Book Title: The Complete Peanuts:  1967 to 1968

Author:  Charles M. Schulz

Publishing Company:  Fantagraphics Books

Year:  2008

# of Pages: 325

ISBN #:  978-1-56097-826-8 

Reviewed By: Deborah Ground Buckner (Kansas City Correspondent, USA)

The Complete Peanuts:  1967 to 1968, dailies and Sundays of Charles Schulz's classic comic strips, demonstrates why Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the gang were such a pervasive part of American culture.  For the past several years, my children have been collecting the volumes of Peanuts strips, starting with 1950.  While it has been enjoyable to see the beginnings of the strip and the introduction of characters, it was the strips of the mid-1960s that truly made Charles Schulz's stamp on the world.

In this volume, Snoopy's persona of the World War I Flying Ace (first introduced in the strips from 1965-66) fully takes hold as he flies his Sopwith Camel into battle against the Red Baron.  The African-American character of Franklin is introduced, a development that led to some severe criticism for Schultz at the time.  Peppermint Patty, Charlie Brown's ace baseball rival and friend begins to come into her own, and the character Roy, her relatively silent friend, makes a first appearance.  Snoopy's little bird friend finally morphs into his spiky feathered look, though he remains nameless (after all, Woodstock didn't happen until 1969!). 

In the spirit of the 1968 elections, Snoopy marches with a placard bearing a paw print; he is obviously running for something, though it is not clear just what.  I confess proudly to having had an official “Snoopy for President” campaign pin.  We also learn in this volume that Charlie Brown was not the original owner of Snoopy and meet Lila, Snoopy's first human friend.  Snoopy's ongoing enmity with the “stupid cat next door” also takes root.

Charlie Brown's little sister, Sally, grows up enough to begin kindergarten, and all her anxieties about taking this first step in the public school process rage across the pages.  Her discovery of how wonderful a school day can be is inspirational to every child facing that major rite of passage.

Of course, the philosophical Linus, the music Schroeder, the fuss-budget Lucy, Patty, Violet, Shermy, and the rest of the gang are present, caught up in the story lines that made “Peanuts” one of the most-read comic strips of all time.

These editions are a welcome bit of nostalgia, but an even greater treat for those who are reading Schulz's work for the first time.