Say a publishing company announces that it plans to release 25 books issued during a 12 1/2 -year period to celebrate one artist’s 50-year career.
Who, would you suppose, would be the focus of such ambitious plans?
Think “Peanuts.”
Fantagraphics, a darling in the world of underground comics (and publisher of the revered Comics Journal), was in talks with Charles Schulz before his death three years ago.
His widow, Jean, continued to work with the Seattle publisher to get the collection out, with the first book due in the spring.
Deciding to reprint 50 years worth of “Peanuts” strips is an interesting choice in this world of jaded consumers. What’s the significance of those large-headed kids and their similarly proportioned beagle?
In 1999, the staff of the Comics Journal voted “Peanuts” the second greatest comic strip of the 20th Century (second to George Herriman’s “Krazy Kat,” which Fantagraphics also publishes in book form).
Eric Reynolds, director of marketing for Fantagraphics, says “Peanuts” is “arguably the greatest newspaper strip of all time.” Or, at least, the past 50 years, he qualifies.
The mass appeal–in all its faded glory–is undeniable. “The Charlie Brown Christmas” and Halloween specials are viewed by millions each year; the Vince Guaraldi Trio’s “A Charlie Brown Christmas” is a holiday soundtrack staple; and the ubiquitous Charlie Brown/Snoopy/Woodstock T-shirt holds its own in the hipster wardrobe.
“The beauty of it is that it (“Peanuts”) transcends the usual demographic breakdown and class breakdown,” Reynolds says.
This past year was touch-and-go, fiscally speaking, for Fantagraphics. In June, the company announced that it had raised the $80,000 needed to stay afloat.
“I think this’ll be a much more successful and larger project than anything we’ve ever done before. By our standards, it’s really kind of a slam-dunk. It’s a much more recognizable property than anything we’ve ever done before.”
More Top Picks Best Blackout Tents For Beds
The first of the 320-page, hardcover books will be released on April 1.
———-
Edited by Cara DiPasquale ([email protected]) and Michael Morgan ([email protected])