Z'S PEANUTS COLLECTION

ORIGINAL HOLT PEANUTS BOOKS

Peanuts

Good Ol' Charlie Brown

You're Out of Your Mind, Charlie Brown

Peanuts Every Sunday

It's a Dog's Life, Charlie Brown

You Can't Win, Charlie Brown

You Can Do It, Charlie Brown

We're Right Behind You, Charlie Brown

Sunday's Fun Day, Charlie Brown

You'll Flip, Charlie Brown

You're Something Else, Charlie Brown

You're You, Charlie Brown

HOLT PEANUTS BOOKS [WHITE BORDERS]

Snoopy

But We Love You, Charlie Brown

As You Like It, Charlie Brown

You Need Help, Charlie Brown

The Unsinkable Charlie Brown

You're Out Of Sight, Charlie Brown

You've Come a Long Way, Charlie Brown

Thompson is in Trouble, Charlie Brown

You're the Guest of Honor, Charlie Brown

Win a Few, Lose a Few, Charlie Brown

WEEKLY READER PEANUTS BOOKS

Snoopy

Snoopy (Abridged Version)

Go Fly a Kite, Charlie Brown

But We Love You, Charlie Brown

Snoopy Come Home

Ha Ha, Herman, Charlie Brown

Thompson is in Trouble, Charlie Brown

Win a Few, Lose a Few, Charlie Brown

FAWCETT CREST PAPERBACKS

For The Love Of Peanuts

Fun With Peanuts

Good Grief, Charlie Brown

Good Ol’ Snoopy

Hey, Peanuts!

Have It Your Way, Charlie Brown

It’s Showtime, Snoopy

It’s Your Turn, Snoopy

Nobody’s Perfect, Charlie Brown

Play Ball, Snoopy

The Wonderful World Of Peanuts

This IS Your Life, Charlie Brown

We Love You, Snoopy

You’re a Winner, Charlie Brown

You’re Not For Real Snoopy

You’re So Smart, Snoopy

You’re The Greatest, Charlie Brown

You’ve Done It Again, Charlie Brown

Your Choice, Snoopy

PEANUTS PARADE

1- Who’s The Funny-Looking Kid With The Big Nose?

3- There’s A Vulture Outside

7- The Mad Punter Strikes Again

9- Thank Goodness For People

10- What Makes Musicians So Sarcastic?

11- Speak Softly And Carry A Beagle

12- Don’t Hassle Me With Your Sighs, Chuck

16- How Long Great Pumpkin, How Long?

18- My Anxieties Have Anxieties

20- Stop Snowing On my Secretary

21- Summers Fly, Winters Walk

22- The Beagle Has Landed

23- And A Woodstock In A Birch Tree

24- Here Comes The April Fool!

26- You’re Weird, Sir!

27- Kiss Her, You Blockhead!

25- Dr. Beagle And Mister Hyde

PEANUTS CLASSICS

Don’t Hassle Me With Your Sighs, Chuck
It’s A Long Way To Tipperary

My Anxieties Have Anxieties

The Way Of The Fussbudget Is Not Easy

PEANUTS ANIMATED BOOKS

A Boy Named Charlie Brown

A Charlie Brown Christmas

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown

Charlie Brown’s All Stars

He’s Your Dog, Charlie Brown

It Was A Short Summer, Charlie Brown

It’s A Mystery, Charlie Brown (PB and trade)

It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

There’s No Time For Love, Charlie Brown

What A Nightmare, Charlie Brown

You’re Not Elected, Charlie Brown

Charlie Brown’s Yearbook HC

THE COMPLETE PEANUTS

Volume 01: 1950-1952

Volume 02: 1953-1954

Volume 03: 1955-1956

Volume 04: 1957-1958

Volume 05: 1959-1960

Volume 06: 1961-1962

Volume 07: 1963-1964

Volume 08: 1965-1966

Volume 09: 1967-1968

Volume 10: 1969-1970

Volume 11: 1971-1972

 Volume 12: 1973-1974

Volume 13: 1975-1976
Volume 14: 1977-1978

PEANUTS COLLECTIONS

Peanuts Revisited

Peanuts Classics

Peanuts Treasury

The Snoopy Festival

OTHER PEANUTS BOOKS

Peanuts: The Art Of Charles M. Schulz

A Charlie Brown Christmas: The Making Of A Tradition

On DVD

A Charlie Brown Christmas

It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

A Charlie Brown Valentine

A Boy Named Charlie Brown

Snoopy Come Home

Favorite Comics: Thor #305

"Hark The Herald Angel Lives!"

I am part of the John Byrne / Chris Claremont era of the Uncanny X-Men, and so by 1980, I was collecting a whole smorgasboard of titles in the Marvel and DC canon. One of the titles I collected was THOR, and this issue really blew me away as a kid.

