Only What's Necessary: Charles M. Schulz and the Art of Peanuts

by Chip Kidd, Jean Schulz (preface), Paige Braddock (contributor)

The Eisner Award–nominated tribute to Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz—repackaged for the beloved strip’s 75th anniversary

​Reproducing the best of the Peanuts newspaper strip, all shot from the original art by award-winning photographer Geoff Spear, Only What’s Necessary also features exclusive, rare, and unpublished original art and developmental work—much of which has never been seen before.

Charles M. Schulz (1922–2000) believed that the key to cartooning was to take out the extraneous details and leave in only what’s necessary. For 50 years, from October 2, 1950, to February 13, 2000, Schulz wrote and illustrated Peanuts, the single most popular and influential comic strip in the world.

In all, 17,897 strips were published, making it “arguably the longest story ever told by one human being,” according to Robert Thompson, professor of popular culture at Syracuse University.

For Only What’s Charles M. Schulz and the Art of Peanuts, renowned designer Chip Kidd was granted unprecedented access to the extraordinary archives of the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center in Santa Rosa, California.

Genres: Comics, Nonfiction, Art, Humor, Biography, History, Graphic Novels

304 pages, Hardcover

First published October 20, 2015

About the author

Chip Kidd is an American author, editor and graphic designer, best known for his innovative book covers.

Born in Reading, Pennsylvania, Kidd grew up in a Philadelphia suburb, strongly influenced by American popular culture. While a design student at Penn State, an art instructor once gave the assignment to design a book cover for Museums and Women by John Updike, who is also a Shillington native. The teacher panned Kidd's work in front of the class, suggesting that book design would not be a good career choice for him. However, Kidd later received professional assignments to design covers for Memories of the Ford Administration and other books by Updike.

Kidd is currently associate art director at Knopf, an imprint of Random House. He first joined the Knopf design team in 1986, when he was hired as a junior assistant by Sara Eisenman.

Publishers Weekly described his book jackets as "creepy, striking, sly, smart, unpredictable covers that make readers appreciate books as objects of art as well as literature." USA Today called him "the closest thing to a rock star" in graphic design today, while author James Ellroy has called him “the world’s greatest book-jacket designer.”

Reviews

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was on sale and I wanted a light read and that's Peanuts. There were some interesting bits but not as many as I hoped. It's all taken from the Charles Schultz Museum, created by Charles Schultz. The only bits in there not authorized by him are crumpled bits of discarded half-drawn or unfunny or illegible panels which an employee removed from his garbage and saved. They're in bad shape and stand out as in bad taste, which Schultz never was. He was just a regular, somewhat boring man who drew a simple strip that became the most successful of all time, made of kids he imbued with qualities of people he knew, in simple situations.

His evolving technique and characters are interesting to read about, beginning with comics he drew on letters a buddy serving in France with him during World War II sent home to his wife, through early comics and then Peanuts. Charlie Brown was not initially the focus of Peanuts; it was Shermie, who I barely remember. Lucy was not in it at the beginning. Snoopy was Peppermint Patty's dog (!) and his appearance underwent the most changes. Certainly it didn't seem this would become the most popular comic strip of all time in the United States and some other countries too.

My favorite part, and it's just a few pages, was Franklin's evolution story. It began when Schultz received a letter from a white Los Angeles housewife a few days after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. asking him to create a black character. His response was to write her back telling her he drew what he knew and he wasn't going to create a black Peanuts character as a token. I just went to the Museum website to link to what followed but it's not there. In a letter to her he said he'd invite correspondence from black people she knew.

A strong, persuasive letter was received and Franklin was born, not used often but neither were other characters. I wanted to link to the man's letter but unfortunately the Museum's website displays an exhibition dedicated to the housewife as hero, and reproduces her letters but not the gentleman's. Waa waa waaaaa (which, for those who don't know, comes to us from Peanuts specials, in which adult voices are replaced by trombones).

Chip Kidd has done a very good job presenting the material, for me it's that some of the material was of scant interest to me, including the ads and board games and figurines. Before reading this I didn't know the Met Life ads were the first to feature comic strip characters but that didn't translate to wanting to look at Met Life ads. I wished there'd been more about the specials, especially since watching A Charlie Brown Christmas is what motivated me to buy the book (on sale).

Four stars because the Peanuts strips and mention of the specials must have put me in a sentimental mood as did watching A Charlie Brown Christmas for what? a fourth time shortly before I rated this -- aha! on Christmas Eve day.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfekte Aufmachung, perfekte Strips; ´nuff said!

