Rare Charles Schultz Work To Be Published In November

Posted: Wednesday, August 25, 2004
Posted By: Michael A. Diaz

Charles M. Schulz is the most famous and most influential cartoonist ever, and his Peanuts comic strips have been reprinted in hundreds of books. Yet few people know that during the late 1950s, during a period of great creativity, Schulz was also doing another newspaper comics series. “It’s Only a Game” took a look at people and their pastimes, showing us how we win, how we lose, and how we play the game. This long forgotten work is now being put into a book for the very first time, as About Comics publishes the complete collection It’s Only a Game.

This treasure trove of lost Schulz material is being dug up at a time when interest in Schulz is running high. Such projects as The Complete Peanuts, Li’l Beginnings (reprinting Schulz’s pre-Peanuts series “Li’l Folks”), and Peanuts: The Art of Charles M. Schulz are focusing popular and critical attention on Schulz’s work.

People who know Peanuts know that sports was a favorite topic, with Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the crew regularly involved in baseball, football, and hockey. “It’s Only a Game” was a single-panel gag feature that covered all that and more. “Schulz focused the comics mainly on participation sports and games, so there are strips about bowling, bridge, and fishing, as well as the big team sports,” explains Nat Gertler, noted Schulz bibliographer and publisher of About Comics. “In fact, it’s rather amazing how broad a range of topics is covered. Over the course of 255 cartoons the series covers everything from Monopoly to rodeo.”

Fans are in for an extra treat, because “It’s Only a Game” features mainly adults. Since “Peanuts”, “Li’l Folks”, and Schulz’s illustration work focused on kids, this is a rare chance to see his talents applied to older characters.

Schulz created the series himself and initially did all the work on it. After the series had run for a while, cartoonist Jim Sasseville did the finished artwork based on Schulz’s sketches. Sasseville provides the book’s commentary, as well as access to some special materials. “Working with Jim was great,” explains Gertler. “Not only do we get a lot of insight into how the strip was put together and what it was like working with Schulz, he also gave us access to some of Schulz’s roughs for cartoons that were never used.”

Schulz’s widow Jean expressed her enthusiasm for this project. “It is wonderful to see the entire run collected and to read Jim's reminiscences. Sparky [Charles M. Schulz] spoke highly of Jim's drawing ability and in this book I can see what he meant.” Sasseville is no less effusive about Schulz’s work on the strip, referring to him as “the best cartoonist ever,” a view of Schulz that is common in the cartooning world.

Contributing an editorial hand to the book is Derrick Bang, the editor of Charles M. Schulz: 50 Years of Happiness. Derrick also provided the acclaimed commentary for Li’l Beginnings.

It’s Only a Game (ISBN 0-9716338-9-4) is a 240 page 5.5”x6.5” black and white paperback with a color cover. Priced at $14.95, it will be distributed to the comic book stores (by Diamond Comics, FM International, and Cold Cut) and to the bookstores (by Diamond Book Distributors) in November. It can be found on page 197 of the current Previews catalog.

For more information, go to www.AboutComics.com.

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