You're on Your Own, Snoopy

Peanuts Coronet #43

by Charles M. Schulz

125pages. poche. Broché.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels Comics, Cartoon, Humor

129 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Charles 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.”

Reviews

[Owen Watts · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was this age, at this time when I finally read by first Peanuts book. I've never even seen a filmed version of it, I've never really ever set eyes on it beyond my general understanding that it's part of the fabric of western post war pop culture. Yet here I am with this seventies paperback, itself an abridged extract from might be the 32nd collected version of the newspaper story. Deep end doesn't cover it and at first I was willing to be utterly cynical about the whole endeavour. This is as American as indentured servitude, some of the strips feel throwaway, a lot of it is very old fashioned, I much prefer the more artistically engrossing world of Calvin & Hobbes etc etc but by about halfway it became incredibly clear why it still has the power it does. Schulz is always building something - the continuity is wildly complex and the characters have this unexpected depth to them but the whole thing is extraordinarily straightforward on the surface. I ate the whole thing in three goes like a lovely big bag of crisps.

So yes, it would be trite to say anything more analytical and meaningful about this well-trodden bit of the American creative landscape who until this particular Christmas I'd never formally looked directly at, but although it's late in the day. I'm glad I'm finally did.

[Blue · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love you snoopy

[Vincent Darkhelm · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm never alone when Snoopy is around. Some nice Peppermint Patty cartoons in this one.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 43 of the 89 volume Coronet run, this wonderful collection is taken from “Ha Ha Herman, Charlie Brown vol. 1” (no, I don’t understand it either) and was published in 1975, featuring strips from 1971 and 1972 (I have the Coronet 7th edition from 1980). As ever, there’s plenty to enjoy (this period of the strip is the one I remember most from my childhood, which is always a welcome feeling) and highlights include Lucy and Shroeder, Woodstock’s bad landings, the Easter beagle (a strip with a sad end), Miss Helen Sweetstory’s biography, Snoopy helping Linus give up his blanket, how Charlie Brown got Snoopy, Lucy hits a home run (and gives up a kiss because she’s better than that - go Lucy!) and Summer Camp (featuring the introduction of Marcie). Filled with humour and wistfulness, some social comment and nice dabs of melancholy, this is a fantastic collection and I very much recommend it.

[Tristan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a 1980 printing of this book, which contains strips from the early 1970s including Marcie’s first appearance. There’s not too many flights of fancy here other than Woodstock as a rather disastrous secretary for Snoopy. The genteel interaction of the characters does not appear to have enthused me at first reading, as this book is in pristine condition, stiff to open, like new. I do remember the jokes, but this clearly wasn’t one of my heavily thumbed favourites. Nevertheless, it’s a reread, so four stars.

[Susan Molloy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun, clean humor with delightful drawings of the gang.

💥 Recommended.

[Piper Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I Love peanuts and this is a good book

[Zoe O]

I wish Snoopy would write my biography ❤️also I loved when Woodstock went to eagle school. So proud of him

[Vania Amadea · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love you snoopy