[Stewart Tame · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chip Kidd makes design look easy. It doesn't seem to matter what he's writing about; the book is guaranteed to look gorgeous and make you seem smart and perceptive for reading it. This book is no exception. Charles Schulz' art has never looked better. Kidd had access to a treasure trove of originals, sketches, rarities, non-Peanuts work, and more. Some of this material will be familiar to Peanuts fans, but even they have probably never seen it looking this good.

[Jemppu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well displayed look into the origins and evolution of Peanuts characters through strips, associated sketches, doodles, and promotional paraphernalia. Perhaps some behind the scenes stories in place of few of the many whole page strips would've made the book feel a bit more wholesome, but overall a very nice spread of unedited Schulz art.

[Terry Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Produced with loving care from the Schulz archives, this is at times a fascinating peek behind the curtain at the methods used to create 50 years of Peanuts strips ... but, since Schulz was an intuitive cartoonist, we don't have tons of "lost" material or even rejected ideas as one might expect (later day rejects came from his wastebasket and saved by a member of his office staff). Home runs include the original correspondence with Harriet Glickman and how Franklin was created for the series.

More of this can be found here: http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitc...

Seeing the strips at original size was a treat, along with the aspects of how the art was created that is hidden in the production process. I was salivating at seeing more about the licensing end of the Peanuts empire, and while we got some information, again, it was lacking more often than not. Don't get me wrong ... this is a handsome volume that deserves shelf space next to the Fantagraphics "Complete Peanuts" series, but in the end, I found it a tiny bit lacking.

[Andrew Sorrentino · Rating 2 out of 5]

What I enjoyed most from this art book are the preliminary sketches and unpublished drawings. I found them too infrequent however. When the authors include “reproductions of original art for the newspaper strip” it seems just like the strip to me, and I might as well just read a collection of Peanuts strips.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Chip Kidd's design work. In this case I wish he had included more behind-the-scenes information and fewer double-sized comic strips. It's a great book to have.

[E · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was presented as a sort of "inside the mind of Schulz the artist," intended to show how he uniquely formed the characters and scenes that made Peanuts so beloved. But that's not really how the book turned out. It's really just a collection of some of his greatest hits over the 50 years, plus photos of his other merchandising and licensing efforts (which were beyond legion). The "inside the artist" shtick is propped up by drafts, sketches, etc. which add little to one's understanding of Schulz. Most of them are faint, even illegible (including wadded up pieces of paper that his secretary "rescued" from the trash can; they were in the rubbish for a reason!). But the finished strips, well, they're magnificent. Funny, I hated Peanuts as a kid. Thought it was dumb. Unfunny. But as an adult I see its brilliance.

[Laura Harrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this one! Beautiful format, covers everything Snoopy including vintage toys and collectible. Lavishly illustrated. One of the best books of the holiday season.

[Bill Landau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. Loved it. Loved it.
It was so much fun to see some rare Schulz drawings when I thought I had seen everything there was to see.
This book will keep me smiling and warm all winter long.

[Elvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pleasant presentation of Schulz and his famous comic strip. It was wonderfully designed featuring key pieces showcasing the history and art of Peanuts. It was like strolling through a museum exhibition but through a book.

I enjoyed looking at the original art and boy were there plenty of strips shown. I appreciated that they showcased key strips like the first Peanuts, the introduction to Franklin, and Spike's first appearance. I wished they showed the first appearance of each character. That would have been nice.

Related products were also mentioned. I didn't know there was a Broadway play or a book for the blind amidst all the other merchandise. These were nice breaks from reading the strips while highlighting how expansive the Peanuts crew was. They were really big in the culture. And it didn't happen overnight. The strip was running for years before films, shows, products, endorsements deals kicked in. That's the key--stay in the game long enough to reap in more benefits. But how many cartoonists or any artist have the longevity of Schulz? That fifty year run was amazing. Day in and day out Schulz produced quality work. Just wow. Peanuts was his one big idea and by committing to it, it gave him everything.

I appreciated learning that his military service provided inspiration for his camp material and Snoopy's flying ace moments. Sketching in the middle of a war? Yeah, he was a real cartoonist who was undoubtedly going to succeed. Schulz didn't choose the name of Peanuts. Instead, he was given the name in referring to his characters as being a somewhat peanut gallery. Some things are out of control, others will force decisions that will have lasting effects, but it may work out in the end. He was rejected early in his career, but he didn't give up.

