The Peanuts Gang
by Charles M. Schulz (Hodder & Stoughton, 1979)
A slim volume showcasing one Sunday comic per A4 page. While Peanuts has more life in colour (the characters’ stock outfits evince a surprising number of variations!) the selection of strips is narrow and over-magnification leads to a dotty sort of pixilation.
Charlie Brown, Snoopy and Me
by Charles M. Schulz (W.H. Allen 1981)
A short, simply written autobiography that extends to Schulz’s inspirations, working process and general thoughts on cartooning, illustrated piecemeal (in black-and-white) with Peanuts strips and unremarkable family photographs. Schulz is justifiably proud of his achievements but comes across rather blandly alongside them.
The Complete Peanuts: 1985-1986
by Charles M. Schulz (Fantagraphics, 2012)
Snoopy’s brother Spike remains a weak link and Tapioca Pudding is beyond doubt a character experiment gone badly wrong. Desert strips and pointless riffs notwithstanding, Schulz crosses the mid-80s with vigour, sharing his attention amongst old favourites and tapping rich new veins.
It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
dir. Bill Melendez (CBS, 1966)
For the most part a stilted rehash of the comic strips, watchable only for the original and moodily evocative Flying Ace turned Downed Pilot animation. Commonly hailed as a masterstroke, the use of authentic child voices results in a jarring school-play amateurism.
Peanuts Revisited: Favorites Old and New
by Charles M. Schulz (Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1959)
A compact collection of Peanuts comics from 1955-1959. Schulz’s drawing style isn’t yet fully developed, nor his humour, nor indeed the characters, yet several long-running Peanuts themes are on display here in their early form, and the choice of strips is astute.
The Complete Peanuts: 1989-1990
by Charles M. Schulz (Fantagraphics, 2013)
With the change of decades, Schulz took an increasingly wistful eye to drawing Peanuts—particularly through Charlie Brown, who hankers back to days past and the simple pleasure of spending time with his dog. (Granted, he is also allowed a successful romance!)
The Bumper Book of Peanuts
by Charles M. Schulz; ed. Jenny Lord & Andy Miller (Canongate, 2015)
A 400-page hardcover collection. Schulz remains sublime but the editors’ selections are bewildering. Strips are grouped by category and, within this, seemingly at random or by arbitrary word-search. Dailies are plucked out of context from ongoing storylines. Some strips even appear twice.
The Complete Peanuts: 1975 to 1976
by Charles M. Schulz (Fantagraphics, 2010)
An ever-so-slightly flat couple of years. Schulz remains head-and-shoulders above the competition but takes a few missteps in his search for new storylines and characters. Though not entirely efficacious, the attempted reinvigoration demonstrates an intent to pursue rather than rest upon laurels.
Peanuts Every Sunday, 1952-1955
by Charles M. Schulz (Fantagraphics, 2013)
Everyone comes from somewhere and this is Peanuts before the characters grew up, both physically and emotionally (even artistically). There are nascent hints of what the future holds but even in large-format colour it’s difficult to digest Schulz’s work being this unsophisticated.
Pow! A Peanuts Collection
by Charles M. Schulz (Andrews McMeel, 2014)
Not much thought has gone into the formatting, nor indeed the wisdom of putting together an exclusively baseball-themed collection of Peanuts strips. (The humour of repetition really needs space to breathe.) On a plus side, the entire undertaking is in glorious colour.