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krpalmerAs I opened up the latest volume of The Complete Peanuts, I was struck not just by the big smug grin Charlie Brown had on the cover, but by how bright the orange behind him looked. I suppose that as the series gets ever further along and takes its first step into another decade, the casual dismissals by some of the later years of the comic strip have begun to concern me, and just perhaps I was wondering if the reprint series was stepping away, or had to step away, from an emphasis on Peanuts as being "about" depression and suffering and "respectable" things like that. Too, the summary on the back cover seemed to concentrate on the storyline where Charlie Brown winds up in the hospital with (just about) everyone else concerned to the slight exception of everything else. As I read through the volume, I continued to take it a bit at a time but at times missed my complete intended reading for the day. However, as I went along I found myself thinking there was indeed melancholy mixed in, but not so much as to be overwhelming. As well, despite being quite familiar with the previous "Peanuts Parade" reprint series for these years, there were still strips I hadn't seen before along the way.
One thing that struck me was that the World War I Flying Ace was back after just about fading away, if in a somewhat different way than before. A good number of strips seemed to have Snoopy trying to communicate from a phrasebook, speaking German to Lucy and Sally but French to Eudora and Marcie. There's the first development of Marcie being able to somehow enter the world of the World War I Flying Ace, but it didn't push the rest of the phrasebook gags out.
So far as "Snoopy's world" spreading goes, there was also a storyline I've heard mentioned before where Schroeder decides to go to a "summer music camp"; he goes to the "Ace Travel Agency" with Lucy behind her familiar if relettered booth, and she books him a flight on top of Snoopy's doghouse, with Linus checking Schroeder's piano and Marcie squeezed in as the stewardess. After it's all over, Schroeder is shocked that "we've been flying all day and going no place!" In other "travel" storylines, everyone goes off to summer camp once more, but now, without ever quite saying it straight out, they seem to be at a "church" camp with a speaker terrifying Peppermint Patty with news that "we're in the last days!" Things are defused in the end, again without a big deal being made of it.
The "Beagle Scouts" are a bit more as I remembered them, with Harriet joining the group, mostly it seems to carry around "angel food cake with seven minute frosting." There was also one more interesting development, with "Pig-Pen" returning after being pretty much absent from the strip for a good few years when Peppermint Patty needs someone to go to the "Valentine's Day disco dance." For some reason, I found myself thinking of "fandom" and "unconventional 'shipping,'" although most of the gags still seemed to revolve around "Pig-Pen's" portable dust cloud and it didn't keep for that long. All in all, it added up to another entertaining volume.
One thing that struck me was that the World War I Flying Ace was back after just about fading away, if in a somewhat different way than before. A good number of strips seemed to have Snoopy trying to communicate from a phrasebook, speaking German to Lucy and Sally but French to Eudora and Marcie. There's the first development of Marcie being able to somehow enter the world of the World War I Flying Ace, but it didn't push the rest of the phrasebook gags out.
So far as "Snoopy's world" spreading goes, there was also a storyline I've heard mentioned before where Schroeder decides to go to a "summer music camp"; he goes to the "Ace Travel Agency" with Lucy behind her familiar if relettered booth, and she books him a flight on top of Snoopy's doghouse, with Linus checking Schroeder's piano and Marcie squeezed in as the stewardess. After it's all over, Schroeder is shocked that "we've been flying all day and going no place!" In other "travel" storylines, everyone goes off to summer camp once more, but now, without ever quite saying it straight out, they seem to be at a "church" camp with a speaker terrifying Peppermint Patty with news that "we're in the last days!" Things are defused in the end, again without a big deal being made of it.
The "Beagle Scouts" are a bit more as I remembered them, with Harriet joining the group, mostly it seems to carry around "angel food cake with seven minute frosting." There was also one more interesting development, with "Pig-Pen" returning after being pretty much absent from the strip for a good few years when Peppermint Patty needs someone to go to the "Valentine's Day disco dance." For some reason, I found myself thinking of "fandom" and "unconventional 'shipping,'" although most of the gags still seemed to revolve around "Pig-Pen's" portable dust cloud and it didn't keep for that long. All in all, it added up to another entertaining volume.