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The Complete Peanuts #25
The Complete Peanuts, 1999-2000
The 25th volume of The Complete Peanuts collects the very final year-plus of the defining comic strip of the 20th century, which ran for nearly 18,000 strips and for 50 years after its debut in 1950. This masterpiece includes all of 1999 through the final Feb. 13, 2000 strip. In this volume, Rerun takes center stage and cements himself as the last great Peanuts character—when he embarks on a career as an underground comic book artist! This volume also features a huge surprise: the complete Li'l Folks, the weekly one-panel comic that Charles Schulz produced for his hometown paper. Li'l Folks was a clear precursor to Peanuts, and its inclusion here will bring The Complete Peanuts full circle.
332 pages, Hardcover
First published May 10, 2016
28 people are currently reading
479 people want to read
About the author
Charles M. Schulz
3,037 books1,630 followersCharles Monroe Schulz was an American cartoonist, whose comic strip Peanuts proved one of the most popular and influential in the history of the medium, and is still widely reprinted on a daily basis.
Schulz's first regular cartoons, Li'l Folks, were published from 1947 to 1950 by the St. Paul Pioneer Press; he first used the name Charlie Brown for a character there, although he applied the name in four gags to three different boys and one buried in sand. The series also had a dog that looked much like Snoopy. In 1948, Schulz sold a cartoon to The Saturday Evening Post; the first of 17 single-panel cartoons by Schulz that would be published there. In 1948, Schulz tried to have Li'l Folks syndicated through the Newspaper Enterprise Association. Schulz would have been an independent contractor for the syndicate, unheard of in the 1940s, but the deal fell through. Li'l Folks was dropped from the Pioneer Press in January, 1950.
Later that year, Schulz approached the United Feature Syndicate with his best strips from Li'l Folks, and Peanuts made its first appearance on October 2, 1950. The strip became one of the most popular comic strips of all time. He also had a short-lived sports-oriented comic strip called It's Only a Game (1957–1959), but he abandoned it due to the demands of the successful Peanuts. From 1956 to 1965 he contributed a single-panel strip ("Young Pillars") featuring teenagers to Youth, a publication associated with the Church of God.
Peanuts ran for nearly 50 years, almost without interruption; during the life of the strip, Schulz took only one vacation, a five-week break in late 1997. At its peak, Peanuts appeared in more than 2,600 newspapers in 75 countries. Schulz stated that his routine every morning consisted of eating a jelly donut and sitting down to write the day's strip. After coming up with an idea (which he said could take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours), he began drawing it, which took about an hour for dailies and three hours for Sunday strips. He stubbornly refused to hire an inker or letterer, saying that "it would be equivalent to a golfer hiring a man to make his putts for him." In November 1999 Schulz suffered a stroke, and later it was discovered that he had colon cancer that had metastasized. Because of the chemotherapy and the fact he could not read or see clearly, he announced his retirement on December 14, 1999.
Schulz often touched on religious themes in his work, including the classic television cartoon, A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965), which features the character Linus van Pelt quoting the King James Version of the Bible Luke 2:8-14 to explain "what Christmas is all about." In personal interviews Schulz mentioned that Linus represented his spiritual side. Schulz, reared in the Lutheran faith, had been active in the Church of God as a young adult and then later taught Sunday school at a United Methodist Church. In the 1960s, Robert L. Short interpreted certain themes and conversations in Peanuts as being consistent with parts of Christian theology, and used them as illustrations during his lectures about the gospel, as he explained in his bestselling paperback book, The Gospel According to Peanuts, the first of several books he wrote on religion and Peanuts, and other popular culture items. From the late 1980s, however, Schulz described himself in interviews as a "secular humanist": “I do not go to church anymore... I guess you might say I've come around to secular humanism, an obligation I believe all humans have to others and the world we live in.”
Schulz's first regular cartoons, Li'l Folks, were published from 1947 to 1950 by the St. Paul Pioneer Press; he first used the name Charlie Brown for a character there, although he applied the name in four gags to three different boys and one buried in sand. The series also had a dog that looked much like Snoopy. In 1948, Schulz sold a cartoon to The Saturday Evening Post; the first of 17 single-panel cartoons by Schulz that would be published there. In 1948, Schulz tried to have Li'l Folks syndicated through the Newspaper Enterprise Association. Schulz would have been an independent contractor for the syndicate, unheard of in the 1940s, but the deal fell through. Li'l Folks was dropped from the Pioneer Press in January, 1950.
Later that year, Schulz approached the United Feature Syndicate with his best strips from Li'l Folks, and Peanuts made its first appearance on October 2, 1950. The strip became one of the most popular comic strips of all time. He also had a short-lived sports-oriented comic strip called It's Only a Game (1957–1959), but he abandoned it due to the demands of the successful Peanuts. From 1956 to 1965 he contributed a single-panel strip ("Young Pillars") featuring teenagers to Youth, a publication associated with the Church of God.
