It took like 3 years, but finally you get The Peanuts as most people may remember thThe natural order is established!
PEANUTS AS YOU WANT THEM!
It took like 3 years, but finally you get The Peanuts as most people may remember them from the TV Specials and TV series. Of course, it was cool to read the roots of the iconic comic strip, but it's better to read them and enjoy them as you remember them...
Lucy grew up and now is an equal to Charlie Brown in the area of discussions and conflicts, and while Linus is still in kindergarten, he already became the pal for good ol' Charlie Brown when our conflicted hero needs to make some trascendental reflections.
Linus' blanket is already a staple, and of course Snoopy is already trying to get it from Linus.
The character of Shermy still around, but he's definitely scarse in his participations, so I wouldn't be surprised if in the next volume, he wouldn't be around anymore, since Linus already took the role that Shermy was doing.
In the area of sports...
...Baseball is here big time, and good ol' Charlie Browm is the manager of course, and his charming bad luck is established. Not to mention that in Football, Lucy keeps taking out the football from the path of Charlie Brown!
Snoopy isn't "talking" anymore and he's thinking finally his comments...
...and he already kissed Lucy!
The war between Violet and Charlie Brown is getting stronger!
Charlie Brown began his pencil-pal letters (since he's not good with pens).
I didn't know that Charlie Brown's dad works as a barber. That's a cool trivia fact.
And Shroeder is crazy about Beethoven's birthday celebration!
This is the third volume of the Complete Peanuts, from 1955 and reachingStill a step behind of their most known version.
FUSS-BUDGETS UNCHAINED
This is the third volume of the Complete Peanuts, from 1955 and reaching until 1956.
The deal about Lucy & Linues is still odd, in the sense of the memories of most people (me included) where Lucy and Linus should be of an age contemporary with Charlies Brown and in the same class, but nope, Lucy still is younger than Charlis Brown, she’s in kindergarten, while Charlie Brown already in school’s first grade, meanwhile Linus is even younger than Lucy.
So, I guess that Superboy Prime still hasn’t punched the reality to changed this odd situation to make it as most people we remember the comic strip.
Snoopy has a facet of doing imitations during the volume, where the sky is the limit to his resourceful skills of performing imitations.
There is a disturbing recurring gag about Linus in this third volumen where he “shoots” everybody with his finger, saying “bang”, that obviously is something that many kids do, and I’m sure that Charles Schultz hadn’t any bad intention about it, but just portraiting a normal facet in children, however, there is a strip where things got out of control, where Linus put his finger in the head of Snoopy, telling “bang” and saying that it was better to put him out of his misery…
…oooookay.
Quite disturbing in what should be an innocent comic strip for the family!
Sure, Snoopy didn’t ger hurt, it was a finger, not a real gun, but the scene and the dialogue, I think turned into a too dark path.
Actually, after using a lot that recurring gag for Linus, after that particular strip, the gag changed into sounds of other “weapons” like arrow and stuff, since while the 50s wasn’t like nowadays where society reached the writers right away making known their thinking about the published material, but I have no doubt that some letter should reach soon enough to Schultz making him see how innapropiate was that particular strip (that I thanked it was censored out of the collection, since while it was disturbing, you shouldn’t erase history or you’ll be doomed to repeat it).
DAVY CROCKETT V. BEETHOVEN: DAWN OF CHILDHOOD
Shermy, one of the founding characters of the comic strip (but doomed to dissapear eventually) is still around but he’s being used a lot less, and since Linus is still too young, it falls into Schroeder in playing the role of “best buddy” for good ol’ Charlie Brown.
They shared arguments in this volume, about who was cooler, if Davy Crockett or Beethoven, the childhood’s heroes of each of them.
Along with that, Schroeder has to deal the relentless approaches by Lucy trying to get his attention; meanwhile Charlie Brown met his insidious nemesis, the kite-eating tree!
Moreover, Charlie Brown gets his first iconic pranks by Lucy involving the football kick and the pile of leaves.
This is the second volume of the Complete Peanuts, created by Charles M. Schulz, startiGood ol’ Charlie Brown is back!