I was also reminded that the strip wasn't as it is from the start. The designs and drawings altered over time. The crew looked different during those early days. Too cuddly and cute (and similar to other styles) for my taste. I'm glad it changed over time, changing to something that matched the tone of the strip and becoming more distinctive. You just gotta start and as expected things will evolve over time and result in what will be popular and what people will accept and expect.

Schulz was certainly among the greats of cartoonists, an artist of another era, his strip of a bygone period. Things are different now. Can a cartoonist today have such a reach and influence as he had? With our current culture and demise of newspapers, perhaps not.

This was an educational and entertaining read. Any fan of Charlie Brown and Peanuts and cartooning in general should check this out. For a while, be in the presence of some great art and a titan of the art form, whose output cannot be matched (his combined strips make for the longest story ever told).

Be reminded there is beauty in simplicity. Behold what one individual can create and what an impact such a person can have on the world. It's startling. And it can all be unfolded one page at a time here.

[Nathan Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

Coffee table book is really not different from Kidd’s other book about Schulz’s work — also very arty and sentimental but gorgeous — but it’s a lot bigger in size and manages to contain some things I’d never seen before. It’s always a thrill to see Schulz’s drawings up close. I bought this for $13 at Barnes & Noble when Amber spotted it; and upon opening it, I discovered a short piece by Schulz’s secretary about how the last strip was put together and almost started crying in the store. There’s also a ton of unfinished and unissued material from Schulz’s archives, stuff I had no idea existed and never thought I’d see like a bunch of roughs of an adult-oriented strip he considered making. It’s a wealth of material and it’ll take some time to process all of it; I can’t bring myself to put the thing on the shelf and out of reach yet. No idea how to grade this fairly since Kidd has a lot to work with here but it’s really a joy to look at.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a compendium but an assortment of sketches and some acquired items from the Schulz museum. It gives the reader a picture of how the strip was developed by Schulz and how it got popular.

The contents are mainly photographs of items from the Schulz museum, including the strips themselves. Some pages are full-page renditions of things it's hard to tell what it really is and that I'm unsure why they thought it was necessary to include in a coffee table type book (with heavy cover, glossy paper, etc.)

I was a huge Peanuts fan in the sixties, but I'm afraid I lost interest once it moved away from the strip. Didn't care that much for the TV specials (and stopped watching them) with the music by Vince Guaraldi and the hyper-marketing of everything Peanuts. To the end there were always good Peanuts strips to be seen, and the characters were memorable.

[Tim Lapetino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chip Kidd’s wonderful collection of Charles Schultz’s Peanuts, “Only What’s Necessary,” is a wonderful tribute to the artist and his unprecedented comic strip work. This book is neither exhaustive or deep, but it provides a unique look at the work of the artist who has connected with generations through his drawing.

Many details are omitted in this book, but the perspective of Schultz as an artist is a unique one, and Kidd does a great job in letting his design showcase the depth, original art and quality of Schultz’s linework. Geoff Spear’s photography really shines in this volume, as he scrapes light across the dozens of original strips in his photography. That quality comes across gorgeously and intimately in this nice book.

Wonderful book that would be a great read for hard-core Peanuts fans and an intriguing introduction for those less familiar. Recommended.

[Meiliana Kan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nemu buku ini di kindle deals dan awalnya kupikir ini komik Peanuts tapi ternyata semacam art book dan dokumenter karya-karyanya Charles M. Schulz dan ternyata menarik juga. Ada banyak cerita dari balik layar pembuatan Peanuts yang dibuat tahun 1950an, mulai dari komik strip yang muncul di koran, lalu ada buku komiknya, lalu mainan vinyl nya, sampai ada film animasi, drama musical, dan museumnya! Dan ternyata Peanuts ini dibuat efisien sekali, mulai dari panel-panelnya, garis-garinya, sampai isi komiknya. Singat, padat, dan jelas. Overall buku ini cukup menghibur sih, tambahan lagi ada sisipan komik-komik Peanuts dari awal dibuat tahun 1950an sampai sekarang. Oh, ada juga beberapa sejarah dibalik pembuatan tokoh-tokohnya seperti tokoh kulit hitam yang muncul karena penembakan terhadap Martin Luther King.

[Drew Canole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe the best single volume of Peanuts out there. Kidd has taken photos of a lot of the original art and presents it in a comprehensive way. We get examples from Pre-Peanuts Schulz all the way up to the very final Peanuts stip published a day after Schulz past away.

