Lost Charles Schulz Interview?

While digging through some boxes of magazines, hoping to come across the missing 2 issues of "Nemo" to post here, I came across a few issues of something called "The Aspiring Cartoonist". I have no recolection of buying these, but I have a few scattered issues. It's a simple 2 color 16 page saddle stitched newsletter which touted itself as the "Newsletter for the professional, non-professional, and curious in the cartooning community.


Here in the second issue it's got a slick little chat with Charles M. Schulz hisself, and I'm thinking this is an interview not seen by many. Either back in the day this was printed (early 90's I'd guess) and certainly not since.

I hope you enjoy!

Talk to you soon.

"The Schulz System" - Nemo #31 part 2 of 2

I don't care for the title of this article, "The Schulz System: Why Peanuts Works", the second half of "Nemo: the Classic Comics Library" issue 31. It sounds like the work of an artist can be broken down into spreadsheets and pie-charts and analyzed by some part of your right-brain and then recreated and duplicated in a lab by an intern.

But the article is good.

The things Charles Schulz brought to the drawing board were inherent, and examining each facet can add to our appreciation of his work and the art form of the comic strip itself. And this article does add to our appreciation, for sure.

Enjoy!

Talk to you soon.

"Charles Schulz Interview" - Nemo #31 part 1

"Nemo: the Classic Comics Library" ended it's run with issue #31...kind of.

Almost 3 years after #30, #31 was published as a farewell to a proud run of outstanding tributes to a true American art form and if you flipped the book over...printed upside down in the back half (this issue was thicker than the rest and square bound) was a posthumous issue #32. I treated it as a gift from some folks who had given me a lot already.

Alphabetically listed (there's no other fair way) Hal Foster, Chester Gould, Harold Gray, George Herriman, Walt Kelly, Gary Larsen, Winsor McCay, E.C. Segar, Charles Schulz, Bill Watterson are my top 10 favorite comic strip artists. A unique category of cartoonists who, unlike comic books or animation, are the sole progenitor of their own vision. A one-man-army of creativity that is a constant fascination to me.

#31 of "Nemo" devoted itself whole-heartedly to one of these men, Charles Schulz.

It's a good read. Enjoy.

Talk to you soon.

Charles Schulz - He Showed Us the Good in Grief!

Charles Schulz's birthday is tomorrow, November 26th, he was born in 1922.

Here's a guy who took the limits of the comic strip and made them limitless. He made truly simple looking lines on a page tell a complex and deep story. He gave 2 dimensional characters voluminous more depth, I'll wager, than that mook sitting in the cubicle next to you has.

But I won't get hoity-toity-artsy-fartsy on you.

Charles Schulz didn't approach his work on "Peanuts" in that fashion. He just wanted to draw a comic strip. He just wanted to make it the best he could. He did what all true artists do, and did what comes natural and the art comes through. Sadness and joy of his life all went in to making one of the best comic strips ever done.

I know a bajillion Schulz anecdotes I could pass on to you, but my favorite is about the "Little Red-Haired Girl".

There really was one, you know. I'll keep it short and simple. Like the lines drawn in "Peanuts".

As a young man Charles was dating a woman with red hair who he loved (as all young men do) with all his heart. Being young, the girl had two semi-boyfriends, Charles and another. Schulz, wanting to secure his future with the red-haired girl, proposed marriage. Weighing her options, she judged one boyfriend who had joined the fire department and was securing a future for himself, against the other, a guy who liked to draw cartoons but had no real prospects for making any kind of a living. She did what any sensible young lady would do and chose the fireman, breaking Schulz's heart.

Schulz went on to create a newspaper comic strip that lasted almost 50 years, was published in nigh every country on the planet, spawned Television specials, motion pictures, a Broadway musical, hit songs...Hell, "Charlie Brown" and "Snoopy" were the call signs for the command module and lunar module, respectively on the Apollo 10 mission. HE WENT TO OUTER SPACE FOR CHRISSAKES! Oh...and to put it in perspective to the women out there who aren't impressed by worldwide and galactic influence and don't see the "red-haired girl's" folly...he pulled down an 8 figure income.

I figured you'd understand that. Byatches.

Charlie Brown flew around the world and into outer space, and all he really pined for was to be able to fly his kite past the "kite-eating tree", win a baseball game or kick that damn football. Oh yeah, and the "little red-haired girl".

Don't misinterpret me. Charles Schulz had two long marriages and had a passel of kids. But that tiny rejection flowed in to his "little kid's strip" and pumped it full of real emotion and fodder for years to come.

He did what he did and the art came through.

The very first "Peanuts" strip. October 2, 1950.

Charles Schulz and the "little red-haired girl".

The last "Peanuts" strip. December 14, 1999.

Thanks Charles. For 49+ years of doing it the right way.