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A Smile Makes a Lousy
Umbrella is a collection of Peanuts comic strips written and drawn
by Charles M. Schulz. This book includes cartoons from the years 1967
and 1968. These comic strips originally appeared in the smaller paperback
books You're Something Else, Charlie Brown and You're You, Charlie
Brown. All of the comic strips appear in black and white. This
collection contains the following story arcs: The Cheshire Dog, Jose
Peterson, Charlie Brown and Snoopy Go to Camp, Lying in a Dark Room,
Snoopy the Vulture, Grandma Stops Smoking - Linus Gives Up Blanket,
Linus and Snoop Await the Great Pumpkin, Trading Snoopy for Five of
Peppermint Patty's Players, A "Crab-In," Snoopy Playing Golf at The
Masters, Snoopy the Team Manager, and Peppermint Patty the Tent Monitor
at Camp.
On October
2, 1950, Peanuts
debuted
in seven newspapers
and ran until January
3, 2000 when Charles M. Schulz bid a fond farewell to all his readers in
the final daily Peanuts newspaper strip. On February
12, 2000, Charles Schulz died on a Saturday evening, of complications
from colon cancer in Santa Rosa, CA. He was 77 years old. On February
13, 2000, the final Sunday Peanuts newspaper strip appeared. "Charles
M. Schulz
(b. 1922) is the most widely syndicated cartoonist in history, with his
work appearing in over 2,300 newspapers. He has published more than
1,400 books, won Peabody and Emmy awards for his animated specials, and
is responsible for the most-produced musical in the American theatre,
entitled "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown". And all this
diversity and recognition and continuous success began over
50
years ago." (Illustration
House)
A Smile Makes a Lousy
Umbrella is another really fun collection of comic strips starring
the Peanuts Gang. What I appreciate about Charles M. Schulz is that he
never stopped drawing his comic strip, unlike the creators of The Far
Side, Calvin & Hobbes, and Bloom County. Even though his hand became
rather shaky in the 1990's he didn't quit. So, because of his creative
genius, we have almost 50 years of Peanuts comic strips to read. Man,
that is a lot of reading. Thank you, Mr. Schulz. I had a hard time
selecting which comic strip to scan for this book, as there were four
really funny ones that stood out. I finally settled on the one above
because I was a Physical Geography major in college and it struck me as
subtly funny. It is interesting how that by 1968, Sherman, Patty, and
Violet are not really main characters anymore. 5, a newer character, is
also there, but he is also a minor character, like Pigpen. But
Peppermint Patty has stepped into the limelight and is now a main
character. Who doesn't love Peppermint Patty? So, if you are looking for
a fun book of comic strips to read, try and find a copy of A Smile Makes a Lousy
Umbrella. You won't regret it. |