Peanuts ran for nearly 50 years, almost without interruption; during the life of the strip, Schulz took only one vacation, a five-week break in late 1997. At its peak, Peanuts appeared in more than 2,600 newspapers in 75 countries. Schulz stated that his routine every morning consisted of eating a jelly donut and sitting down to write the day's strip. After coming up with an idea (which he said could take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours), he began drawing it, which took about an hour for dailies and three hours for Sunday strips. He stubbornly refused to hire an inker or letterer, saying that "it would be equivalent to a golfer hiring a man to make his putts for him." In November 1999 Schulz suffered a stroke, and later it was discovered that he had colon cancer that had metastasized. Because of the chemotherapy and the fact he could not read or see clearly, he announced his retirement on December 14, 1999.
Schulz often touched on religious themes in his work, including the classic television cartoon, A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965), which features the character Linus van Pelt quoting the King James Version of the Bible Luke 2:8-14 to explain "what Christmas is all about." In personal interviews Schulz mentioned that Linus represented his spiritual side. Schulz, reared in the Lutheran faith, had been active in the Church of God as a young adult and then later taught Sunday school at a United Methodist Church. In the 1960s, Robert L. Short interpreted certain themes and conversations in Peanuts as being consistent with parts of Christian theology, and used them as illustrations during his lectures about the gospel, as he explained in his bestselling paperback book, The Gospel According to Peanuts, the first of several books he wrote on religion and Peanuts, and other popular culture items. From the late 1980s, however, Schulz described himself in interviews as a "secular humanist": “I do not go to church anymore... I guess you might say I've come around to secular humanism, an obligation I believe all humans have to others and the world we live in.”
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
December 23, 2024
A volume only for academics or those who have made it this far in the series. This one covers Schulz's last full year, with the final daily strip on January 1, 2000. After that date, he only did Sunday strips which ended abruptly when the February 13, 2000 strip announced his immediate retirement, sadly published right after his death the night before. There is no valedictory lap, Schulz worked until he couldn't anymore. So there is an abruptness, but it's to be expected.
The rest of the volume collects Schulz's complete published collection of the weekly Li'l Folks, written before Peanuts. Each edition contains three-to-four one frame comics. Here his early work is quite juvenile, but it's easy to see and appreciate his development. On September 5, 1948 a frame with a boy speaking to a girls reads, "My name is Charlie Brown...I can whistle the entire score from 'Die Fledermaus'...what can you do?" So, in the beginning, he was assertive and more of a Strauss guy. Big changes ahead!
The rest of the volume collects Schulz's complete published collection of the weekly Li'l Folks, written before Peanuts. Each edition contains three-to-four one frame comics. Here his early work is quite juvenile, but it's easy to see and appreciate his development. On September 5, 1948 a frame with a boy speaking to a girls reads, "My name is Charlie Brown...I can whistle the entire score from 'Die Fledermaus'...what can you do?" So, in the beginning, he was assertive and more of a Strauss guy. Big changes ahead!
June 24, 2025
This marks the end of the 50 year journey of Peanuts. Schultz literally worked until he died. While sad, he filled our lives with something that is truly remarkable. While the strip changed immensely from 1950 to 2000, it remained exceptional throughout. This book continued the development of Rerun and his relationship with Snoopy. A nice bonus is the 3 year run of Schultz’s precursor to Peanuts, Li’l Folks. You can definitely see some themes brought over to the 1950’s version of Peanuts. Excellent!
April 5, 2017
On the very first day of 2000, the last daily strip for Peanuts ran in the world’s newspapers. Then for a few more weeks, right up to the day before Valentine’s Day when Charlie Brown’s mailbox would surely have remained empty, the Sunday strips continued before the last one ran the day after Charles Schulz died from cancer. The strip was among the list of survivors, by one day. A half-century of excellence came to an end with three panels: Charlie Brown on the phone saying, “No, I think he’s writing.” Snoopy is shown on his doghouse typing with the words “Dear Friends…” in the upper left corner. Then, a letter from Schulz announcing his retirement in three typed paragraphs with Snoopy looking thoughtful, chin in hand, paper still in the typewriter, in the bottom right.
In the paragraphs, Schulz avoided using the strip’s name, Peanuts, which he hated from the day the syndicate accepted his proposed daily strip but imposed that name on it. It has been an amazing pleasure reading The Complete Peanuts, revisiting strips read long ago in newspapers and 50 cent paperbacks published in the 1960s and discovering overlooked strips and almost all the ones from the late 1980s on when I had stopped following Charlie Brown and crew. The last volume of the Dailies and Sundays includes precursor cartoons from the Li’l Folks series that ran in various places in the late 1940s but stopped when the newspaper that carried it refused Schulz a better location in the paper, daily publication, and a raise. He quit and in the fall of that year Peanuts made its appearance.
