Comic book series : Complete Peanuts

Sélection Patrimoine, 2012 Festival International de la Bande Desinée de Angoulême (French edition)

TENNIS, ANYONE? BILLIE JEAN KING SERVES UP AN INTRODUCTION... AND WE CELEBRATE WOODSTOCK!

The 12th volume of Peanuts features a number of tennis strips and several extended sequences involving Peppermint Patty’s friend Marcie (including a riotous, rarely seen sequence in which Marcie’s costume-making and hairstyling skills utterly spoil a skating competition for PP), so it seems only right that this volume’s introduction should be served up by Schulz’s longtime friend, tennis champion (and 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient) Billie Jean King.

This volume also picks up on a few loose threads from the previous year, as the mysterious “Poochie” shows up in the flesh; Linus and Lucy’s new kid brother “Rerun” makes his first appearance, is almost immediately drafted onto the baseball team (where, thanks to his tiny strike zone, he wins a game), and embarks on his first terrifying journey on the back of his mom’s bike; and, in one of Peanuts’ oddest recurring storylines, the schoolhouse Sally used to talk to starts talking, or at least thinking, back at her!

The Complete Peanuts 1973-1974 also includes one of the all-time classic Peanuts sequences, in which Charlie Brown’s baseball-oriented hallucinations finally manifest themselves in a baseball-shaped rash on his head. Forced to conceal the embarrassing discoloration with a bag worn over his head, Charlie Brown goes to camp as “Mister Sack” and discovers that, shorn of his identity, he’s suddenly well liked and successful.

"The Complete Peanuts has framed Charles Schulz’s enduring masterpiece about as well any lifelong fan could’ve hoped." – "The Best Comics of the '00s: The Archives", The A.V. Club

#12, Best Archival/Reprints of 2009, The Comics Reporter

"As always, Schulz’s work displays restrained humor, subtle wisdom, and grace notes of melancholy." – Gordon Flagg, Booklist

“It’s impossible to think of another popular art form that reaches across generations the way the daily comic strip does… at the pinnacle of that long tradition, there was Charles Schulz.” – The Seattle Times

"One can scarcely overstate the importance of Peanuts to the comics, or overstate its influence on all of us who have followed." – Bill Watterson

"Republishing Peanuts in one gorgeous volume after another is really the first time we can truly take a step back, appreciate Schulz's work as a whole and ultimately wrap our arms around the accomplishment of Charles Schulz. Sometimes, happiness is a warm book." – The Huffington Post