Author: andertoons

The Complete Peanuts 1950-1952

andertoons

I had a big book buying spree near the end of last year. I think the UPS guy was delivering new cartoon books pretty constantly for a while there.

Of course it takes time to get to all of them, and one I’d neglected far too long was The Complete Peanuts (1950-1952).

What a great book! OK, the jokes are kind of dated, and it’s a far cry from what most would recognize as Peanuts, but the germs of the strip are there and it’s a fascinating and soothing read.

Some highpoints:

  • Page 81 – In what I can tell is the first Charlie Brown baseball reference, our favorite blockhead is the catcher instead of the pitcher/manager.
  • Page 117 – The first football kicking incident is actually perpetrated by Violet. (Lucy picks it up on page 268.)
  • Page 140 – Schulz’ iconic signature is rendered in a pseudo-German script following a music gag.
  • Page 248 – Schroeder breaks the fourth wall complaining that he should “put in for a transfer to a new comic strip.”

I must say, sometimes I buy books like this because I think I should. You know, I am a cartoonist after all. Shouldn’t I have all the Complete Peanuts on my shelf? But once I dug into it, I was surprised at how much I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Most modern cartoonists will credit Schulz as an influence as a matter of course, but it was fun to remind myself exactly what Schulz accomplished and what it meant to me.

I can’t wait to dig into the next volume!

Cartoon Sightings

andertoons

OK, some more Andertoons cartoon sightings for you:

One of my kids cartoons is in the July 4 issue of First for Women.

This cartoon in the July/August issue of The Saturday Evening Post, as is this cartoon.

(Thanks to cartoon comrade Mike “Blind Lemon” Lynch for the heads up on First!)

I’ve also been getting some lovely write-ups about my new daily cartoon feature.

There’s Easy Bake Weblogs, Surfilicious, and Blogging Business to name just a few!

Thanks to everyone out there for continuing to support my work!

Best Batman Ever!

andertoons

And I really like the original Burton film. Heck, I even like the 1963 Adam West movie with the noble porpoise. But this one’s got ‘em all beat.

I’m no Batman afficiando, but Batman Begins seems to have recaptured what’s great (and disturbing) about Batman without seeming so comic-booky.

I’m so glad at least some of Hollywood has discovered that special effects and costumes do not a superhero movie make. Good writing, good directing, good actors – all these can and do help comic book flicks immensely.

There’s some nice nods to the comic, but never anything that feels like “this is for the comic fans!” There’s also some clever outside references that the director is smart enough to not beat you over the head with.

One thing that did bother me was a certain constant perkiness on Katie Holmes. Come on people; she can’t always be freezing cold in the chestal area. You’d think Gotham was located in Alaska for crying out loud! (Maybe this was an homage to Batman Forever?)

Anyway, go see it. Go see it now!