Comic book series : Complete Peanuts

As the 1970s wind down, the last two recurring Peanuts characters have fallen into place: Snoopy’s brother Spike and the youngest Van Pelt sibling, Rerun. But that doesn’t mean Schulz’s creativity has diminished; in fact, this volume features an amazing profusion of hilariously distinctive new one- (or two-) shot characters!

For instance, in an epic five-week sequence, when Charlie Brown is found guilty by the EPA of biting the Kite-Eating tree, he goes on the lam and ends up coaching the “Goose Eggs,” a group of diminutive baseball players, Austin, Ruby, Leland, and — did you know there was a second Black Peanuts character, aside from Franklin? — Milo.

Also: a tennis-playing Snoopy ends up reluctantly teamed with the extreme Type “A” athlete Molly Volley... who then reappears later in the book, now facing off against her nemesis, “Crybaby” Boobie. (Honest!) Add in Sally’s new camp friend Eudora, the thuggish “caddymaster” who shoots down Peppermint Patty and Marcie’s new vocation, an entire hockey team, and a surprise repeat appearance by Linus’s sweetheart “Truffles” (creating a love triangle with Sally), all in addition to the usual cast of beloved characters (including the talking schoolhouse and the doghouse-jigsawing cat, who gets hold of Linus’s blanket in this one), and you’ve got a veritable crowd of characters.

It’s another two years of the greatest comic strip of all time, full of laughs and surprises.

Praise for Peanuts and The Complete Peanuts Series:

"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

“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