There are very good moments in this last volume but not as many as we are accustomed to. One Sunday panel has a box, opened at the top with Charlie Brown emerging from it. The box says, "Do Not Open Until Someday" on it. Snoopy is writing a story where the human thinks dogs only think about eating, but the dog in the story is waiting. “Someday someone is going to leave the gate open, and I’ll be out of here like a rocket.” Rerun asks his kindergarten tablemate about forms they have to fill out, saying he doesn’t know how. She says, “Just put check marks in those tiny squares.” Relieved, he replies “I can do that.” On the way home he tells Lucy, “School was good today…we learned how to fill out forms.”
One of the best moments is an example of meta-cartooning I suppose. It’s one panel. A class trip to the art museum with five of the Peanuts gallery of characters standing in front of a seascape painting—Van Gogh?—and on the far right side is Rerun looking at a framed image of the early 50s version of Snoopy with his back turned to the viewer. The wistfulness in these latter strips seems—and perhaps only seems—to have the end to the strip in mind. Schulz, who was Snoopy in the final appearance, sees the gate opening or his life closing.
Beyond bittersweet foreshadowing there are simpler pleasures: Sally Brown, movie critic, “As soon as it started it was too long.” More sharp jabs at school: Peppermint Patty being inducted into the D- Hall of Fame by her teacher and mistaking it for an honor. Rerun hides under his bed after an exchange with the teacher. “The teacher,” he tells Lucy, “asked me if I thought I’ve learned everything I need to know.” He says, “Yes.” Lucy asks if he did learn everything then. He says “I think I’ve learned all I need to live under a bed.” In another single panel strip, a long line of students are waiting in the rain for the school bus. One wonders if this patience under adverse conditions shows their love for education. Linus says no, “It shows our lives are controlled by those in power.”
As always some things don’t change. Snoopy has not ever learned his master’s name. He remains that “round-headed kid.” Sally gets help on her homework from Charlie and gets the book’s second best sentence after her movie review when he tells her he will help her with the questions after she reads the chapter. “Read the what?” Sally says.
Some things continue to develop. Rerun’s personality, a blend of Lucy and Linus. He has his brother’s literacy and insecurity but with no need of a blanket, but his sister’s aggressiveness and capacity to taunt. In one Sunday strip he tells Linus an elaborate story, ostensibly by Tolstoy, of a woman with four children who all slept together in a cradle. ‘When she put them to bed, she gave each one a ‘sucking rag,” he concludes in the fourth panel. While Linus listened he was sucking his thumb, clinging to his blanket. In the fifth panel he removes his thumb, clutches his blanket and looks sideways at his baby brother who is looking forward. As he leaves, Rerun says, “Enjoy your ‘sucking rag.” In the last panel, a self-satisfied Rerun is van pelted with Linus’s blanket. Near the end of the volume Rerun calls Lucy away from her annual responsibility to pull the football away from the rushing up to kick it Charlie Brown. Lucy, proving she somewhat knows her kid brother, has him take her place as the holder. Schulz, proving his abiding genius, doesn’t show the end of the kicking attempt but shows Rerun back at the dinner table with Lucy, who eagerly asks, “What happened.” Rerun’s response proves Lucy doesn’t quite get how much he is like both Linus and Lucy. He says, “You’ll never know.” He has effectively pulled the football from her rushing kick.
There are references to underground comics (though Rerun mistakenly refers to them as basement comics), cell phones, and Harry Potter. Peppermint Patty gives sage advice on how to keep your head from falling off—it involves sitting out against a tree under the clouds. Rerun explains to his seatmate whose elbow keeps bumping into his, “There’s no body checking in art.” Artist friends of mine might disagree.
There are a couple of storylines begun that we lament being left undeveloped, most particularly: Linus potentially becoming a rival for the Little Red-Headed Girl’s affection. Talk about a plot twist! But Schulz gave us everything he had in his long and dedicated life so like Lucy, some things we’ll just never know. President Barack Obama provides the volume with a brief, elegant introduction. The Li’l Folks cartoons are all single panel gag cartoons, some funny, but mostly interesting as precursors to Peanuts. For those of us who may be going through withdrawal the publisher advertises a 26th volume of “bonus materials and rarities,” which I am both curious and dubious about. Whatever it is, like Paris for Rick and Ilsa, there is always the 50 years of this endlessly rewarding cast of characters who make you laugh, sigh, and yell augh in cathartic agreement at life’s absurdity and grace.
In the paragraphs, Schulz avoided using the strip’s name, Peanuts, which he hated from the day the syndicate accepted his proposed daily strip but imposed that name on it. It has been an amazing pleasure reading The Complete Peanuts, revisiting strips read long ago in newspapers and 50 cent paperbacks published in the 1960s and discovering overlooked strips and almost all the ones from the late 1980s on when I had stopped following Charlie Brown and crew. The last volume of the Dailies and Sundays includes precursor cartoons from the Li’l Folks series that ran in various places in the late 1940s but stopped when the newspaper that carried it refused Schulz a better location in the paper, daily publication, and a raise. He quit and in the fall of that year Peanuts made its appearance.
