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Below you'll find juicy tidbits about the newest Peanuts merchandise releases, upcoming books, postage stamp and personal checks, and just about anything else deemed "crucial" to avid Peanuts fans.

If you'd like to know where to buy some of the items mentioned here, check out our Shop Till You Drop section.

Get Peanuts by e-mail!
Have your favorite comic delivered daily to your inbox! GoComics offers free subscriptions to all sorts of comics, including Peanuts. Check it out here. Once you've arrived, you can either a) click on "subscribe free," beneath the strip, and then the "sign up for free" button in the subsequent pop-up window, or b) click on the "sign up for free" link in the upper-right corner. You'll then need to set up an account, which is no big deal ... and you'll be all set!

YouTube fun
Charlie Brown, Snoopy and all their pals now can be found at the official Snoopy YouTube channel. Keep up to date with their newest adventures and breaking information right here. You can even subscribe, in order to catch all the latest news!

Big news in the publishing world!
The comic book company BOOM! continues to produce new issues of its Peanuts comic book ... the first regular series since the Dell and Gold Key comics, way back in the early 1960s.
The new series follows BOOM!'s Happiness Is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown, a graphic novel adaptation of the DVD special by the same name. BOOM! kicked off the new series with a $1 "zero" issue that was released November 2, 2011, and the regular series began in early 2012, with issue #1 (shown above).
"It's a daunting task to follow in the footsteps of a master," BOOM! Studios editor-in-chief Matt Gagnon said, in a press release. "But with the team we have assembled and the guidance of the folks at Peanuts Worldwide and Charles M. Schulz Creative Associates, we're confident that we'll deliver the best Peanuts monthly comic book series anyone could imagine."
BOOM! gets credit for starting off on the right foot; the cover for the new "zero issue" was a lift of Charles M. Schulz's cover illustration for the final issue (#13) of the Dell comics run, shown here for comparison:

Two years later, the series continues to delight ... so let's hope it continues!

Are you nuts about Peanuts?
Charlie Brown and Lucy are making the rounds on TV, advertising pistachios in a cute commercial. Check it out here!

Put a Beagle on your license plate!
Hey, West Coasters!
The California Association of Museums has announced an opportunity to commemorate a very special California artist: Santa Rosa's own Charles M. Schulz.
Do you live in California? Are you a registered vehicle owner? Do you love Snoopy? Sign up today for the official California Snoopy license plate.
To make this happen, we need 7,500 owners of registered vehicles in California to stand up and let us know they want to see Snoopy on a California license plate. It doesn't cost anything to sign up; you're just expressing your interest.
When the plate is produced, proceeds will go toward supporting museums in California communities, and you'll get the chance to show off your devotion to your favorite beagle.
Each plate will feature Snoopy in his signature happy dance, drawn in classic Sparky style.
Sign up today right here.

Sticker mania
StickerYou is a cool site where you can custom design your own sticker and label pages. You can determine the images, size and quantity of high-quality stickers on your page. You can also order as little as one page, and they'll do the rest.
Their site includes a good selection of Peanuts images. They'll print, die-cut the stickers and ship them to you in about a week.
Check 'em out right here.

And yet another statue!
This could be the best one yet!
Marcie now is spending time at Santa Rosa's Old Courthouse Square.
This bronze sculpture of Marcie reading a book on a bench was unveiled at the outset of the Sonoma County Book Festival. This concludes the Peanuts on Parade tribute that placed customized polyurethane Peanuts figures through Santa Rosa and financed several bronzes, including this one.
Book lovers are encouraged to sit beside her and read. How cool is that?

Flying Ace Airlines?
How cool is this!
Germany celebrated the 60th anniversary of Peanuts with a promotion with Condor Airlines. The promotion featured Peanuts on the entire fleet of 34 planes, along with Peanuts in-flight entertainment, a Snoopy Kids Menu, and Peanuts coloring books.
The skies certainly were friendly that year!

