The Complete Peanuts 1959-1960: Vol. 5 Hardcover Edition

by Charles M. Schulz

Book Overview

As the first decade of Peanuts closes, it seems only fitting to bid farewell to that halcyon decade with a cover starring Patty, one of the original three Peanuts. Major new additions to classic Peanuts lore come fast and furious here. Snoopy begins to take up residence atop his doghouse, and his repertoire of impressions increases exponentially. Lucy sets up her booth and offers her first five-cent psychiatric counsel. (Her advice to a forlorn Charlie...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1560976713
• ISBN13: 9781560976714
• Release Date: May 2006
• Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
• Length: 344 Pages
• Weight: 2.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 8.7" x 6.8"
• Age Range: 11 to 15 years
• Grade Range: Grades 6 to 10

Customer Reviews

The Secret to Happiness

What is happiness? On April 25, 1960, Charles Schulz, through his character Lucy told us: Happiness is a warm puppy. This immortal sentence is just one of the things that appears in the fifth volume of The Complete Peanuts, which comprises the years 1959 and 1960. As in previous volumes, we see once again why Peanuts is considered by many to be the best comic strip ever. In some sense, things have not changed from past volumes: Linus still has his blanket, Charlie Brown still can't fly a kite and Lucy is a champion fussbudget. On the other hand, things do move forward, albeit slowly. As original character Shermy (the first to ever speak in a Peanuts strip) becomes less significant, we get a new character with Charlie Brown's sister, Sally. Before she can even talk, she will have her heart broken by Linus, but don't worry, she'll recover fast. Resiliency is the key to many of these characters, none more so than the strip's centerpiece, Charlie Brown. Constantly luckless and often ridiculed by his "friends" (only Linus, and occasionally Schroeder, are relatively consistent in being nice to him), Charlie Brown, despite his glumness is actually the eternal optimist. He never gives up on flying his kit or playing baseball or even his belief that one day, Lucy will actually allow him to kick that football. Behind the deceptively simple drawing and the child characters (by this point in the strip, even the adult voices are gone), lies an often deep and sophisticated art, filled with wit and humanity. And like any piece of art that is great and immortal, it is timeless and as good now as ever, whether you're an adult or a child.

Peanuts At Its Height!

In the latest installment of the publication of the complete Peanuts Charles M. Schulz's world has reached the beginning of its glory years. All the personalities are in place: Charlie Brown the chronically depressed loser, Linus the blanket-clutching philosopher, Lucy the tyrant, and Snoopy as, well, whatever he's fantasizing about at the moment. Among the funniest of the strips in this volume are those dealing with The Great Pumpkin's introduction to the world, Charlie Brown's struggles with kite-flying and baseball managing, and Lucy's continuing passion for Schroeder. We also see the advent of Sally Brown and can monitor the gradual fading away of some of the original characters like Shermy, Patty, and Violet, who still pop up now and then but are no longer daily visitors. Fans of the great 1960s TV specials "A Charlie Brown Christmas", "Its The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown", and "Charlie Brown's Allstars" will realize some of the strips contain dialogue and action that were later used for the TV shows. Its hard to wait six months or so between volumes, particularly when one realizes that some of the funniest episodes are still to be published, like Snoopy deciding his doghouse is a Sopwith Camel or Charlie Brown's conflict with the kite eating tree, but the anticipation will make the enjoyment that much sweeter!

The neurotic saga continues...

Charles Schulz's inexorable neurotic parade of children as adults continues in this great series by Fantagraphics (also known for reprinting such staples as Krazy Kat, Pogo, Dennis the Menace, and countless others). Somehow depicting adult miseries, disappointments, and conflicts with children greatly de-fangs the somewhat less than skippy happy subthemes that permeate this incredible strip. And it hasn't lost its bite some forty years later. If anything, this series has slowly revealed the true timelessness of "Peanuts". Charlie Brown remains downright pitiable. No one likes him, no one ever did, and likely no one ever will. He demonstrates his "depressed stance" (October 19, 1960) after an onslaught of failure and ridicule. But he does manage to show up Lucy when she dons his shirt (February 22, 1959), though only in a self-deprecating manner. Any early signs of self-confidence (see Volume One) have nearly vanished by this point. But he never gives up even when faced with utter defeat (by this time the famous baseball games populated a lot of strip time). And then there's his struggles with inanimate objects. When he finally gets his kite into the air, it simply explodes (March 13, 1960). Lucy stands fast in her deep dominating neuroses, but she's a little tamed down from her earlier maniacal appearances (see Volume Two). Right off the bat in January 1959 she takes great pride in pointing out the faults of others. Why? "I want to make this a better world for me to live in!" And she continues her futile quest for Schroeder; whose piano continues to symbolically separate them. What's better than unrequited love? Hopelessly futile unrequited love, of course. Schulz depicts this brilliantly. Linus still faces the world with a lamb's innocence, only to get beaten down mercilessly by reality. This volume includes the first appearance of the Great Pumpkin (known by many from the Dolly Madison sponsored Halloween TV special that played in solid rotation for decades). But in 1960, Linus's attempt at a new popular mythology met with a bitter end. Snoopy continues as the fantastic centerpiece of the strip. He dances, imitates others, begs for food, and remains a little surreal. He even gets downright existential. On October 24, 1959 he sits in his dog house wondering about life: "Sometimes I lay awake at night wondering why I was born... Why was I put on this earth? What am I doing here? ..And then suddenly it hits me... I haven't got the slightest idea!" This very strip defies the entire traditional notion that a comic strip should deliver yuks alone. It actually inspires deep thought as well as laughter. And of course Charlie Brown's little sister Sally enters the scene. She's a baby in these strips, but she still falls hard for Linus (though he's not yet her "Sweet Baboo"). One depressing strip (August 31, 1960) shows her sighing behind a tree after overhearing Linus yell "I don't even LIKE little girls!" The very next strip shows her sobbing outr