There are very good moments in this last volume but not as many as we are accustomed to. One Sunday panel has a box, opened at the top with Charlie Brown emerging from it. The box says, "Do Not Open Until Someday" on it. Snoopy is writing a story where the human thinks dogs only think about eating, but the dog in the story is waiting. “Someday someone is going to leave the gate open, and I’ll be out of here like a rocket.” Rerun asks his kindergarten tablemate about forms they have to fill out, saying he doesn’t know how. She says, “Just put check marks in those tiny squares.” Relieved, he replies “I can do that.” On the way home he tells Lucy, “School was good today…we learned how to fill out forms.”
One of the best moments is an example of meta-cartooning I suppose. It’s one panel. A class trip to the art museum with five of the Peanuts gallery of characters standing in front of a seascape painting—Van Gogh?—and on the far right side is Rerun looking at a framed image of the early 50s version of Snoopy with his back turned to the viewer. The wistfulness in these latter strips seems—and perhaps only seems—to have the end to the strip in mind. Schulz, who was Snoopy in the final appearance, sees the gate opening or his life closing.
Beyond bittersweet foreshadowing there are simpler pleasures: Sally Brown, movie critic, “As soon as it started it was too long.” More sharp jabs at school: Peppermint Patty being inducted into the D- Hall of Fame by her teacher and mistaking it for an honor. Rerun hides under his bed after an exchange with the teacher. “The teacher,” he tells Lucy, “asked me if I thought I’ve learned everything I need to know.” He says, “Yes.” Lucy asks if he did learn everything then. He says “I think I’ve learned all I need to live under a bed.” In another single panel strip, a long line of students are waiting in the rain for the school bus. One wonders if this patience under adverse conditions shows their love for education. Linus says no, “It shows our lives are controlled by those in power.”
As always some things don’t change. Snoopy has not ever learned his master’s name. He remains that “round-headed kid.” Sally gets help on her homework from Charlie and gets the book’s second best sentence after her movie review when he tells her he will help her with the questions after she reads the chapter. “Read the what?” Sally says.
Some things continue to develop. Rerun’s personality, a blend of Lucy and Linus. He has his brother’s literacy and insecurity but with no need of a blanket, but his sister’s aggressiveness and capacity to taunt. In one Sunday strip he tells Linus an elaborate story, ostensibly by Tolstoy, of a woman with four children who all slept together in a cradle. ‘When she put them to bed, she gave each one a ‘sucking rag,” he concludes in the fourth panel. While Linus listened he was sucking his thumb, clinging to his blanket. In the fifth panel he removes his thumb, clutches his blanket and looks sideways at his baby brother who is looking forward. As he leaves, Rerun says, “Enjoy your ‘sucking rag.” In the last panel, a self-satisfied Rerun is van pelted with Linus’s blanket. Near the end of the volume Rerun calls Lucy away from her annual responsibility to pull the football away from the rushing up to kick it Charlie Brown. Lucy, proving she somewhat knows her kid brother, has him take her place as the holder. Schulz, proving his abiding genius, doesn’t show the end of the kicking attempt but shows Rerun back at the dinner table with Lucy, who eagerly asks, “What happened.” Rerun’s response proves Lucy doesn’t quite get how much he is like both Linus and Lucy. He says, “You’ll never know.” He has effectively pulled the football from her rushing kick.
There are references to underground comics (though Rerun mistakenly refers to them as basement comics), cell phones, and Harry Potter. Peppermint Patty gives sage advice on how to keep your head from falling off—it involves sitting out against a tree under the clouds. Rerun explains to his seatmate whose elbow keeps bumping into his, “There’s no body checking in art.” Artist friends of mine might disagree.
There are a couple of storylines begun that we lament being left undeveloped, most particularly: Linus potentially becoming a rival for the Little Red-Headed Girl’s affection. Talk about a plot twist! But Schulz gave us everything he had in his long and dedicated life so like Lucy, some things we’ll just never know. President Barack Obama provides the volume with a brief, elegant introduction. The Li’l Folks cartoons are all single panel gag cartoons, some funny, but mostly interesting as precursors to Peanuts. For those of us who may be going through withdrawal the publisher advertises a 26th volume of “bonus materials and rarities,” which I am both curious and dubious about. Whatever it is, like Paris for Rick and Ilsa, there is always the 50 years of this endlessly rewarding cast of characters who make you laugh, sigh, and yell augh in cathartic agreement at life’s absurdity and grace.
December 7, 2019
Such a bittersweet ending. Schulz maintained his quality up to the end, the same flaws, but more importantly the same strengths, and the gentle touch and subtle commentary on life. I'm glad I've finally read the entire run. It was well worth my time.
February 24, 2020
What can be said about Peanuts that hasn’t been said? As I’ve gotten older, I seem to have developed a greater appreciation for Charlie Brown and Co. When I was a kid, I always read the funnies and was cool with Peanuts, but was more of a Calvin and Hobbes guy. I picked up a few of these volumes from the library at my son’s request and found myself burning through vol 25, not really thinking I’d get pulled in. A good book to keep around on a lazy day or a quiet moment.
October 4, 2021
Charlie Brown: "No, I think he's writing..."
