Pop-up book celebrates nearly 75 years of Charlie Brown

Review by C.J. Bunce

October 2, 1950. If you’re a fan of comics and you had a time ship, you’d want to consider this important date in the history of comics. Not comic books, but comic strips. And not just any comic strip, but one of the most important to find its way to newspapers ever–Charles M. Schulz’s very first Charlie Brown appearance. A comic art historian has taken a new look at “Good ol’ Charlie Brown” in his first appearance in a gift-sized hardcover pop-up book, Here Comes Charlie Brown! A Peanuts Pop-Up, available for pre-order now here at Amazon.

Charlie Brown and his pooch pal Snoopy are now timeless, appearing in new ways every year via your Hallmark store, on shorts and hats, and in reprints of 50 years of Schulz’s comics. Comparing the look of Charlie Brown in his first appearance to how we know him today shows some differences. The good-natured, put-upon fellow who never seems to receive a Valentine, never gets his Halloween costume right, and never gets a Christmas tree acceptable to his friends–the guy we’ve all come to love–initially had a slightly wider round head, different drawn eyes, and a giant smile.

Comic art historian Gene Kannenberg, Jr. has taken another look at Schulz’s first strip–the one that showed readers who he was for the first time, signed only as “Schulz” by the now household name. With no dialogue “Chuck” appears from the background and over four images he charges ahead into the great big future, all as two other kids watch, including Patty–later Peppermint Patty–and a boy named Shermy shows the negativity toward Charlie that would in part define Charlie’s challenges across 50 years of “funnies.” Here the author poses with his book on his Facebook page.

Kannenberg takes the four images and gives them a pop-up, sturdy page enlargement, while also coloring the pages like one would in the color Sunday pages of the 20th century. This isn’t a pop-up book as you know it. For one, it’s very short–it’s four two-page spreads. It’s more like a 3D treatment using classic paper cutting and folding methods.

The original strip has been replicated in products from the Peanuts franchise many times over the years, like this recent figure.

The result is his bow to Schulz in his first Peanuts strip–a celebration of Schulz as writer and artist as the world approaches the 75th anniversary of this work next year.

An image of a rare copy of the first strip adorns the inside back cover of the book.

A fun palm-sized tribute for fans of Peanuts and anyone looking for a gift for secretary’s day, a birthday, or a stocking stuffer next year, Here Comes Charlie Brown! A Peanuts Pop-Up, is available for pre-order now here at Amazon. It arrives next month from Abrams ComicArts.