The Complete Peanuts 1955-1956

by Charles M. Schulz, Matt Groening (Introduction), Gary Groth (Afterword), Seth (Designed by)

Overview

Over half of the strips in this volume have never been printed since they ran in newspapers decades ago! Even the most dedicated Peanuts fan is sure to find many new treasures. Introduction by Matt Groening.
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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781560976479
Publisher:	Fantagraphics Books
Publication date:	04/17/2005
Series:	Complete Peanuts Series , #3
Pages:	344
Sales rank:	211,898
Product dimensions:	8.70(w) x 6.90(h) x 1.30(d)
Age Range:	11 - 15 Years

About the Author

Charles M. Schulz was born November 25, 1922, in Minneapolis. His destiny was foreshadowed when an uncle gave him, at the age of two days, the nickname Sparky (after the racehorse Spark Plug in the newspaper strip Barney Google).In his senior year in high school, his mother noticed an ad in a local newspaper for a correspondence school, Federal Schools (later called Art Instruction Schools). Schulz passed the talent test, completed the course, and began trying, unsuccessfully, to sell gag cartoons to magazines. (His first published drawing was of his dog, Spike, and appeared in a 1937 Ripley's Believe It or Not! installment.) Between 1948 and 1950, he succeeded in selling 17 cartoons to the Saturday Evening Post—as well as, to the local St. Paul Pioneer Press, a weekly comic feature called Li'l Folks. It was run in the women's section and paid $10 a week. After writing and drawing the feature for two years, Schulz asked for a better location in the paper or for daily exposure, as well as a raise. When he was turned down on all three counts, he quit.He started submitting strips to the newspaper syndicates. In the spring of 1950, he received a letter from the United Feature Syndicate, announcing their interest in his submission, Li'l Folks. Schulz boarded a train in June for New York City; more interested in doing a strip than a panel, he also brought along the first installments of what would become Peanuts—and that was what sold. (The title, which Schulz loathed to his dying day, was imposed by the syndicate.) The first Peanuts daily appeared October 2, 1950; the first Sunday, January 6, 1952.Diagnosed with cancer, Schulz retired from Peanuts at the end of 1999. He died on February 13, 2000, the day before Valentine's Day—and the day before his last strip was published—having completed 17,897 daily and Sunday strips, each and every one fully written, drawn, and lettered entirely by his own hand—an unmatched achievement in comics.

Matt Groening (b. 1954) is an Emmy Award-winner, best known for co-creating animated TV series such as The Simpsons and Futurama. He also cartooned a long-running alt-weekly strip called Life In Hell, for which he won a Rueben.

Editorial Reviews

The Complete Peanuts confronts us afresh with what a brilliant, truly modern and totally weird idea it was to create a comic strip about a chronically depressed child...

Time Magazine

Fantagraphics' heroic project (designed with subtle, quiet beauty by the caroonist called Seth) enables us to glimpse the moment when 'good ol' Charlie Brown' could say with frowning vehemence, 'The rest of this day can't possibly hold any good for me!'... [Grade:] A.

Entertainment Weekly

As essential as pop texts get.

The Onion

Consider replacing those tattered old Peanuts paperbacks with this definitive series.

Booklist

The Complete Peanuts confronts us afresh with what a brilliant, truly modern and totally weird idea it was to create a comic strip about a chronically depressed child...”

Time