The Complete Peanuts, 1979-1982

The Complete Peanuts 1979-1980 includes a number of classic storylines, including the month-long sequence in which an ill Charlie Brown is hospitalized. Snoopy is still trying on identities left and right, including the "world-famous surveyor," the "world-famous census taker," and Blackjack Snoopy, the riverboat gambler. Also includes one of the great, forgotten romances of Peanuts that will startle even long-time Peanuts connoisseurs: Peppermint Patty and..."Pig-Pen"?! In The Complete Peanuts 1981-1982, Spike is drafted into the Infantry and brand new brother "Marbles" (with the spotty ears) takes his bow. We also see two major baseball-oriented stories, one in which Charlie Brown joins Pppermint Patty's team, and another in which Charlie Brown and his team lose their baseball field. Sally gets fat, and two of the most eccentric characters from later Peanuts years, the hyperaggressive Molly Volley and the whiny "Crybaby" Boobie, make a return engagement. Charles Schulz's Peanuts world will never grow old, and Fantagraphics' complete reprinting of this masterpiece, now in its eighth year -- still lovingly designed by world-class cartoonist Seth -- has firmly established itself as one of the very finest archival comic-strip projects ever done.