STILL A WORK IN PROGRESS
This is the second volume of the Complete Peanuts, created by Charles M. Schulz, starting in 1953 and reaching until 1954.
While there aren’t almost any adult in scene, a curious thing is that you can’t understand what they say, instead of the usual “Blah, blah, blah” in more modern strips, where you have to figure it out what they’re saying due what the kids replied about.
And with Snoopy, from time to time, you still are able to read his thoughts and even there a strip where it’s implied that he can “talks”. Also, it’s still not clear of whom Snoopy is, since there is a strip where Paty and Shermy are painting Snoopy’s house and Charlie Brown pass by to see as if he wasn’t Snoopy’s owner at all.
Charlie Brown is in a transition status, where he’s quite cynical and even doing pranks to his friends, along with beginning to go into “adorable looser” mode, where he can’t accomplish to succeed sometimes.
And Shermy is still around, since Linus is still a baby (as I mentioned in the previous review, that it’s quite odd that Linus eventually, I guess in a “magically” way, he’ll become of the same age than Charlie Brown).
ENTER: PIG-PEN & …
In this second volume is introduced the distinctly famous Pig-Pen, which is the kid who is always dirty with a cloud of dust all around him.
It’s not so rare that in the recent “The Peanuts” CGI movie, they made Patty (don’t get confused with Peppermint Patty) has a romantic interest on Pig-Pen, since she was the first one to meet him, in his introductory strip.
Also, there is the introduction of an odd character named “Charlotte Braun” who is not related to good ol’ Charlie Brown, but it’s obvious that she was intended to be like a “female counterpart” to Charlie Brown, but since I never watch her in any TV special or even the CGI movie, I guess that she didn’t remain long in the comic strip. I’ll know for sure when I’d been reading the next volume.
LUCY DISCREETLY GROWIN’ UP
Lucy is still a kindergarten girl, visible shorter than the other kids, and along the volume, while she’s still quite childish in her comments, you will notice about finals strips that she’s already of the same height than the other kids, with more maturish remarks and attitude.
This is the first volume of the Complete Peanuts, created by Charles M. Schulz, starting in 1950 anGood grief! Here we go!
AND THERE WERE THREE
This is the first volume of the Complete Peanuts, created by Charles M. Schulz, starting in 1950 and reaching until 1952.
This first volume is quite amusing to read, since in this first three years of the comic strip, Peanuts still isn’t in its most known and popular status quo.
You have only three kids and even one of them won’t be seen again when the comic strip would settle in its recognized presentation.
There is Charlie Brown, of course, the heart and soul of the comic strip, and you have Patty (not Peppermint but the other Patty) and Shermy (who is the kid that you won’t hear about him later).
But even Charlie Brown and Patty aren’t like the ones that you’d be more familiarized later.
Charlie Brown is quite happy and even cynical, he likes to make pranks to his friends and he doesn’t have any trouble talking to girls even about romantic issues.
Patty is essentially what Lucy would be eventually on the more recognized format.
ENTER: SNOOPY
Soon, Snoopy, one of the most famous dogs in comic strips and media, and in many cases, the most recognizable character of the whole comic strip.
However, he is still in a development process in this first volume.
Snoopy still walks in four paws like a regular dog and his behaviour (while some unusual) still can be considered like the one of a regular dog too.
It’s odd that sometimes is not clear who is the owner of Snoopy, since you would assume that it’s Charlie Brown and eventually you find the dog house on Charlie Brown’s yard, but in some of the first strips, you find Charlie Brown visiting the house of other friends and Snoopy appears there as if he was belonging there.
Even in some strips you can “hear” Snoopy’s thoughts as if he would be talking that it’s quite unusual.
VIOLETS AREN’T BLUE HERE
Along with Charlie Brown, Patty, Shermy and Snoopy, you get soon enough Violet too, and since they’re younger than the usual age that you’d be more familiarized with them, Violet, while basically what you could expect from her, there are also some aspect according with her pre-school age like playing with mud pies.
