vicki scott

In terms of sheer ubiquity, no comic strip matches Peanuts. I can’t remember Charlie Brown and Snoopy not being around. Neither can my parents or relatives. Peanuts is so omnipresent that it’s easy to forget how revolutionary the original strip actually was/ And the strip is inextricable from its creator, Charles M. Schulz, whose work has never been out of print — be it thanks to the Fantagraphics Complete Peanuts collections or the “Classic Peanuts” strips still running in newspapers. But over the past couple of years, Boom Studios has been releasing Peanuts comic books and original graphic novels that brings Schulz’s work to a format it was never really in before (except once), while adding stories by new creators who hope to honor Schulz’s work while incorporating their own takes on Chuck, Linus, Peppermint Patty, and the rest.

Charles Schulz was a master humorist whose enormous Peanuts library will surely be remembered as one of the great works of the 20th century, and while he will never be replaced, I'm glad to see his work live on with new entry points for modern audiences that may help lead them back to his work. One of those entry points is the Peanuts movie coming out in November. Another, aptly timed ahead of the movie's release, is next week's original graphic novel Peanuts: Where Beagles Dare, from Jason Cooper and Vicki Scott, published by Kaboom. It's a full-length Snoopy adventure that sees the hound in his World War I Flying Ace mode --- and therefore emboldened and no doubt headed for trouble. Check out an extended ten-page preview.

This year marks the 65th anniversary of Charles Schulz' Peanuts, the syndicated comic strip widely regarded as not just one of the greatest works of its kind, but as one of the great works of American comedy in the 20th century. For an extraordinary fifty-year run, Schulz told the story of neurotic schoolyard philosopher Charlie Brown, his dreamer beagle Snoopy, and their eternally young cohort of broadly-drawn kids with surprisingly complicated souls. It's been fifteen years since Schulz ended his run, which means there are kids Chuck's age who were born years after Peanuts. Thanks to Boom Studios' KaBoom imprint, these kids aren't growing up in a world where Peanuts is the sole preserve of nostalgic grown-ups. KaBoom has been reprinting Schulz's stories alongside new strips by today's creators, all aimed at a contemporary audience of kids. The 25th issue, out next week, celebrates 65 years of Peanuts with an ad-free 32-page original story by Paige Braddock and Vicki Scott, and KaBoom have given us an exclusive preview to share with our readers.