• The Complete Peanuts 1963 to 1964 © 2007
• Fantagraphics
• 325 pages

There no question in my mind that The Peanuts is the most lasting comic strip of the 20th century. Sure, The Far Side was good for a laugh. Calvin and Hobbes was trendy for a time. The Peanuts have staying power.

While reading through these two years, I was struck by the sense of rhythm in the strip. Every season and holiday returned with familiar variations on their theme: Valentine’s Day dejection, spring-time pitching mound failures, back to school stress, Halloween’s Great-Pumpkin, Beethoven’s birthday, and Christmas pageants all come and go like familiar friends.

Now on to 1965 . . .

• The Complete Peanuts 1961-1962 © 2006
• Fantagraphics Books
• 325 pages

Schulz penned 17,897 daily comic strips. Fantagraphics is doing the world a great service by collecting and publishing the entire run in a series of books. Here are a few of the things that I loved about this volume:

• Schroeder’s on the cover. The piano player’s getting some front-cover respect!
• Diana Krall wrote a beautiful little introduction.
• I love the long-term development of various themes like the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown’s baseball woes, and Snoopy’s hospitality towards his fine feathered friends.
• There’s an excellent Sunday gag on Linus and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Seriously, look it up!

Like the volumes that preceded it, these two years of the Schulz cannon were engaging and enjoyable. Now on to 1963.