Snoopy: "Dear Friends,
I have been fortunate to draw Charlie Brown and his friends for almost 50 years. It has been the fulfillment of my childhood ambition.
Unfortunately, I am no longer able to maintain the schedule demanded by a daily comic strip. My family does not wish Peanuts to be continued by anyone else, therefore I am announcing my retirement.
I have been grateful over the years for the loyalty of our editors and the wonderful support and love expressed to me by fans of the comic strip. Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy...how can I ever forget them..."
Snoopy: "Dear Friends,
I have been fortunate to draw Charlie Brown and his friends for almost 50 years. It has been the fulfillment of my childhood ambition.
Unfortunately, I am no longer able to maintain the schedule demanded by a daily comic strip. My family does not wish Peanuts to be continued by anyone else, therefore I am announcing my retirement.
I have been grateful over the years for the loyalty of our editors and the wonderful support and love expressed to me by fans of the comic strip. Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy...how can I ever forget them..."
November 2, 2025
It was very sad to come to the end of the Strips. 50 years of Peanuts which although not at the highest level after the early 70s, remained strong and warm and humorous. There was a poignancy that he died hours before his last strip was published. The entire run is a piece of art to stand aside Beethoven's Piano Sonatas and Monet's Lily Pads. I am going to miss Snoopy and company.
There was bonus content with the Complete L'il Folks, which were one panel gags, and a precursor to his main event. Many Peanut archetypes were already on display in those early works.
I now have one volume to go of miscellaneous publishing to complete the collection.
There was bonus content with the Complete L'il Folks, which were one panel gags, and a precursor to his main event. Many Peanut archetypes were already on display in those early works.
I now have one volume to go of miscellaneous publishing to complete the collection.
November 29, 2021
Read this with a feeling of sadness but mixed with gratitude. Sad that it ended as it did, but cancer was the reason. Grateful for all the decades of daily output from Charles M Schulz and the addition of the complete Li'l Folks in this volume as you can see where the seeds were sown for the Peanuts journey.
October 3, 2019
The End. Schulz stierf in februari 2000 en zijn laatste strip werd 2 dagen voor zijn dood gepubliceerd. De verzamelde werken, 17897 strips in totaal, van 1950 tot 2000 heb ik nu allemaal gelezen. Ik denk dat ik binnenkort opnieuw volume 1 ter hand neem en nog eens en daarna nog eens...
May 3, 2016
The last volume (#25) of strips in this epic set, with a nice intro by President Obama. I like that Rerun aspires to be an underground comic book artist. I just found out that there will be a surprise volume 26 coming out in October featuring Schulz's non-comic strip art! \0/
August 9, 2016
I have now read every Sunday Peanuts comic ever written.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 20, 2019
Usually when I do one of these reviews, I include what I consider my favorite strips from the collection in question, since I feel like the entirety of Peanuts is such that I don't feel the need to tell the person reading this review how great Peanuts is an was for the fifty years of its existence. The strip I have included in this review is not my favorite of the collection, but it is the most poignant. This strip ran the day after Schulz died announcing to the world that he was retiring due to his health (the strip was likely produced about six weeks before it ran--there were no daily strips in the year 2000, just the last run of Sunday strips in January and February.) This announcement runs counter to the feel of Peanuts--many of the strips feel timeless and so an acknowledgement that Schulz couldn't continue producing the strip due to infirmity and essentially his own mortality seems out of character or maybe even impossible. I can't look at the above strip without choking up a little bit. I'm not a very sentimental person and I'm not religious, and yet every Christmas season I have to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas which like Peanuts itself, transcends its times.
This final volume of Schulz's strip is not indicative of his best work (that would be in the 1960s in volumes I need to re-read and post reviews since I read them before I resolved last New Year's Eve to keep writing by writing Goodreads reviews) but this volume is significant in that it contains a foreword from former president Barack Obama (who was president when he wrote it) and also because it contains four years of Schulz' Lil' Folks which was the predecessor to Peanuts and you can see the path from these one panel Sunday strips to what would eventually become the ubiquitous strip we have come to know and love (in fact, the gag from the first Peanuts cartoon can be found in Lil' Folks as well, including the reference to "Charlie Brown.") One has to wonder if Fantagraphics' plan was to include Lil' Folks when they came up with the structure of The Complete Peanuts. Even if the inclusion of the strip was a later development in this series, its inclusion is welcome here.
Even if I hadn't resolved to add reviews of previous volumes that I had not posted reviews for, completing all twenty-five volumes of The Complete Peanuts would likely inspire readers to re-read the entire series, as there is a depth to Peanuts that likely will reveal itself on multiple readings. I know it is difficult to believe that something so simple on the surface could reveal so many layers and depth, but this is why Peanuts has become a part of our collective consciousness. It is likely that Charles Schulz did not set out to create the greatest newspaper comic strip ever conceived--but we are all better off that he did so.
January 15, 2018
What a mix of emotions I have! Since 2004, I've been reading this series and now I can say I have read every single Peanuts strip ever. During the prior volume I thought I'd get verklempt while reading the last volume, but it never happened because I was still so engaged by the happenings of the ol' gang. The final message from Sparky came as a record scratch, but I already knew it was coming so it didn't catch me as off-guard as I anticipated.
