Peanuts

Peanuts was a syndicated daily comic strip written and drawn by American cartoonist Charles M. Schulz, which ran from October 2, 1950 to February 13, 2000. The strip was one of the most popular in the history of the medium. At its peak, Peanuts ran in over 2,600 newspapers, with a readership of 355 million in 75 countries, and was translated into 40 languages. It helped to cement the four-panel gag strip as the standard in the United States. Reprints of the strip are still syndicated and run in many newspapers.

Books

Peanuts strips have been reprinted in many books over the years. Some represented chronological collections of strips, while others were thematic collections, such as Snoopy's Tennis Book. Some single-story books were produced, such as Snoopy and the Red Baron. In addition, most of the Peanuts television animated specials were adapted into book form.

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Charles Schulz always resisted publication of early Peanuts strips, as they did not reflect the characters as he eventually developed them. However, in 1997 he began talks with Fantagraphics Books to have the entire run of the strip published chronologically in book form. The first volume in the collection, The Complete Peanuts: 1950 to 1952, was published in April 2004. Peanuts is in a unique situation compared to other comics in that archive quality masters of most strips are still owned by the syndicate. The following books publish much of this previously-unreproduced material.

Related Topics:
1997 - Fantagraphics Books - April - 2004

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• Chip Kidd, ed. (2001) Peanuts: The Art of Charles M. Schulz. New York: Pantheon Books. ISBN 0375420975 (hardcover), ISBN 0375714634 (paperback).
• Derrick Bang, ed. (2004) Lil' Beginnings. Santa Rosa, California: Charles M. Schulz Museum. The complete run of Li'l Folks (1947–1950)
• Charles M. Schulz (2004) Who's on First, Charlie Brown?. New York: Ballentine Books. ISBN 0345464125.
• The entire run of Peanuts, covering nearly 50 years of comic strips, will be reprinted in Fantagraphics Books' The Complete Peanuts, a 25-volume set to come out over a 12-year period, two volumes per year. The final volume is expected to be published in 2016.
• (April 2004) The Complete Peanuts: 1950 to 1952. ISBN 156097589X
• (October 2004) The Complete Peanuts: 1953 to 1954. ISBN 1560976144
• (October 2004) The Complete Peanuts: 1950 to 1954 Box Set. ISBN
• (April 2005) The Complete Peanuts: 1955 to 1956. ISBN 1560976470
• (October 2005) The Complete Peanuts: 1957 to 1958. ISBN 1560976705
• (October 2005) The Complete Peanuts: 1955 to 1958 Box Set. ISBN
• (scheduled for April 2006) The Complete Peanuts: 1959 to 1960. ISBN 1560976713
• (scheduled for October 2006) The Complete Peanuts: 1961 to 1962. ISBN 1560976721
• (scheduled for October 2006) "The Complete Peanuts: 1959 to 1962 Box Set". ISBN
• (scheduled for April 2007) "The Complete Peanuts: 1963 to 1964".
• (scheduled for October 2007) "The Complete Peanuts: 1965 to 1966".
• (scheduled for October 2007) "The Complete Peanuts: 1963 to 1966 Box Set". ISBN

Some of the Fantagraphics books contain an index by subject for the comics reprinted within its volume (the 1955-56 collection is one such example). This allows users to find, for example, all strips containing Linus (or, in the 1955-56 book, the rare character Charlotte Braun).

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Each of the volumes has an introduction written by a famous person. Authors who have created intros so far include Walter Cronkite, Garrison Keillor and Matt Groening.

Related Topics:
Walter Cronkite - Garrison Keillor - Matt Groening

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