks his foot and spends six weeks in a cast, deals with his friend Woodstock's case of the "the vapors," and gets involved in a heated love triangle with Linus over the girl "Truffles."

1975–1976

The Complete Peanuts Vol. 13

The Complete Peanuts 1979-1980 includes a number of classic storylines, including the month-long sequence in which an ill Charlie Brown is hospitalized (including a particularly spooky moment when he wonders if he's died and nobody's told him yet), and an especially eventful trek with Snoopy, Woodstock, and the scout troop (now including a little girl bird, Harriet). And Snoopy is still trying on identities left and right, including the "world-famous surveyor," the "world-famous census taker," and Blackjack Snoopy, the riverboat gambler.

1979–1980

The Complete Peanuts Vol. 15

In Snoopy-family news, Spike is drafted into the Infantry (don't worry, it's only Snoopy's imaginary World War I army), and a brand new brother, "Marbles" (with the spotty ears) takes his bow. We also see two major baseball-oriented stories, one in which Charlie Brown joins Peppermint Patty's team, and another in which Charlie Brown and his team lose their baseball field.

1981–1982

The Complete Peanuts Vol. 16

The third volume in our acclaimed series takes us into the mid-1950s as Linus learns to talk, Snoopy begins to explore his eccentricities (including his hilarious first series of impressions), Lucy's unrequited crush on Schroeder takes final shape, and Charlie Brown becomes...well, even more Charlie Brown-ish! Over half of the strips in this volume have never been printed since their original appearance in newspapers a half-century ago! Even the most dedicated Peanuts collector/fan is sure to find many new treasures. The Complete Peanuts will run 25 volumes, collecting two years chronologically at a rate of two a year for twelve years. Each volume is designed by the award-winning cartoonist Seth (It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken) and features impeccable production values; every single strip from Charles M. Schulz's 50-year American classic is reproduced better than ever before. This volume includes an introduction by Matt Groening (The Simpsons) as well as the popular Complete Peanuts index, a hit with librarians and collectors alike, and an epilogue by series editor Gary Groth. 2005 Eisner Award winner, Best Archival Collection/Project.

1955–1956

The Complete Peanuts Vol. 3

As the first decade of Peanuts closes, it seems only fitting to bid farewell to that halcyon decade with a cover starring Patty, one of the original three Peanuts. Major new additions to classic Peanuts lore come fast and furious here. Snoopy begins to take up residence atop his doghouse, and his repertoire of impressions increases exponentially. Lucy sets up her booth and offers her first five-cent psychiatric counsel. (Her advice to a forlorn Charlie Brown: "Get over it.") For the very first time, Linus spends all night in the pumpkin patch on his lonely vigil for the Great Pumpkin (although he laments that he was a victim of "false doctrine," he's back 12 months later). Linus also gets into repeated, and visually explosive, scuffles with a blanket-stealing Snoopy, suffers the first depredations of his blanket-hating grandmother, and falls in love with his new teacher Miss Othmar. Even more importantly, several years after the last addition to the cast ("Pig-Pen"), Charlie Brown's sister Sally makes her appearance―first as an (off-panel) brand new baby for Charlie to gush over, then as a toddler and eventually a real, talking, thinking cast member. (By the end of this volume, she'll already start developing her crush on Linus.) All this, and one of the most famous Peanuts strips ever: "Happiness is a warm puppy." Almost one hundred of the 731 strips collected in this volume (including many Sundays) have never been collected in any book since their original release, with one hundred more having been collected only once in relatively obscure and now impossible-to-find books; in other words, close to one quarter of the strips have never been seen by anyone but the most avid Peanuts completists.

1959–1960

The Complete Peanuts Vol. 5

As the 1950s close down, Peanuts definitively enters its golden age. Linus, who had just learned to speak in the previous volume, becomes downright eloquent and even begins to fend off Lucy's bullying; even so, his security neurosis becomes more pronounced, including a harrowing two-week "Lost Weekend" sequence of blanketlessness. Charlie Brown cascades further down the hill to loserdom, with spectacularly lost kites, humiliating baseball losses (including one where he becomes "the Goat" and is driven from the field in a chorus of BAAAAHs); at least his newly acquired "pencil pal" affords him some comfort. Pig-Pen, Shermy, Violet, and Patty are also around, as is an increasingly Beethoven-fixated Schroeder. But the rising star is undoubtedly Snoopy. He's at the center of the most graphically dynamic and action-packed episodes (the ones in which he attempts to grab Linus's blanket at a dead run). He even tentatively tries to sleep on the crest of his doghouse roof once or twice, with mixed results. And his imitations continue apace, including penguins, anteaters, sea monsters, vultures and (much to her chagrin) Lucy. No wonder the beagle is the cover star of this volume.