Really Nice story written by Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Maccchio, with art by Keith Pollard (whatever happened to this guy? His Fantastic Four stuff was terrific!) and Chic Stone.

 Former Herald to Galactus Gabriel the Air-Walker awakens in a farm out in the country, where the Machinesmith’s secret lab has once been hidden. Bursting out of the Barn, He is approached by a small boy named Kevin who thinks Gabriel is the coolest thing since Darth Vader. We find out Kevin has recently lost his father, and the lonely boy immediately identifies with Gabriel. The boy wants to tag along, and Gabriel, needing someone to help him along the way to find out what has happened since he last walked, allows him to.

 They first go to the Fantastic Four, where Gabriel finds that Galactus has been defeated and is gone. Gabriel creates a blizzard that covers the city which alerts Thor and prompts him to take action. Thor manages to get the boy away from Gabriel, and is a little confused that the boy doesn’t seem to realize the danger Gabriel is- Everyone believes the boy to be Gabriel’s hostage, not knowing he is there on his own free will!

 The two powerhouses battle, until Gabriel gets the upper hand and knocks Thor out cold.

  Gabriel is ready to destroy Thor, But Kevin pleads for Gabriel not to kill him. “Only Bad Aliens kill people!” he reasons. A soft spot is touched in Gabriel, and he relents. “Very Well, Kevin…He shall Live”. He levitates Kevin back up to him and the two go off to further explore the city.

  Meanwhile, Thor has regained consciousness, and is determined once and for all to stop Gabriel. Now realizing Gabriel is only a robot, he doesn’t hold back and slams his hammer right through the Herald’s chest, destroying him at once. The Robot and the child both plummet to earth, where Thor catches Kevin. He is quite surprised when the boy runs to the fallen Gabriel and bursts into tears. His newfound friend has been taken from him, just like his father. Thor realizes now that Gabriel had no intent to harm the boy, and quietly bows out.

 I cannot tell you how much this story affected me. In fact,  for a while there, Thor stories were quite humanitarian in nature. Issue #303 deals with a priest who is losing his faith, and #304 shows Thor saving an elderly woman from being struck by a car, only to see her get struck down later in a battle with The Wrecker and his Wrecking Crew.

  All of these stories to this day remain close to my heart!

Bladerunner Ultimate Edition Coming Soon?

I am a HUGE FAN of the original theatrical release version of BLADERUNNER that came out in 1982 (The Criterion Edition), and so I am waiting in GREAT anticipation for the upcoming release of Ridley Scott’s ULTIMATE EDITION of BLADERUNNER which will include the Original theatrical release, the Director’s Cut, and a new 2007 updated Director’s cut ( which will  first be shown in the theatres)…come on guys, let’s get that BALL ROLLING ALREADY! :)

 I realize I am clearly in the minority when I say I prefer the original 1982 version of the movie more than the Director's Cut. Countless scores have been written praising the Director's Cut against the Theatrical one. But for me, I have to agree with Harrison Ford. He didn't want Deckard to be revealed as a replicant in the end, and for that matter, the Philip K. Dick book that it's loosely based on didn't have Deckard as a Replicant either.

 The reason I’m such a fan of the Theatrical(Criterion) version is because so many of my favorite scenes have so much more meaning if Rick Deckard is a Human Being rather than a replicant.

I think that it’s important for Deckard to be human to clearly illustrate the question posed in the scene where he is “testing” Rachel  at Tyrell Corporation. When she askes hi if he’s ever taken the test himself, she is (in a way) asking just what it is about someone that makes him “human”. Rachel feels, she loves, she cries… She is portrayed as more “human” than Deckard’s superiors.

   And the scene at the end…the incredible scene with Deckard and Batty, probably the greatest final scene in any Science Fiction movie: With Deckard as a human, the message is clear when he voice-overs “I don’t know why he saved my life. Maybe in those last moments he loved life more than he ever had before…not just his Life…Anybody’s life. My life.”

The message here is to cherish life, because living and breathing is such a precious thing, so precious that you shouldn’t waste it for any reason.

Love and Rockets Locas Still Here With Us

Back in 1985, I came across a magazine called “Love and Rockets”, which interested me because it featured these punky California chicks who were into the same kind of scene that me and my friends were into- listening to punk/new wave music and going to see bands in clubs. They even were the same AGE as me and my friends-just outta high school and not knowing what the heck they wanted to do with their lives.

  The magazine was written and illustrated by the Hernandez Brothers Jaime and Beto. The layout of the mag was sort of divided into two parts- Beto did a more Mexican folklore/gangland kind of story, while Jaime did one called LOCAS, featuring the aforementioned teenage girls. Although I loved Beto’s work too, it’s Jaime’s work I became obsessed about.