CCI needs your help!
The folks at Canine Companions for Independence are seeking volunteer puppy raisers, to help develop those "super dogs" that become such an important part of an eventual owner's life. Click on the image above to find out more at CCI's Web site.

It would appear, according to Woolite's "For Everyday Colors" campaign in Puerto Rico, that Charlie Brown uses this laundry product. Does Lucy know?

Vintage animation
Cartoon Brew TV's "Brew Vaults" has several rare animated spots featuring the Peanuts gang: the rarely seen theatrical trailer for the initial feature-length Peanuts movie, 1969's A Boy Named Charlie Brown; then a Ford Falcon commercial; and finally one of the Peanuts intros to the weekly 1961 TV series that starred country entertainer Tennessee Ernie Ford.
Check 'em out here.

Volume 25 is here!
Fantagraphics, a company known well by those in the comic book and comic arts community (publisher of The Comics Journal, among many other books and magazines), has concluded its truly complete series of Peanuts comic strips, starting from the very first and continuing through to the very last.
Just think ... 12 years have passed, since Volume 1 arrived in bookstores on Monday, May 3, 2004. With the recent arrival of Volume 25, on May 10, 2016, every single one of Charles M. Schulz's Peanuts strips now has been gathered into a gorgeous series of matching volumes.
But wait ... that's not quite all. Get ready for an unexpected Volume 26, containing all sorts of surprises!
If you're curious, you'll find the original press release below, and you can keep up with the latest news at the Fantagraphics site here.

The "Complete Peanuts" is here!
50 years of art. 25 books. Two books per year, for 12-1/2 years. Fantagraphics Books is proud to announce the most eagerly-awaited and ambitious publishing project in the history of the American comic strip: the complete reprinting of Charles M. Schulz's classic, Peanuts. Considered to be one of the most popular comic strips in the history of the world, Peanuts will be, for the first time, collected in its entirety and published, beginning in April 1, 2004. Fantagraphics will launch The Complete Peanuts in a series designed by the cartoonist Seth (Palookaville, It's A Good Life If You Don't Weaken) and produced in full cooperation with United Media, Charles M. Schulz Creative Associates, and Mr. Schulz's widow, Jean Schulz.
Fantagraphics Books co-publisher Gary Groth said that publishing The Complete Peanuts represented the apex of the company's 27-year commitment to publishing the best cartooning in the world. "Peanuts is a towering achievement in the history of comics," said Groth. "I can't think of a better way to honor Schulz's artistic legacy than to make his oeuvre available to the public in a beautifully designed format that reflects the integrity of the work itself."
The genesis of the project began in 1997, when Fantagraphics publisher Gary Groth approached Charles Schulz with the proposition of publishing Peanuts in its entirety. After Schulz's death in January, 2000, Groth continued discussing the project with Schulz's widow, Jean Schulz. "It's safe to say that this project wouldn't have happened if Jean Schulz weren't as enthusiastic and supportive as she's been," said Groth. Added Jean Schulz "This seemed like an impossible project, considering all the 'lost' strips, but Gary's determination never flagged, and we are so happy with the aesthetic sensibility of the Fantagraphics team."
"It's a genuine honor to be designing these Schulz collections," said Seth, who went on to describe the premise underlying his design for the series "I want to emphasize the sophistication of Schulz's work by creating a package that is both austere and direct. I would like to try to reflect the quiet and melancholy of the strip in a package that hopefully, shows the proper amount of respect for Mr. Schulz. Undoubtedly, Peanuts is a great newspaper strip and I am humbled and gratified to help steward this complete strip compilation into the world."
Each volume in the series will run approximately 320 pages in a 8-1/2" x 7" hardcover format, presenting two years of strips along with supplementary material. The series will present the entire run in chronological order, dailies and Sundays. Since the strip began in late 1950, the first volume will include all the strips from 1950, 1951 and 1952, but subsequent volumes will each comprise exactly two years. Dailies will run three to a page, while Sunday strips will each take up a full page and be printed in black-and-white.
This first volume, covering the first two and a quarter years of the strip, will be of particular fascination to Peanuts aficionados worldwide. Although literally hundreds of Peanuts books have been published, many of the strips from the series' first two or three years have never been collected before -- in large part because they showed a young Schulz working out the kinks in his new strip and include some characterizations and designs that are quite different from the cast we're all familiar with. (Among other things, three major cast members -- Schroeder, Lucy, and Linus - initially show up as infants and only "grow" into their final "mature" selves as the months go by. Even Snoopy debuts as a puppy!) Thus The Complete Peanuts offers a unique chance to see a master of the artform refine his skills and solidify his universe, day by day, week by week, month by month.
The Complete Peanuts will be supported with an ambitious advertising and promotional campaign, including public appearances by Jean Schulz to support the series.

