{"product_id":"the-complete-peanuts-1953-1954-vol-2-hardcover-edition-9781560976141","title":"The Complete Peanuts 1953-1954: Vol. 2 Hardcover Edition","description":"The second volume is packed with intriguing developments, as Schulz continues to create his tender and comic universe. It begins with \u003cem\u003ePeanuts\u003c\/em\u003e' third full year and a cast of eight: Charlie Brown, Shermy, Patty, Violet, Schroeder, Lucy, the recently-born Linus, and Snoopy. By the end of 1954, Pigpen and his dust cloud join the crowd. Linus, who still doesn't speak, begins to emerge as one of the most complex and endearing characters in the strip: garrulous and inquisitive yet gentle and tolerant. And, in this volume, he acquires his security blanket! Charlie Brown is becoming his best-known self, the lovable, perpetually-humiliated round-headed loser, but he hasn't yet abandoned his brasher, prankish behavior from Volume One. And, Lucy, this book's cover girl, has grown up and forcefully elbowed her way to the center of the action, proudly wearing her banner as a troublemaker, or, in Schulz's memorable phrase, a \"fussbudget\". For readers unfamiliar with the early years of the strip, Snoopy's appearances here may come as the biggest surprise: he behaves, for the most part, like a dog! But, although he doesn't yet walk upright, sleep on top of his doghouse, or possess a fantasy life, Snoopy has started thinking for himself and his evolution continues its fascinating course within these pages. If you watch carefully, you'll catch his very first shark impression. The vast majority of the daily and Sunday strips collected here are not currently available in any in-print Peanuts collection. Dozens of them have not been reprinted since their initial appearance in newspapers over 50 years ago.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 2005 Eisner Award Winner, Best Archival Collection\/Project; 2005 Eisner Award Winner, Best Publication Design (Seth).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSchulz, Charles M.:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cp\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eCharles M. Schulz \u003c\/strong\u003ewas born November 25, 1922, in Minneapolis. His destiny was foreshadowed when an uncle gave him, at the age of two days, the nickname Sparky (after the racehorse Spark Plug in the newspaper strip \u003cem\u003eBarney Google\u003c\/em\u003e). His ambition from a young age was to be a cartoonist and his first success was selling 17 cartoons to the \u003cem\u003eSaturday Evening Post\u003c\/em\u003e between 1948 and 1950. He also sold a weekly comic feature called \u003cem\u003eLi'l Folks\u003c\/em\u003e to the local \u003cem\u003eSt. Paul Pioneer Press\u003c\/em\u003e. After writing and drawing the feature for two years, Schulz asked for a better location in the paper or for daily exposure, as well as a raise. When he was turned down on all three counts, he quit.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHe started submitting strips to the newspaper syndicates and in the spring of 1950, United Feature Syndicate expressed interest in \u003cem\u003eLi'l Folks\u003c\/em\u003e. They bought the strip, renaming it \u003cem\u003ePeanuts\u003c\/em\u003e, a title Schulz always loathed. The first \u003cem\u003ePeanuts\u003c\/em\u003e daily appeared October 2, 1950; the first Sunday, January 6, 1952. Diagnosed with cancer, Schulz retired from Peanuts at the end of 1999. He died on February 13, 2000, the day before Valentine's Day-and the day before his last strip was published, having completed 17,897 daily and Sunday strips, each and every one fully written, drawn, and lettered entirely by his own hand -- an unmatched achievement in comics. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Fantagraphics Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50614135587090,"sku":"9781560976141","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_5394e0e2-8f02-4c2e-ae58-a64da1dcc073.jpg?v=1732429904","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-complete-peanuts-1953-1954-vol-2-hardcover-edition-9781560976141","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}