1957–1958

The Complete Peanuts Vol. 4

Launching into the 1960s, Schulz adds another new cast member. Two, in fact: The obnoxious Frieda of "naturally curly hair" fame, and her inert, seemingly boneless cat Faron. The rapidly maturing Sally, who was after all just born in the previous volume, is ready to start kindergarten and not at all happy about it. Lucy and Linus' war over the security blanket escalates, with Lucy burying it, cutting it apart, and, in the longest sequence of the book, turning it into a kite and allowing it to fly away. Aauugh! In fact, Linus' life is particularly turbulent in this volume, as he is forced to wear glasses, sees the unexpected return of his favorite teacher, Miss Othmar, and coaxes Sally into the cult of the Great Pumpkin (with regrettable results).

1961–1962

The Complete Peanuts Vol. 6

Peanuts reaches the middle of the go-go 1980s in this book, which covers 1985 and 1986: a time of hanging out at the mall, "punkers" (you haven't lived until you've seen Snoopy with a Mohawk), killer bees, airbags, and Halley's Comet. And in a surprisingly sharp satirical sequence, Schulz pokes fun at runaway licensing, with the introduction of the insufferably merchandisable "Tapioca Pudding." Also in this volume: Peppermint Patty wins the "All-City School Essay Contest" with her "What I Did During Christmas Vacation" essay, but snatches defeat from the jaws of victory with a disastrous acceptance speech... Charlie Brown, Linus, Sally and Snoopy go to "rain camp" one year, and "survival camp" the next... The World War One Flying Ace gets the flu and is nursed back to health by a French Mademoiselle (Marcie)... Sally gives Santa Claus a heart attack (literally!)... Lucy talks Charlie Brown into posing in swim-trunks for their school's "Swimsuit issue"... Peppermint Patty gains a crabby tutor... Linus suffers a crisis when addressed for the first time as "Mister"... plus another return appearance by Molly Volley, Snoopy's accidental destruction of his dog house (with a cannon!), and lots of near-Beckettian strips set in the desert starring this volume's cover boy, the one and only Spike! It's another two years of hilarious, heartwarming strips from the great Charles M. Schulz.

1985–1986

The Complete Peanuts Vol. 18

Leyre Zapata 

Jasmine

Eddie Hood

This book collects all of Schulz’s rare, non-strip Peanuts art: storybooks, comic book stories, single-panel gags, advertising art, book illustrations, photographs―even a recipe! With close to 1000 Peanuts images included, all created by Schulz himself, no true Peanuts library would be complete without this final volume. As a fitting end to The Complete Peanuts series, Jean Schulz, who was instrumental in putting this beloved series together, provides an emotional introduction to the volume.

Comics & Stories

The Complete Peanuts Vol. 26

Sara Sotlar

Luisina Rivoira

So what do we have for Peanuts fans this time around? An ill-considered attempt at flirting sends Charlie Brown to the school doctor... Linus's ongoing romance with the too-young "Lydia" of the many names continues... Snoopy is joined in the trenches by his brother Spike... Sally engages in a career as a playwright by penning the school Christmas play but mixes up Gabriel and Geronimo... A hockey mishap sends Snoopy to the doctor for knee surgery, in a (clearly autobiographical) sequence that lasts only until everyone figures out that dogs don't have knees... Linus and Lucy's kid brother Rerun begins to take on the greater role that will lead to him being one of the dominant characters in the 1990s... and Snoopy, inevitably, writes a "kiss and tell" book. As we reach the 19th (!) book in this epochal, best-selling series collecting arguably the greatest comic strip of all time and head toward the end of the 1980s, Charles Schulz is still as inventive, hilarious, and touching as ever... and this volume even features a surprise format change, as the daily strip switches from its trademark four-square-panels format to a more flexible one-to-four-variable-panels format which, along with Schulz's increased use of gray tones, give this volume a striking, distinctive look.

The Complete Peanuts 1953-1954

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