Visit the book series' British Web site here.

The Schulz biography is available!
The long-awaited biography of Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz (1922-2000) was published on October 16, 2007. (The softcover edition debuted October 7, 2008.)
David Michaelis worked for approximately six years on "Schulz and Peanuts," which runs 600-plus pages. Michaelis conducted more than 200 interviews, and was given unrestricted access to the Schulz studio and personal archives by the cartoonist's widow and children.
In addition, United Media -- the company that still syndicates Peanuts reruns and handles Peanuts licensing -- allowed Michaelis to see papers that document the rise of Schulz's creation into a business HarperCollins says earns $1.2 billion a year.
Read review excerpts at the book's very own Web site, right here.
But wait, there's more: In this podcast of a BEA 2007 "Upfront and Unscripted" session, documentary producer Mary Murphy and Michaelis discuss the life and work of Schulz. Michaelis touches on the success of Peanuts as a comic for children, as well as the deeper lessons Schulz hid beneath the surface of his art. Give it a listen right here.
More recently, Michaelis chatted with Kurt Anderson, host of Public Radio International's Studio 360. Check this interview out here.

Sadly, the Schulz family was unhappy with the book; several early print interviews eventually led to an extensive rebuttal and series of counter-reviews, published in the May 2008 (issue 290) of Fantagraphics' The Comics Journal. The coverage, which runs from pages 26 through 111 of a huge issue, opens with a lengthy essay by Monte Schulz and includes commentary by R.C. Harvey, Jeet Heer and Ken Worcester. The magazine reached comic book shops and larger bookstores in late May 2008; it also can be ordered here.
Earlier, in late 2007, Michaelis gave his take during a lengthy interview with PCC Web-guru Derrick Bang, talking about how he came to write the book, and what he learned about Schulz along the way. Read this extensive interview here.

Check styles available for everybody!

While Deluxe, Harland and Checks in the Mail have discontinued making Peanuts checks, another company -- Checks Unlimited, by Current -- still has some available via the Internet or by phone or mail. (Current often places ads in newspapers and magazines.) Here's what they look like (and you also can order a checkbook cover that looks like Snoopy's doghouse). If you're ready to place an order, just visit their site!

Japan Post
Japan Post has been issuing sets of Peanuts postage stamps, to commemorate various events, such as the fifth anniversary of Universal Studios Japan. The plate blocks feature 10 stamps, 80 yen each, and they come in adorable folders. Makes you want to head overseas, doesn't it?

Stamps Down Under!
As we all know, Peanuts turned 55 years old in October 2005. To celebrate, Australia Post immortalised Peanuts favourites on a souvenir stamp sheet.
The stamp tabs feature Snoopy, Woodstock, Charlie Brown, Sally Brown, Lucy, Peppermint Patty, Linus, Marcie, Rerun and Franklin. Aren't they cool?

More postage stamps!
Hong Kong has some adorable Peanuts "stamps" coming out ... they're not postage stamps, but actually are some sort of promotional item connected to postage stamps, and were rather difficult to obtain. But at least we have a picture of them!

Gateway Page

Just the FAQs, Ma'am

Ace Airlines Tours: Sites to Visit

Beethoven's Rhapsodies: The Music (and Musicians) of Peanuts

Shop Till You Drop

Just for Fun

By Derrick Bang

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