The Complete Peanuts 1969-1970

The Complete Peanuts 1969-1970

 by Charles M. Schulz
(based on 14 customer reviews)

The Complete Peanuts 1969-1970 (Hardcover)
Author: Charles M. Schulz
Publisher: Fantagraphics Books


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Most useful review as voted by customers:
9 out of 9 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 10/8/08


"Curse this stupid war! Curse you, too, Red Baron!"

This new edition will prove to be another classic 2 year period. Snoopy will continue his charade as the World War I Flying Ace (as pictured on the cover). Charlie Brown's beloved little red haired girl moves away (he still has to feed his dog amidst a broken heart and Linus gives him a little boot for not getting to know her when he had the chance!). Lucy ponders the meaning of life. Snoopy is the 1st dog to go to the moon and is left at the Van Pelts while Charlie and Sally Brown are on vacation. Charlie Brown has the chance to meet Joe Shlabotnik at a baseball banquet dinner and brings Linus and Snoopy (Snoopy flirts with Peggy Fleming). Linus reads the entire geneology of Jesus at a Christmas paegant (Lucy sarcastically suggests he read the entire book of Genesis while he's at it). Peppermint Patty tries selling a pumpkin after Halloween at no avail, so she tries to make a pie. Frieda pressures Snoopy to go rabbit chasing with the threat of reporting him to the head beagle if he doesn't comply. She's also Lucy's competition in hanging around Schroeder's piano (and of course, the musical maestro isn't crazy about either one of them, so he has 2 heads to remove from his piano instead of one!). I guess he hadn't forgotten the kite-eating tree incident! Peppermint Patty is forced to hang up her sandals at school because of the new dress code (Snoopy tries kissing away the tears and Franklin concludes "Any rule that would make a girl cry would have to be a bad rule!"). Sally complains about having to write a report on George Washington and hopes something about him pops up on television (this was years before the public heard about the internet). She also writes a report on Abraham Lincoln ("He was the 16th king and married Lot's wife"- now don't ask me where she did her research!). Snoopy gets elected Head Beagle the year after his threat from Frieda (his office doesn't last long) and nominated Rookie of the Year (and has lots of autographs to sign from admiring bird fans). In 1970, one bird makes his formal debut after being christened "Woodstock" (named, of course, after the rock festival held one year before). Both he and Snoopy are afraid to go to sleep after Peppermint Patty tells them vampire stories. So get this volume soon or you might get reported to the head beagle!

5 out of 6 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 10/24/08


Great, But A Little Off The Peak Of Peanuts

I enjoyed this volume of The Complete Peanuts almost as much as I have the other volumes in this series. I knew that this particular volume would be somewhat bittersweet, as it was during 1969 and 1970 that I originally started to notice the strip was beginning to lose some of the sharpness of its glory years in the early to mid 1960s. In those years the Peanuts kids were diminutive philosophers creating the motifs that still resonate down the years as what Peanuts is all about: the security blanket, the Red Baron, the little red-haired girl, the toy piano, and so on.

All of these motifs are still present in the 1969-1970 volume, but they are beginning to be squeezed out by Schulz's increasing fascination with Snoopy's fantasy life and his new bird friend Woodstock. Now I love Snoopy and I find Woodstock appealing, don't get me wrong, but too many of the strips came to focus almost exclusively on them, to the detriment of some of the kid characters. Pig Pen has entirely disappeared, and Shermy, Patty, Frieda, and Violet only stroll by now and again. Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, and Peppermint Patty are now the only major characters besides Snoopy and Woodstock.

Everything changes, and Peanuts evolved almost continuously from its start in 1950. The difference I see here is that the changes apparent in this volume signal a move away from the strip's high point. Others will see this differently, of course, but for me personally this volume seems to start Peanuts' decline.

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