Comics of Charles Schulz

Jared Gardner, Columbus, Ohio, is professor of English at The Ohio State University. He is author of Master Plots: Race and the Founding of an American Literature, 1787-1845; Projections: Comics and the History of Twenty-First-Century Storytelling; and The Rise and Fall of Early American Magazine Culture.Ian Gordon, Singapore, is professor of American history at the National University of Singapore. He is author of Comic Strips and Consumer Culture, 1890-1945 and Superman: The Persistence of an American Icon. He is also coeditor of Comics and Ideology and Film and Comic Books and editor of Ben Katchor: Conversations, the latter two published by University Press of Mississippi.

Over half a century after its debut, Charles Schulz's deceptively sophisticated Peanuts art continues to impact readers and cultures worldwide. Gardner and Gordon's The Comics of Charles Schulz treats Schulz's iconic property with the sophistication and care it deserves. At once insightful and enjoyable, the volume is a valuable addition not just to an understanding of Peanuts but also to comics studies, literary analysis, and beyond."" - Stephen J. Lind, author of A Charlie Brown Religion: Exploring the Spiritual Life and Work of Charles M. Schulz""Charles M. Schulz, many of us believe, was the greatest cartoonist of the twentieth century, but it is inarguable that the characters in his comic strip, Peanuts, have become icons of American culture. Just how powerful and influential they were can be partially measured by the lucid and thoughtful essays in this intelligently edited volume in the Critical Approaches to Comics Artists Series. They set a high standard for the critical analyses and scholarly appreciations sure to follow."" - M. Thomas Inge, author or editor of many volumes, including My Life with Charlie Brown and Charles M. Schulz: Conversations