Schulz doesn't have the most interesting art style to get this sort of treatment. Really besides for the paste ups and some white out... there's not a terrible difference between the original art and the reprints you'd find in Complete Peanuts.

I really liked the letters, notebooks, and other random items Kidd adds in to flesh out the origin of the Peanuts strips. The best was a letter from a housewife who suggests Schulz add a black character to the strip and after some back and forth figuring out the best way (to not be patronizing) to do it, Schulz does! And he writes her back to let her know the date to look out for.

[Michael Neno · Rating 5 out of 5]

Readers of Chip Kidd's 2001 Peanuts: The Art of Charles M. Schulz (or readers of any of Kidd's superlatively designed books) will know that Only What's Necessary: Charles M. Schulz and the Art of Peanuts is a must. Given access to the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center, Kidd and photographer Geoff Spear present, chronologically, original sketches, pencils and inks never published before - revealing the cartoonist's working processes. Seeing close-ups of the original pencils, inks and white-out on textured paper is a revelation. Also included are WWII drawings, newspaper clippings and advertisements, drawings produced for friends, illustrated envelopes, comic book work, early comic strip series, promotional materials, abandoned dailies, letters and much more. This is essential for Peanuts fans.

[Joanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is my new BFF. I just want to walk around with it and take it to lunch. Reading it is as if Charles M Schulz let you wander around his office and dig through his desk drawers and file cabinets while he was working on next Sunday’s comic. It’s messy and crumpled, and if the technology existed, Chip Kidd, the editor, probably would have made it smell musty, too.

None of the negativity I encountered in David Michaelis’s Schulz bio; just a joyful celebration of Peanuts.

Made me add a trip to Santa Rosa’s Peanuts museum to my bucket list. 🪣+🥜+☺️+🤞

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book with rare gems (sketches, family pictures and even a Braille Peanuts book! How cool is that!!! ) hilarious strips (some I'd seen before but loved seeing them again), pictures, letters from fans (The ones about the "Franklin" character are particularly interesting), and just a lot of fun! I loved it! It's a must for those of us who love Peanuts! The ending of the book is a little sad, but it's so worth the read!

[Ridwan Anam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vintage Schulz. Contains many breathtakingly beautiful reprints of drawings, sketches, photos, rough samples, unpublished works of creations of Charles Schulz, perfectly arranged in chronological order. This book will show hundreds of intimate insights about Schulz's creation process. Must-Read if you are a Peanuts fan. Deserves 4.5/10.

[Marc Steiner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great art book on Peanuts

This book is chock full of photos of original art and artifacts from the Charles M. Schulz Museum. It also offers some insightful quotes. This all brings depth into the creativity of Schulz and offers the reader a glimpse of the museum and Schulz's mind. A definite read for Peanuts fans!

[Davenportbh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was not what I expected it to be. It seemed to be haphazardly put together. I was thinking it would be linear and include big moments from the strip. It does, somewhat but there is little reason to what it includes or leaves out. The only pivotal moment that is covered is in the introduction of Franklin, and rightly so. I would pass on this one. It is not by any means exhaustive.

[Chris Barsanti · Rating 4 out of 5]

This re-release of the Eisner-winning 2015 survey of Schulz-iana delivers the range of emotional artistry the St. Paul-born great encompassed in his half-century of Peanuts...

Full review is in the Minnesota Star-Tribune.

[Conrad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Don't understand what the fuss over this edition is. Anyone who already has even a small collection of Peanuts will find almost nothing new or interesting here (and many, many omissions). Perhaps this book was aimed only at the most casual of fans?

[Kris Ang · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute delightful read with a clearer knowledge of how Charles Schultz drawings evolved over his lifetime. I love reading the history of it and his perspectives, and why he did what he did!
It's my rainy day, chill out day and laze around day book to read.

[Lee Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this from the library after Chip Kidd was on Gilbert Gottfried’ as podcast recently. I didn’t read the strips in here, since I would have already read them in the Complete Peanuts books, but I did have fun looking at the rough drawings and other things enclosed.

[ashleigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love love love this Peanuts book! A delightful insight into Charles M. Schulz life and the 50 years of his comics and characters that inspired and are loved by so many people.

I will definitely be buying this for my coffee table book collection! ❤️

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought as a gift , looked amazing, recipient was delighted and ha sinced praised it highly.

[Jeff Lewonczyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful collection of drawings and ephemera, lovingly designed and presented.

[Indah Threez Lestari · Rating 4 out of 5]

481 - 2019