  The six characters were so intriguing, and even the supporting cast was given space to grow.  Jaime told his stories as one long, continuous linear story, so it really made you feel like you were reading a story about real people.

   It roughly followed the exploits of Maggie and her best friend Hopey, their friends Izzy, Penny, Daffy (a Japanese chick!) and Terry. In time, they would blossom into these fully developed characters that you felt you knew like the back of your hand.  They were so interesting that I regularly changed who my favorite character was every time a new story came out! . I remember plastering a poster of Locas on my locker at college and even had a sticker of Daffy’s cute sister Nami stuck on the bumper of my car! (Remember that one, guys?)

    Anyway, time moved on, and college came and went, and I was now busy working in the real world and hadn’t read a L&R magazine for several years…

 I remember around 1991, picking up the latest issue of Love and Rockets, and noting with admiration that the characters had grown up along with me. They were not the same teenagers I had read in college. They were the SAME AGE AS ME, and had even moved onto different music and interests, as did I!

    It really amazed me, thinking how much they really were like real people. They had changed so much, and it was in a realistic way. Hopey’s punky girl hair had grown out, and Maggie had gained considerable weight since I saw her last! I made it my goal to find every back-issue I’d missed over the years to catch up with the LOCAS gang…and it was as good as ever. Everyone had developed so well, and I found out that Maggie and Hopey had grown apart as friends, another very realistic touch, I think. Younger brothers and sisters had grown up, too, and even grouchy old Tita Vicki had become a sympathetic character.

   I faithfully collected the Magazine from then on, until it ended in 1996.It bummed me out- it came at a time when the magazine was at its zenith, too-every story in it was so damn good, especially Beto’s spooky Mexican themed ones, and the ending Locas story “Bob Richardson”, where we see everyone had grown up. Several characters even get married at the end. This ending left a huge void in my life comic-wise!

   But things were all good, because in due time the Brothers Hernandez came back with comic-sized versions of their L&R characters in titles like PENNY CENTURY and LUBA. The best was yet to come, though, for in 2000, they reunited and came back with a revamped comic entitled-what else? - LOVE AND ROCKETS! Yay! Things were great again!

 Reading the latest issue of L&R, I was once again taken aback. I couldn’t believe it, but Maggie and friends were STILL the same age as me! One character even notes that Maggie isn’t a punky girl anymore-she’s a 40-year old landlady now.

Heck, even Hopey has grown up and is a preschool teacher’s assistant!

Maggie brushes into her one-time boyfriend Ray where they realize they’ve aged.

Hopey finds out her ex-band member Terry Downe, once a fellow struggling musician, has become a very successful performer…so successful, Hopey can’t get backstage to see her!

Everyone has walked down a different path to end up where they are-and we were there right alongside them!

  I think that part of the reason Jaime can do this is because any time he feels like drawing a story with them younger (or at any age), he simply tells a “flashback” story, and they can be any age he wants. He frequently tells stories of the characters as children growing up in the Barrio, as well as middle school adolescence, and “This is what was happening when this other story you read was happening” type of stories. 

How amazing is that? They’re still growing up with me.  I think this is just incredible for a comic to do.

Viva Love and Rockets!

Super-Vixens: Scarlet Witch

Couldn't start this blog without Miss Wanda Frank-Maximoff, prolly the Super-Heroine's super-heroine (at least in MY book, natch!)

The first comics I read featuring Wanda was the David Michelinie / John Byrne run, and also the "Marvel Triple Action" stories that reprinted the Roy Thomas / John Buscema Avengers issues (especially #47: "Mine Is The Power")...together, these two comics gave me a very complete picture of Wanda and Pietro, as in the Triple action stories we see them as young unsure characters, and jumping ahead to the #181-191 run, we see not only two very confident characters, but somewhere along the lines Wanda had married The Vision, and Quicksilver had married Crystal!

So I fell in love with the Scarlet Witch. Yes. It's True. My favorite covers were the ones that prominently featured Wanda on them, and good old George Perez never failed to deliver! Issues #171 and #161 were among the first "back issues" I purchased, and I remember my friend James getting a big box of old comics from his relatives, and one night as I browsed through the stacks, I came across Avengers #113 with Wanda defiantly cursing the crowd for striking down The Vision, and I immediately went "OOH! I...I want this issue!" To which James dismissively said, "Yeah.. I figured you would..." Hahahaha

First Appearance: X-Men #4, Jack Kirby art.

Favorite Artists for Wanda:

•George Perez, specifically the Avengers #160-172 era (especially the BRIDE OF ULTRON arc),

•John Byrne, Avengers #181-191 run, especially The Yesterday Quest, (issues #185-187)