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krpalmerOne thing I didn't mention when commenting on the previous volume of The Complete Peanuts was that with it, I already had "Peanuts in complete": a few years ago now, five paperback volumes collected "every strip per year" for the final years of the strip, and I wound up getting all of them. While their production values weren't quite as "dignified" as The Complete Peanuts, a thought that did come to me was that one of the final introductions in the three volumes then remaining might yet seem so dismissive of the last years of the strip as to feel unpleasant to me... That thought then returned when I heard the introduction to the latest volume would be provided by "Rifftrax MST3K". While I suppose it's interesting to see the "post-Mystery Science" project placed alongside the other figures who've provided previous introductions, and I at least remembered a MSTing of a "Peanuts fanfic" (among other things), the thought "I'm not interested in them taking cheap shots at current convenient targets I happen to like myself" that's kept me from taking chances on any of it popped up in a new context. I wound up reluctant to pre-order the book, instead waiting to see if it would show up in the local bookstore, where I could at least read its introduction first.
One of the volumes did turn up there. I already knew the introduction inside the book was "by Conor Lastowka and Sean Thomason," names not associated with the "Best Brains" of Mystery Science Theater; I supposed they had joined the Rifftrax writing staff. However, their comments were pleasant and entertaining enough, although they did make a big deal out of "selling the premise of Peanuts would be tough these days," which had me remembering how different and perhaps easily describable the strip had been in its first days. They also, however, brought up Snoopy's brother, the "ugly dog contest" winner Olaf, in a "he's big in Japan" kind of way, which was a bit more fun. The "riffed-on" comic strips also in the introduction, said to have been done by the more recognisable names of Rifftrax, were also quite acceptable, and with that (and the thought that both Charles M. Schulz and Mystery Science Theater were from Minnesota), it was on to the actual comic strips.
The first strips of 1995 were still familiar to me from the scrapbook I'd made of them back then; I was also thinking of comments about how important Linus and Lucy's little brother Rerun was becoming, two decades after he'd been introduced as the next "baby" in the strip. Schroeder had grown up fast (although he was still a "toddler prodigy" when he started playing the piano), Linus had needed years to start talking and had stayed "young" for a while after that, and Sally had then grown up fast too, but after a few "new kid" and "little kid" strips Rerun had wound up riding on the back of Mrs. Van Pelt's bicycle, making knowing comments, for quite a while; every so often Schulz would make comments outside of the strip wondering if he'd made a mistake introducing him. By now, though, he was a bit older if not as old as the indeterminate age of the other kids; just as important, his design was also now different enough from Linus's they could usually be told apart at a glance. Early in the volume, a familiar story had him starting to play marbles only to lose his collection to "Joe Agate"; however, Charlie Brown then stepped up in a development that might surprise someone with a concise mental picture of the strip. After that, Rerun started trying to play basketball.
Charlie Brown also seemed near the beginning of this volume to be finding some wryness in Lucy getting bonked on the head by fly balls (although by the end of it, he was getting more emotional again about her usual fielding talents), and when taking dance lessons "to be more outgoing" he managed to dance with a girl named Emily. Right after that, though, there was the suggestion she wasn't quite as real as he'd convinced himself, although she did show up the next year for the Sweetheart Ball.
Once I'd got through the strips in the old scrapbook, I did start feeling more surprised by what I was reading; I wondered a bit if I hadn't quite looked into the paperback collections. I was enjoying it all the same, and did wind up with a sense of familiarity again when Rerun started going to kindergarten (after spending a week hiding under his bed), where he sat alongside a little girl with pigtails. She never quite got a name (although I did happen to notice a boy in Peppermint Patty's class called "Justin"); the volume itself used "Little Pigtailed Girl," which I suppose works. In any case, there are two volumes left; I now know the last one, which will only have a few leftover Sunday pages from 2000, is going to include the pre-Peanuts "Li'l Folks" cartoons.
One of the volumes did turn up there. I already knew the introduction inside the book was "by Conor Lastowka and Sean Thomason," names not associated with the "Best Brains" of Mystery Science Theater; I supposed they had joined the Rifftrax writing staff. However, their comments were pleasant and entertaining enough, although they did make a big deal out of "selling the premise of Peanuts would be tough these days," which had me remembering how different and perhaps easily describable the strip had been in its first days. They also, however, brought up Snoopy's brother, the "ugly dog contest" winner Olaf, in a "he's big in Japan" kind of way, which was a bit more fun. The "riffed-on" comic strips also in the introduction, said to have been done by the more recognisable names of Rifftrax, were also quite acceptable, and with that (and the thought that both Charles M. Schulz and Mystery Science Theater were from Minnesota), it was on to the actual comic strips.
The first strips of 1995 were still familiar to me from the scrapbook I'd made of them back then; I was also thinking of comments about how important Linus and Lucy's little brother Rerun was becoming, two decades after he'd been introduced as the next "baby" in the strip. Schroeder had grown up fast (although he was still a "toddler prodigy" when he started playing the piano), Linus had needed years to start talking and had stayed "young" for a while after that, and Sally had then grown up fast too, but after a few "new kid" and "little kid" strips Rerun had wound up riding on the back of Mrs. Van Pelt's bicycle, making knowing comments, for quite a while; every so often Schulz would make comments outside of the strip wondering if he'd made a mistake introducing him. By now, though, he was a bit older if not as old as the indeterminate age of the other kids; just as important, his design was also now different enough from Linus's they could usually be told apart at a glance. Early in the volume, a familiar story had him starting to play marbles only to lose his collection to "Joe Agate"; however, Charlie Brown then stepped up in a development that might surprise someone with a concise mental picture of the strip. After that, Rerun started trying to play basketball.
Charlie Brown also seemed near the beginning of this volume to be finding some wryness in Lucy getting bonked on the head by fly balls (although by the end of it, he was getting more emotional again about her usual fielding talents), and when taking dance lessons "to be more outgoing" he managed to dance with a girl named Emily. Right after that, though, there was the suggestion she wasn't quite as real as he'd convinced himself, although she did show up the next year for the Sweetheart Ball.
Once I'd got through the strips in the old scrapbook, I did start feeling more surprised by what I was reading; I wondered a bit if I hadn't quite looked into the paperback collections. I was enjoying it all the same, and did wind up with a sense of familiarity again when Rerun started going to kindergarten (after spending a week hiding under his bed), where he sat alongside a little girl with pigtails. She never quite got a name (although I did happen to notice a boy in Peppermint Patty's class called "Justin"); the volume itself used "Little Pigtailed Girl," which I suppose works. In any case, there are two volumes left; I now know the last one, which will only have a few leftover Sunday pages from 2000, is going to include the pre-Peanuts "Li'l Folks" cartoons.