Charles M. Schulz – Page 8 – Prattling before the Pratfall

Santa came through once again with the latest box set of “The Complete Peanuts”. It’s been ten years since Fantagraphics began publishing the collection, and they’re now up through 1994, which means the next two-volume set will leave only 1999 and the nine strips from 2000 to be done. Yesterday was the 15th anniversary of the final daily “Peanuts” installment.

"Peanuts" - January 3, 2000 — “Peanuts” – January 3, 2000

Next Christmas will see the premiere of the first “Peanuts” animated feature in many years. It’s spear-headed (not block-headed!) by Craig Schulz, and I think the final look of the computer animation is very appealing. Here’s hoping the movie will do well in theaters and on video, so that the Peanuts gang — a perennial favorite in TV rerun ratings — will gather new generations of fans and continue to be popular when the characters are 100 years old, in 2050.

Pumpkin Festival

Linus

Don’t worry, there’s still time to write to the Great Pumpkin, even by snail mail. “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” will be on ABC-TV this Thursday at 8 PM ET.

A National Periodical Publication

Click 64-year-old Snoopy to see the online edition of Vol. 1, No. 1 of The National Cartoon!st, from the National Cartoonists Society, featuring the story behind the collaboration of Stephen Pastis and Bill Watterson that I blogged back in June. A tip o’ the Dog Rat toupee to best buddy Denro for a copy of the print edition!