Now We're Getting Into The Best of Peanuts!

The fifth volume of the proposed 25 volume Complete Peanuts series finishes off the first decade of the strip by chronicling the years 1959 and 1960. This was about the time that many Peanuts fans (myself included) feel the strip really came into its own. Charles Schulz had established his main characters (Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, Linus, Schroeder) with their own individual personalities and eccentricities. He had relegated the other characters (Patty, Violet, Pig Pen and Shermy) to occasional roles and basically stopped developing them (all eventually became afterthoughts in the strip). In this volume, Schulz adds his first major character in several years by adding Charlie Brown's baby sister Sally, which ended up being a great decision as Sally later became the poster child for unrequited love (with Linus - you actually see the beginnings of it in this volume) and school anxiety. But even this early on, she makes her mark to the strip. The surprise for me is that even though I was familiar with many more of the strips published in this volume than in any of the previous four volumes, there were probably 1/4th to 1/5th of the collection that I don't recall having read before in my life. That is, for me, what makes these volumes fun for me, the 40+ year old strips that are really new to me. I know that the percentage of strips I will have never seen will probably decrease with each new volume that is issued, just reading 700+ strips in a few days will bring back many great memories. My only gripe in this volume is that the introduction by Whoopi Goldberg was not an essay as the previous volumes have had, but merely a transcript of an interview conducted with her. I think there are enough famous people who probably were affected by Schulz and his work who could make the effort to pen a few pages. Whoopi is a bright woman, but the interview left me with a feeling of "blahdom". Anyway, another great volume in a great series!

"You never acted like that when I was born!"

Our patience is about to be paid off on May 19th. This will feature a quite transitional period in Peanuts. Snoopy will start resting on the top of his doghouse (he'll continue using his wild imagination, much to the chagrin of his master Charlie Brown). Blanket toting Linus has developed a crush on his teacher, Miss Othmar ("The teacher, the subject of schoolboy's fantasy...") and every Halloween awaits the arrival of the Great Pumpkin, hoping he'll choose the Van Pelts' pumpkin patch. Lucy finds a part-time job giving advice and "psychiatric help" for 5 cents (she seems to have a regular customer with Charlie Brown. Charlie Brown is about to be a brother and is ecstatic about it (he passes out chocolate cigars). His new baby sister's name is Sally. She starts out very cute and innocent, but will later become a consumate whiner (Charlie Brown taught her everything he knows!). She'll also develop a crush on Linus, who's too preoccupied with his crush on Miss Othmar. Meanwhile, Charlie Brown has a crush of his own on one little red-haired girl (we never get to see her in the cartoon strip, let alone know her name, but a few of the Charlie Brown specials would be a different story). And of course, Lucy is crazy about Schroeder, who's only crazy about Beethoven. Patty, who makes the cover of this Complete Peanuts, remains in the shadows of Lucy and, to a lesser extent, her friend Violet. Whoopi Goldberg has some poignant words in the introduction which I've read here on this website and she understands that part of the charm of Peanuts is that it tapped in on the things that make each of us sad or angry. Comics (which appeared in Holt Rhinehart and Winston anthologies like But We Love You, Charlie Brown, Peanuts Every Sunday, Go Fly a Kite, Charlie Brown and It's a Dog's Life, Charlie Brown) include Charlie Brown trying hard to fly a kite, kick the football from Lucy and win a baseball game. Lucy insults Linus when Charlie Brown awaits Sally's arrival "I wanted to be the only child but you spoiled it for me!" Snoopy becomes a boxer fighting with a boxing glove on his nose. Charlie Brown is asked about his opinion about dogs. When he praises them, Snoopy embraces him and won't let go! Charlie Brown composes a typically wishy washy poem ("Somedays you think you know everything, somedays you don't think you know anything.."). Linus, Lucy and Charlie Brown look up in the sky and share what pictures the clouds seem to paint for each of them. Lucy and Linus see their father driving off and think he's going to the store, thus beg him for comic books and candy. Charlie Brown gets insulted by Violet and Patty and says "I'm sort of a spiritual scratching post for them to sharpen their claws!" Above Snoopy's doghouse is a big icicle. Charlie Brown tries to get the timid Snoopy away from the endangered doghouse with a pizza (and it works like a charm as soon as Snoopy smells the aroma!). Even the crabby Lucy shows a little compassion for