LUCY, SHROEDER AND LINUS, BUT…
Quite advanced in this first volume, finally appears Lucy, Shroeder and Linus…
…BUT…
…they are not exactly like the ones that you’d recognized and even there is a very odd time displacement with them…
…since Lucy and Shroeder are quite younger than Charlie Brown and the rest. Shroeder already has his musical facet and he’s fan of Beethoven alright, but definitely he’s younger that the other kids, and Lucy even can’t read yet and she still sleeps in a cradle, which is quite odd (for being mild in this strange situation) since in the Peanuts most recognizable period, Shroeder and Lucy would be classmates of the rest of the gang that noticing the difference of age, it would make this impossible.
Linus appears in very few strips here, and he’s a baby that still don’t talk. Also, quite odd since he’d be Charlie Brown’s best friend sharing the same age in the most known era of the comic strip.
I guess Schulz will ask for the assistance of The Doctor or Marty McFly to fix this odd time displacement in these first three years of the popular comic strip.
This is the first volume of “The Smurfs” comic book series (at least in the American edition). Originally appearing in 1958 asThe Smurfs are here!
This is the first volume of “The Smurfs” comic book series (at least in the American edition). Originally appearing in 1958 as supportive characters in the Franco-Belgian comic book “Johan and Peewit” also created by Peyo.
In this collected American edition are printed three different stories: “The Purple Smurfs” (giving title to the book), “The Flying Smurf” and “The Smurf and his neighbors”.
Creative Team:
Creator, Writer & Illustrator: Peyo
FRANCO-BELGIAN COMICS
The collaboration between France and Belgium in the genre of comic strips & comic books is monumental, figuring many of the most iconic examples of the genre, not only Asterix, but also The Smurfs, Tin Tin, Lucky Luke, Le Petit Spirou, and many, many, MANY others…
…generating their own inner genre named, obviously, Franco-Belgian comics, considered along with United States & Great Britain comics and Japanese manga, as one of the three most influential and relevant examples of the comic book field.
(I plan to read in the future other titles of this genre, therefore, in the first volume of each title, it will be normal to find this same general introduction.)
SMURF IS THE WORD!
I was a kid when Hanna-Barbera adapted this comic book series what became a world social phenomenon and certainly I became huge fan of the cartoon. I remember that in a local magazine store (that doesn’t exist anymore), they had a truly astonishing diorama with mushroom houses and the 100 smurfs figures! (at least in mi kid’s mind truly believes that there were 100 smurfs there (but I can assure you that there were a LOT bunch of smurf figures in the diorama)). I never got tired to watching the diorama each week when I visited the magazine store then.
In Latin American (included my country, Costa Rica) they were known as “Pitufos”, so it’s kinda odd to me to say them “Smurfs” but since I read this in English, I am doing the review in the same language.
The Purple Smurfs (5 stars)
This is the first Smurf story in several international editions (I’m not sure if this was the first solo story of Smurfs after appearing as supportive characters in Johan and Peewit but certainly is quite common to find in international editions, this one as the first story (I have a Spanish edition with this one as the first one).
Lazy Smurf is sent by Papa Smurf to the forest and there, he meets a “Bzz fly” that bit him and he became ill turning from the regular blue into purple and acting violent and only saying “Gnap”. The now Purple Smurf is able to bite other smurfs and turning them purple too. Papa Smurf knows about this illness but he doesn’t remember how to cure it, and the trial-and-error process helps to propagate the illness into the whole Smurf village population. (I won’t spoil how they got cured).
This story is polemic in its original edition since the Smurfs didn’t become purple but black (therefore, there were racist implications (but I honestly don’t think that Peyo would do it with that intention) (in my Spanish edition, they were black), but due in the Hanna-Barbera adapted story, the purple was used instead of black, and I guess that became as the new accepted form and in this American edition it’s used purple too (notice that in Despicable Me 2 the minions turned purple too when they were violent too).
The Flying Smurf (5 stars)
A non-defined Smurf got the dream of flying and he tries with all the imaginable ways using aerodynamic principles but even magic is an option! This is a lof of fun, and certainly it’s quite recommended.
The Smurf and his neighbors (3 stars)
Another non-defined Smurf is having trouble to sleep in the village and he decided to get into the forest to live into the wild but soon enough he realizes that it’s not that good idea.
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