The genius of Shulz in the 50's
So I finally started reading The Complete Peanuts. I've always been a fan, and have a chance to work my way through all 50 years of comics chronologically seemed like a great thing to do.
I am blown away by the quality of the first year.
Almost every comic is perfection in four panels. I'd always heard about how much better early Peanuts was to later stuff, but this really hammers it home. I would recommend this book to anybody.
your- possessive; "Is that your video game?"
you're- contraction; you are: "Just because you hate on Mac users doesn't mean you're cool."
I'd like to check that out someday. I've never read much of the comics, but I love many of the animated Peanuts specials and movies and have collected all of the CBS/Paramount and now Warner DVD and Blu-Ray releases. I especially love the 1960's tv specials, and the first two movies in the early 1970s (A Boy Named Charlie Brown and Snoopy, Come Home). They never managed to quite recapture the magic later on.
What format are they in? Individual books for each decade, or is it actually all contained in a single book?
You can download em if you just want to pop them on an Ipad or something..
http://binsearch.info/?q=cw-cartoon+..._age=&server=2
Peanuts in the 50s is the best stuff. I love the mid-to-late 50s Snoopy, when he had the narrow snout and walked on all fours. The linework is smooth and tight, especially the early 50s. It really, really looked good around 1952-53, when he had really detailed backgrounds. It was so different back then.
I also have the book "Lil' Beginnings", which reprints all of his Lil' Folks strips. Essential. It's cool to see how his style and characters evolved, and how at the very end of the Lil' Folks run he has all the pieces in place to segue into Peanuts. It is amazing to see how much Peanuts evolved in those first few years--in the very beginning, in 1950, the characters were drawn in the Lil' Folks style, and how quickly they changed in just a few short years. It's kind of like witnessing the Big Bang!
"As you traitors roast in your own juices, I will be safely ensconced three miles below the earth's surface, listening to my wax-cylinder player and enjoying a delicious phosphate!"
Now I want my Herman books back
<Sothy> its the internet <Sothy> who cares
Originally Posted by Daltone
Peanuts was brilliant pretty much all the time until maybe the mid 70s
scooterb: "I once shot a man in Catan, just to watch him die."
Gee, I thought it was Schultz. I'm glad I checked before posting in indignation.
Anyway, I am somewhat convinced that overdosing on Peanuts at a young age did irreparable damage to my impressionable young mind. His work is genius, 'tis true, but there is a powerful undercurrent of bleakness and despair to it all.
I was at a loss as to how to properly convey this sense of his work until I discovered http://www.3eanuts.com : classic Peanuts strips presented with the last panel removed. It's striking. (It is also where I found the inspiration for my current avatar.)
"There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge." --Bertrand Russel (attributed)
I own all the 1950s volumes in the Complete Peanuts series and it is well worth it indeed. Love Lucy the fuzzbudget...
Oh, btw, moving this to the FDJ... *swoosh*
It's actually "Schulz", but yes, no T, despite it being inserted in error by many a writer.
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