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.

Schulz, Charles. The Complete Peanuts: 1961–1962. Fantagraphics Books, 2006.