The Complete Peanuts 1955-1956

With The Complete Peanuts 1955-1956, a half a decade into the strip's run, Charles Schulz has definitely hit his stride. It's a period of consolidation, as no new characters are introduced (and the ephemeral "Charlotte Braun" is given the hook), but the remaining nine - Lucy, Linus, Schroeder, Patty, Violet, Shermy, "Pig-Pen," Snoopy, and Charlie Brown - are settling comfortably into the roles and personalities they will play for years to come.
Linus, security blanket now firmly in hand, learns to talk, and thus no longer has to suffer his sister's abuse in silence. Snoopy takes a major leap into his patented lovable eccentricity, launching a long series of impressions, including his fellow cast members, various animals, and . . . Mickey Mouse? "Pig-Pen" develops his philosophy of dirt, Lucy's crush on Schroeder becomes unshakable, and Charlie Brown . . . well, Charlie Brown suffers his first
strike-out, his first kite lost in a tree, and the first football pulled out from under him by Lucy!

Charles M. Schulz

* ...as powerful a comic art-piece as anything out today...will delight Peanuts aficionados. Observer 20071027 * ...these timely re-issues illustrate not only the skill and subtle brilliance of his work but also the origins of the form beyond simple merriment. The List * Beautifully designed ... One of the high-water marks of post-war popular culture. Daily Telegraph * Canongate has had the brilliant wheeze of reprinting Charles Schultz's strip cartoon from the beginning in hardback volumes... Herald 20071027 * The Complete Peanuts is beautifully bound, a comprehensive resource and, with an index and introduction, a useful contextualisation of a modern legend. The Skinny * ...in these first volumes (1950-54), we can already see what will appeal to 21st century readers. Sunday Times 20071202