The Complete Peanuts 1957-1958: Vol. 4 Paperback Edition

There was a time when the newspaper comic strip was HUGE. In the early 1900s, the success of a newspaper was in part due to the comics it featured. That era has long since disappeared, and it often seems that the comic strip is a neglected relic. There are still some good comics out there, but they are getting rarer and the newspapers treat them with less and less respect, cramming many onto a single page that used to hold just a few.Where does Peanuts fit into all this? Well, it is the most popular comic strip of all time. Does any other strip have anything close to its legacy of movies, TV shows, plays, books and merchandise? And happily, it is deserving of its success; it is arguably the best comic strip ever, and certainly one of the top ten or so. As a result, it is not hard to see why the newspapers continue to publish old strips years after its creator, Charles Schulz had died. They don't stop printing it or allow another artist to take it over. The comic strips overall are a pale shadow of what they once were, so repeats of Peanuts can prosper because nothing new can replace them.Volume 4 of the Complete Peanuts is where the characters are really beginning to show their full development. We have Lucy, the champion fussbudget and Linus, her philosophical brother with a dependence on his security blanket. Schroeder is the budding musical genius. Patty, Violet and Shermy are mostly supporting characters at this point; they will be eventually replaced by other characters (but not in this volume).The two key roles, however, are those of Charlie Brown and Snoopy. Snoopy is up to his usual antics, pretending to be a vulture, grabbing at Linus's blanket and relaxing in his water bowl. He also starts his practice of lying on top of his dog house, although his first attempts are not all that successful. Charlie Brown is, well, Charlie Brown, the ultimate loser who the Fates themselves conspire against. Kites won't fly for him, pens constantly smear and if, by some remote chance, his baseball team is doing okay, they heavens themselves will open up and rain out the game. His "friends" are often cruel to him (with the exception of the benevolent Linus and the aloof Schroeder). In a way, the main theme of Peanuts is defined in the very first strip (in volume 1) when Shermy says, "Good old Charlie Brown...How I hate him." This seems to be the way the whole world thinks of this hapless character.Peanuts may seem to some to be just an overrated strip, but I don't think that's so. It may be overly merchandised, but the comic itself is a cornerstone of the genre and one of the most influential strips out there. This volume again shows why Peanuts is one of the all-time greats.

This is the fourth book in a proposed 25 book series that will publish all of the nearly 18,000 strips in Charles Schulz' Peanuts catalog. And again, it is a terrific tribute to two years of the man's work, this time chronicling the years 1957 and 1958. Of the four books published to date, this book had many more strips which I was familiar with than the other three. But there were still quite a few strips that I have never seen before, making it another fun reading experience. The strip quality is better in general in this volume as it appears the publishers had access to quality masters to provide reproductions than they had in previous versions (I only noticed one strip that looked a little blurred in this book). Obviously if you have the other three books, you'll be getting this one and you can expect more of the same great quality.It was also nice to see that the publishers have kept their word where they said that if they found better or more complete strips that they would republish them in future books. In this book, they republish a strip from the second volume where they didn't have a complete strip (they actually had to have an artist draw the missing panels). But somebody out there had the complete strip and it has been republished here and is fully documented.My only complaint about the books is that 2 books a year just isn't fast enough! The year 2016 is a long time to wait for the entire 25 volumes to be complete!

I love Peanuts. These volumes are treasures. The iconic characters, stories and art style still make me laugh. Somehow I never thought much of the fact that while my mother and I both read and enjoyed Peanuts strips together when I was younger, that she had enjoyed the Peanuts in much their same form when she was my age then, in her youth, and that she had continued to read and enjoy them for decades.Now, being the age that she was then, it's nice to find that they still hold up. Charles Schulz is my hero... after my mother.

Well, actually, once Charles M. Schulz got up to speed, which did not take long, almost every strip was a classic. Charles M. Schulz is the greatest American cartoonist who ever lived. Feel free to quote me! Fantagraphic Books is owed a heaping helping of gratitude for diligence of publication. Forget those previous publishers that dropped strips from the continuity or even printed the same strip twice in the same title. Leaving dates in the strip insures accuracy, precluding omissions. My, if Fantagraphics only printed the Sundays in color, they would deserve 6 stars!! (So, don't be giving away "Peanuts Jubilee" or other titles that reprinted Sundays in color.) Includes the entire fuzzy-face saga. A must buy for fans, public and school libraries. Hey, academic libraries, bless their pointy little heads, can buy a copy too!

Lots of wisdom and a great sense of humor. And no politics either. Sure wish their was a cartoonist today who could write the same way.

Everyone's favorite beagle comes into his own in this fourth volume of the best-selling COMPLETE PEANUTS series. Snoopy covets Linus's security blanket, indulges in imitations and impressions,joins the baseball team and, toward the end of the book, he even--an epochal development!--starts sleeping on the roof of his doghouse.Of course, fans of Schroeder, Lucy, Linus, Patty, Pig-Pen, Shermy, Violet, and Charlie Brown will also find plenty of hilarious strips to enjoy as well including several hundred that have never seen print in book form before today.

Love it!

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I'm making my way through the peanuts collection and this is no exception to the wonder and delight these characters bring to my life! Don't know if anyone has watched the film, but give it a go, because it brings these to life. Not a bad word about these books and I will get the collection. My parents have the old collection, and you can't beat an old, battered and loved book, but this has given me (in my thirties) a renewed love of the peanuts characters and an opportunity for self-discovery, now I feel I'm old enough to appreciate the wisdom of youth and the realities of life. I'd recommend this book to those who fancy a bit of nostalgia and those who were hooked by the film and who want a piece of art to look after for future generations.

Its Peanuts, you know Charlie Brown and the gang, what is there not to like, if you know who Charlie brown is then good on you, you know how much enjoyment there is in reading peanuts and if you don't know who we are talking about, what have you done with your life, live under a rock!! come on read Peanuts and have a smile on your face.

i prefer the later books but the older ones are still very enjoyable so 5stars.Book depository as always 5stars

I have really enjoyed reading a few comic strips from this series each evening. I am surprised how revealing it is regarding the times written. I look forward to many more volumes.

I LOVE these books! The books themselves are beautiful objects and the comic strips within them are hilarious, poignant and just perfectly realised. I think this sort of era of Peanuts is a bit of a 'golden age', so I'd definitely recommend this to anyone. It's life-affirmingly brilliant!