Originally when Rerun showed up, I thought of him as a jump-the-shark move in the "Enter Cousin Oliver" vein. He grew to became Snoopy's friend, an underground comics artist in this volume, and developed more as an interesting character. I'm embarrassed to admit I wrote him off initially.
In addition to referencing underground comics, a couple of other signs of the times popped up in this volume. Mark McGwire, newfangled cars with fancy electronics, Harry Potter, and vegetarianism all get mentions in this final volume. The Harry Potter mention took me out of the strip a bit, as I had forgotten Pottermania was just in its infancy in November 1999 when that strip ran!
Since I was still engaged by the strip, it came as a surprise when I reached February 13, 2000 and read the message I remember seeing in the newspaper. I noticed the date and flipped back several pages to realize that Schulz had already ended the daily strips but continued on with fresh Sunday strips for several weeks.
While it felt a bit jarring it was also nice to enjoy the predecessor to Peanuts, a late-1940s strip called "Li'l Folks" that ran in The St. Paul Pioneer Press. There are clear predecessors to Peanuts characters—and Snoopy actually looks like a beagle! Schulz even has a character referred to as Charlie Brown, and in one panel two girls have the exact conversation about him that Patty and Shermy have about Charlie Brown in the very first Peanuts strip.
The foreword by President Barack Obama? Not his best work, and frankly there have been other authors who seemed to love the strip more genuinely. But hey, they got President Obama, awesome! I love that guy almost as much as I love Snoopy.
Now that I don't need to worry about finding the new volume every six months or so, what will I do with myself? My guess is that I'll start a re-reading project at some point...
Originally when Rerun showed up, I thought of him as a jump-the-shark move in the "Enter Cousin Oliver" vein. He grew to became Snoopy's friend, an underground comics artist in this volume, and developed more as an interesting character. I'm embarrassed to admit I wrote him off initially.
In addition to referencing underground comics, a couple of other signs of the times popped up in this volume. Mark McGwire, newfangled cars with fancy electronics, Harry Potter, and vegetarianism all get mentions in this final volume. The Harry Potter mention took me out of the strip a bit, as I had forgotten Pottermania was just in its infancy in November 1999 when that strip ran!
Since I was still engaged by the strip, it came as a surprise when I reached February 13, 2000 and read the message I remember seeing in the newspaper. I noticed the date and flipped back several pages to realize that Schulz had already ended the daily strips but continued on with fresh Sunday strips for several weeks.
While it felt a bit jarring it was also nice to enjoy the predecessor to Peanuts, a late-1940s strip called "Li'l Folks" that ran in The St. Paul Pioneer Press. There are clear predecessors to Peanuts characters—and Snoopy actually looks like a beagle! Schulz even has a character referred to as Charlie Brown, and in one panel two girls have the exact conversation about him that Patty and Shermy have about Charlie Brown in the very first Peanuts strip.
The foreword by President Barack Obama? Not his best work, and frankly there have been other authors who seemed to love the strip more genuinely. But hey, they got President Obama, awesome! I love that guy almost as much as I love Snoopy.
Now that I don't need to worry about finding the new volume every six months or so, what will I do with myself? My guess is that I'll start a re-reading project at some point...
October 24, 2025
The capstone volume to The Complete Peanuts is a little melancholic. There's no lead-up to the final strips. Everything seems to be going along as normal until the beginning of the year 2000, when the daily strips stop. Then a handful of Sunday strips later it's all over by February. The final full Sunday strip fittingly features Charlie Brown's desire to receive just one love letter in the mail. There's the usual introductory essay, this time by no one less than (then United States President) Barack Obama, which speaks to the way Peanuts became an indelible piece of Americana.
No new ground is broken in these strips, but no one should expect that after 50 years. It's amazing the strips here are still as entertaining as they are. And they don't rely on any of the more obnoxious tropes. Although there might be a bit more Spike than I prefer. You can tell there's a bit of reduction in work, with seemingly more single panel strips stretching across the width rather than the standard four panels. The cast feels whittled down to its core, with characters like Franklin appearing only a handful of times. Even Schroeder appears mostly just as a baseball catcher rather than behind his beloved piano. There's nothing particularly laugh out loud funny, but it all feels comforting.
The second half of the volume contains all of Schulz's previous strip before Peanuts, Li'l Folks. To be honest, I did not read all of these. The strip was a single panel gag comic. The gags rarely worked for me. I didn't read enough of them to develop any rapport with the characters, or even be able to tell if the same characters were appearing. You have to hold the book vertically to read this part, which can also be a hassle for an extended period of time. It's a nice bit of history for Peanuts fans, but totally optional.
I can't believe this was it. I've spent years collecting each volume of The Complete Peanuts, mostly getting them as Christmas gifts each year. Now that gift tradition comes to an end, too. I waited almost a full year after receiving this final volume before reading it, since I knew that would mean the end of Peanuts. The only thing now is to go back and start at the beginning to reread and relive all 50 years of this outstanding and unique comic strip.
