October 27, 2004 Editor-in-Chief Carolynne Burkholder Managing Editor Stephanie Wilson News Editor Kathleen De Vere Arts Editor Maggie Gilbert Office Manager Travis Nielsen Photo Editor Marlon Francescini Production Coordinator Becky Booth Copy Editor Earson Gibson Ad Manager Russell VanderEnde Opinion Editor Jonas Gagnon Graphics Editor Dana Schwehr Technical Advisor Eric Chlebek Reporters Charles Thrift Corey Scofield Adam Hussein Alex Deevy JC Diachuk Genevieve Young Shawn Henry Photographers Salar Motahari Production Assistants Belinda Li Contributors Dirk VanStraten Heather Glasgow Catherine Fraser Laura Nelson Jeremy Stewart Simone Renaud Stephanie Morgan Andrea Brutenic Over The Edge is the official publishing media of students at the University of Northern British Columbia. As such, it is our mandate to report-on issues of interest to students in the Northern Region. We encourage all students, both on the main and regional campuses to submit to Over The Edge. Over the Edge is part of the Canadian University Press network of papers, otherwise known as CUP. CUP is an organization that is entirely owned by member papers, and provides such services as a newswire and advertising to Over The Edge. Over THE EpGE 3333 University Way Prince George, BC V2N 4A6 PHONE 960:5633 Fax 960-5407 E-MAIL OVER-THE-EDGE @UNBC.CA The Complete Peanuts: Dailies and Sundays, 1950 to 1952 By Charles M. Schulz Fantagraphic Books, 2004 by Kathleen De Vere >> News Editar As a collector-of Peanuts memo- rabilia, I have often lamented the fact that thousands of the original strips were never reprinted in book form after their initial run in ‘the newspapers. Despite owning more than 70 books of Peanuts comics that span all five decades of Schulz’s career, I always knew there were gaping holes in my collection of cartoons, and it bothered me enough that I still scour the bookshelves in every thrift store and used bookstore I enter for elusive pocketbooks I don’t already own. However, with the introduction of The Complete Peanuts, Fantagraphic Book’s definitive col- lection of Peanuts comics, I can finally relegate my existing collec- tion to the profit generating inter- net dustbin that is E-Bay, because now I can just buy them all. It’s an ambitious plan on Fantagraphic’s part for sure - to reprint every single one of Charles Schulz’s 18,000 odd Peanuts comic strips over the course of 12 years, but it’s a move that has been cele- brated by comic collectors and his- torians alike. In this ‘first edition alone, more than half the comics in the 343 page book haven’t been seen in korea >> by Kathleen De Vere HEY! I'VE JUST COME UP WITH AN IDEA THAT 15 GOING TO BE AKILLEK MONEY~-MAKING SCHEME! - Te Bit: o Reviews » Page 15 The Complete Peanuts: a Definitive Delight >> comic courtesy Fantagraphic Books Charlie Brown wasn’t always the loveable loser he came to be in later years, as this comic from 1950 shows. While the Zig zag stripe on Charlie Brown's shirt wasn’t present, Schulz’s trademark humour was. print since the early fifties. What is reprinted here is a wealth of comic knowledge for the collector, and for the casual reader, an explorative trip into the genus of the comic that was to become Peanuts. Schulz is famous “for creating characters that weren’t merely children, but archetypes of human- ity as a whole, but in this volume, his characters.are still very’ much children. The whole strip is young, and this visually reinforced by the quality and realism of Schulz’s art (which simplifies greatly in later years to leave more room for Snoopy’s imagination) and the - actual age of the characters. Schroeder, Linus, Lucy and even Snoopy start in the story as babies, (or puppies) and Charlie Brown, starts out as four years old - too young to even attend school (in later strips and cartoons his age is given at eight an a half years old). Peanuts was also a very different strip at its outset, and its first main characters were Patty, Charlie Brown and Shermy, but that quick- ly changed as the cast expanded to include Violet and Schroeder. Peanuts dealt with quintessen- tially fifties themes as well - in one comic Patty laments the fact that she wasn’t born a boy. However, Schultz’s trademark ability to question the norms of the time is also apparent, in a later strip Patty gives Shermy a dressing down by telling him that his moth- er was a woman, his grandmother and his great grandmother was a woman, and that’s the way its going to be. What most people will find the most striking about the years between 1950 and 1952 is Charlie Brown’‘s personality. He hasn’t quite become the lovable round- headed loser with infinite patience - instead he’s a joker who gets the best of others and is even in a posi- tion to compete with Shermy for the attentions of Patty and Violet. While the humour may seem a little simple and innocent com- pared to the comic strips of today, back iin the fifties, Peanuts was a sensation on the comics page because its characters actually has the audacity to address emotions like pity and depression. “How about a game of marbles, Charlie Brown?” says Shermy in a strip from 1952. “That would be fine.. if Lcould win... but I'd proba- bly loose. Then I'd get depressed... then I’d be real grumpy, and wouldn’t talk to anyone, and I'd hate myself... Thanks anyway,” is Charlie Brown’s reply. Not simply content to let the quality of the strips speak for itself, the Complete Peanuts also includes an introduction by Garrison Keillor, an essay on Schultz’s life’s work, an interview with an older Schulz and reprints of Schultz’s pre-Peanuts work, L'il ° Folks. For longtime fans of Schulz’s work, The Complete Peanuts is the first required purchase in what is going to turn into an expensive (and heavy) collection of his work. 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