Review: Charles M Shulz – Charlie Brown Hardcover Collection
As America’s favourite pastime is in its first week, an element of publishing serendipity has occurred with a collection of stories featuring the most famous baseball playing comic character, Charlie Brown, hitting the racks this week. Of course there is a lot more going on with Charlie Brown than baseball.  As such, this volume serves the dual purpose of entertaining old fans and introducing new fans to all things Charlie Brown and his list of not quite friends, enemies and of course his equally famous dog!
Charles M. Shulz’s creation  has provided gags and giggles since 1950 in one form or another. Back in the 70’s there was a slew of animated specials that introduced the character to one particular corner of the Hughes household. Charlie Brown is the definition of luckless. He is one of the few characters who can make a pigs ear from something less than silk purse. With a glass half empty demeanour that is challenged by the weight of expectations and the dreams of hopes coming true. Those dreams could be a simple a dream as actually hitting a baseball, passing his oral test, talking to the red-haired girl or even just kicking that damned football! In Charlie Brown, Shulz gave the world a kid who seemed to be weighed down by the sort of things that metaphorically happens in real life. There are few happy endings, sometimes it’s how you get back up after being knocked down, and boy does Charlie Brown get knocked down a lot. This collection highlights the strip and the characters within.  The whole gang is there from Lucy to Peppermint Patty and of course, Snoopy!
Mixed in with the Shulz original strips are a collection of strips from the likes of Jeff Dyer, Scott Jeralds, Bob Scott, Mona Koth, Justin Thompson, Vicki Scott, Andy Hirsch, Shane Houghton and Matt Whitlock, along with a variety of inkers and letterers. All involved have duly crafted their tales to meet the needs of classic Charlie Brown and act as a true monument of Schulz comic strip genius.
Reading this book, you can’t help but notice the type of commentary, especially on the original panels, that have gone to influence a range of comic strip creators including Jim Davis, Matt Groenig and my personal favourite, Bill Watterson. For fans of Calvin and Hobbes, look through this book and tell me that the snowball fight between Lucy and Charlie doesn’t look familiar or how the inanimate kite eating tree manifests itself in the same manner a certain bicycle does? The real trick of the character of Charlie Brown is that as readers, we should always expect him to fail, to always strike out. Yet the creators involved, seemingly taking their cues from Shulz himself, somehow get us to believe that this is the play at the plate, that the football will be kicked and maybe things will work out for Charlie, even as the cries of “good grief” emanate from his lips, the epitaph serves a reminder, that we to have had our own hopes for the lovable bald kid dashed again. This collection is a great reminder of what was Charlie Brown and an example that he and his gang are still as relevant today as they were back in 1950!
Good work Charlie Brown!
[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Author Profile
- I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow
Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network
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