No new ground is broken in these strips, but no one should expect that after 50 years. It's amazing the strips here are still as entertaining as they are. And they don't rely on any of the more obnoxious tropes. Although there might be a bit more Spike than I prefer. You can tell there's a bit of reduction in work, with seemingly more single panel strips stretching across the width rather than the standard four panels. The cast feels whittled down to its core, with characters like Franklin appearing only a handful of times. Even Schroeder appears mostly just as a baseball catcher rather than behind his beloved piano. There's nothing particularly laugh out loud funny, but it all feels comforting.
The second half of the volume contains all of Schulz's previous strip before Peanuts, Li'l Folks. To be honest, I did not read all of these. The strip was a single panel gag comic. The gags rarely worked for me. I didn't read enough of them to develop any rapport with the characters, or even be able to tell if the same characters were appearing. You have to hold the book vertically to read this part, which can also be a hassle for an extended period of time. It's a nice bit of history for Peanuts fans, but totally optional.
I can't believe this was it. I've spent years collecting each volume of The Complete Peanuts, mostly getting them as Christmas gifts each year. Now that gift tradition comes to an end, too. I waited almost a full year after receiving this final volume before reading it, since I knew that would mean the end of Peanuts. The only thing now is to go back and start at the beginning to reread and relive all 50 years of this outstanding and unique comic strip.
January 27, 2023
I have read these books since the first one came out when I was in fourth grade. I've loved Peanuts since before even that. After that I slowly started collecting the books through Christmases and Birthdays.
Then this ending, a few years ago, after I entered high school, hit me, and hit me hard.
Here, is where it all began:
And how it ended:
It hit me out of the blue... I had followed Schultz's work all the way through, and the ending was so sad....
I did cry, of course, but not for long, because when I turned the page,
A beautiful finale.
Then this ending, a few years ago, after I entered high school, hit me, and hit me hard.
Here, is where it all began:
And how it ended:
It hit me out of the blue... I had followed Schultz's work all the way through, and the ending was so sad....
I did cry, of course, but not for long, because when I turned the page,
A beautiful finale.
December 18, 2023
Schulz was asked if, in his final Peanuts strip, Charlie Brown would finally get to kick the football after so many decades (one of the many recurring themes in Peanuts was Charlie Brown's attempts to kick a football while Lucy was holding it, only to have Lucy pull it back at the last moment, causing him to fall on his back). His response, "Oh, no. Definitely not. I couldn't have Charlie Brown kick that football; that would be a terrible disservice to him after nearly half a century." But in a December 1999 interview, holding back tears, Schulz recounted the moment when he signed his final strip, saying, "All of a sudden I thought, 'You know, that poor, poor kid, he never even got to kick the football. What a dirty trick—he never had a chance to kick the football.'"
17,897 strips published from 1950 to 2000: "arguably the longest story ever told by one human being." And I have now finished it (technically there's still one more volume left but the story ended here).
Charles Shulz is a genius, Peanuts is one of the great comics (and works of art), and Charlie Brown is my hero.
October 26, 2024
Book 199 of 300 ~ 2024
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
I hope to find as many of the volumes as I can. My love for the Peanuts kiddos hasn't changed in years. They are oldies but goodies. RiP Sparky.. and thanks for leaving these for us to read and pass to future generations..
He passed away shortly after he retired... I was so sad when I read that in this volume.
I liked that they added his earlier work as well i.e. Lil' Folks, where we see the introduction of Charlie Brown in the formative years..
#book199of300 #amreading #peanuts #tbrpile #instareads #readstagram #reading #bookreview #bookreviewer #booklover #booksAreLife #booksForTheWin #thisbookfairyisreading #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagramfeature #bookshelf #booksofinstagram #bookish #bookworm #goodreads #booklovers #theSGbookfairyReads #theSGtrekkiereads #bookaholic #bookaddict #bookchallenge2024 #reviews #lovebooks #booknerds
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
I hope to find as many of the volumes as I can. My love for the Peanuts kiddos hasn't changed in years. They are oldies but goodies. RiP Sparky.. and thanks for leaving these for us to read and pass to future generations..
He passed away shortly after he retired... I was so sad when I read that in this volume.
I liked that they added his earlier work as well i.e. Lil' Folks, where we see the introduction of Charlie Brown in the formative years..
#book199of300 #amreading #peanuts #tbrpile #instareads #readstagram #reading #bookreview #bookreviewer #booklover #booksAreLife #booksForTheWin #thisbookfairyisreading #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagramfeature #bookshelf #booksofinstagram #bookish #bookworm #goodreads #booklovers #theSGbookfairyReads #theSGtrekkiereads #bookaholic #bookaddict #bookchallenge2024 #reviews #lovebooks #booknerds
September 4, 2022
Sort of a bittersweet ending to the collected Peanuts strip – Schulz went out on a high note, he was still in great form for his last year of doing the strip but it ends suddenly, with his last strip announcing his retirement coming out the day after he’d died. The last half of the book consists of the complete run of Lil Folks, his pretty much unknown strip that he did before he started Peanuts, worth reading on its own and definitely showing some of the Peanuts humor in its early stages – there’s even an early version of Charlie Brown.
Peanuts was always one of my favorite comic strips and it’s been a blast reading them from beginning to end, I’d recommend it to anyone.
Peanuts was always one of my favorite comic strips and it’s been a blast reading them from beginning to end, I’d recommend it to anyone.
July 18, 2023
The last group of Peanuts strips, this work includes the final strip, which debuted only hours after Charles Schultz passed away. It also includes drawings from Li’l Folks, or the pre-Peanuts drawings of Schultz. Admittedly the Peanuts strips here, save the final one, are not really the best of the series. Perhaps time is catching up to Schultz, and by 2000, he moves to just Sunday strips. Some of the newer characters, like Rerun, Spike and other Snoopy relatives take over, which is not always the smartest strategy. The mainstays are not quite like they used to be. Still, it is Peanuts, and it is still going to be read. Worth it for the fans, if only to see the final strip one last time.
August 7, 2019
This was the last set of Complete Peanuts Collection. The last strip appeared for the final time just one day after the creator, Charles Schulz, died. I really enjoyed this set, as I had enjoyed the more recent sets much more, compared to the earlier ones.
The book contained many "Li'l Folks" strips, which were created by Charles Schulz, were published around 1950 and had been a precursor to Peanuts. It was important to see these strips: it visibly showed how the cartoons have evolved over these 50 years and how intelligent and funnier they had become.
The book contained many "Li'l Folks" strips, which were created by Charles Schulz, were published around 1950 and had been a precursor to Peanuts. It was important to see these strips: it visibly showed how the cartoons have evolved over these 50 years and how intelligent and funnier they had become.
January 31, 2025
The end of Peanuts plus it’s precursor. 26 volumes done, in under eight months.
Curious why the final Sunday is missing the collage that surrounded Schulz’ farewell, appearing as if written by Snoopy.
I’ll never forget it (or you, Sparky)…I woke up early the morning of Sunday February 13, 2000. Went to get the newspaper, drew a bath, sat in the tub reading the final strip, and the announcer on the local jazz radio station gave the news of Sparky’s passing, and, holding the color Sunday comics in the bathtub, I wept.,..
Curious why the final Sunday is missing the collage that surrounded Schulz’ farewell, appearing as if written by Snoopy.
I’ll never forget it (or you, Sparky)…I woke up early the morning of Sunday February 13, 2000. Went to get the newspaper, drew a bath, sat in the tub reading the final strip, and the announcer on the local jazz radio station gave the news of Sparky’s passing, and, holding the color Sunday comics in the bathtub, I wept.,..
May 19, 2019
The last year of strips in an extraordinary series. This volume includes the pre- Peanuts strips Li'l Folks that Schulz did for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. I've read them before in Charles M. Schulz: Li'l Beginnings but it's good they were included here because Li'l Beginnings is hard to get, having been published by the Schulz Museum.
December 19, 2017
This book is only raised to 3 stars due to the inclusion of "Li'l Folks." Sorry, but the last year of Peanuts simply isn't very funny overall. Compare the Li'l Folks strips to the Peanuts strips. The ones created near the beginning of Schulz's career are actually much funnier than those at the end.
February 16, 2020
Best issue is the finale of the comic strip!! It's so hard to say goodbye to the Peanuts kids, Snoopy, and Woodstock!! It's also so sad to hear the truth about the end of Charles Schultz' career and life!! God rest his soul, he will be missed!! His widow will be missed as well!! The comic strip was so close to reaching 50 years of publishing!! The comic strip is now 70 years.old!!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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September 11, 2020Several years ago I set out to read every single Peanuts comic. Reading this last book was bittersweet, because I knew I was coming to the end. It was sad seeing the strip drop from the regular four panels to just two or three, then see them come out with less frequency, and finally stop at the same time Schulz died.
April 3, 2018
The final installment in Charles Schulz's compilation of his comic strip. The editors ended it with his daily comics, "Li'l Folks."
I will miss the wonderful drawing and the sardonic and cynical demeanor of these characters.
I will miss the wonderful drawing and the sardonic and cynical demeanor of these characters.
November 16, 2018
It took about three years, but I've finally read the full run of Peanuts. What's next on my bucket list?
January 8, 2019
Still had some of the original charm to the end but the jokes in this one aren't very memorable. Lil' Folks was a mildly amusing addition.
January 14, 2019
Finally got to finish these.
October 2, 2019
"Everybody's gone home, sir. You should go home, too. It's getting dark."
"We had fun, didn't we, Marcie?"
"Yes sir. We had fun."
"Nobody shook hands and said, 'Good game.'"
*sniff*
"We had fun, didn't we, Marcie?"
"Yes sir. We had fun."
"Nobody shook hands and said, 'Good game.'"
*sniff*
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