CYBERBABBLE
Site-Seeing on the Internet

Peanuts (1950-1999)

   The irony of the Internet is its ability to be not only the Gutenberg Press or the Library at Alexandria, but also the village witchdoctor or the storyteller by the campfire. Being able to pass on information about all kinds of subject matter, even if technology itself is anathema to the subject matter. Which brings us to the world of Charles Schulz æonline. My memories of Peanuts go back to childhood, when I remember reading the 1950s paperback collections at my Grandparents’ house every time we visited. I learned that it was originally called "Li’l Folks." and I drew Snoopy on his doghouse or as the Red Baron in my childhood sketch-pad. That said, and in light of Schulz’ health condition and subsequent retirement, I write this week’s Cyberbabble with a heavy heart.
   For almost 50 years Charles "Sparky" Schulz drew, colored, inked and lettered his Peanuts comic strip by hand with no assistance. This gives meaning to the term "old-school;" you’ll be hard pressed to find anyone working this way anymore, in addition, Peanuts portrayed a kinder, gentler America. While not quite as apple-pie as Norman Rockwell, Peanuts had its own sense of lampooning life in the U.S. Doonesbury’s Garry Trudeau described it as, "the first (and still the best) post-modern comic strip."
   If you miss your daily dose of Peanuts, you can get all the Charles Schulz fixes you need at (http://www.peanuts.com) or at the identical "mirror site" located at (http://www.snoopy.com). These two official websites are exactly the same except for the URL’s. Starting January 11, Classic Peanuts will be published online. They’ll begin with comic strips that originally appeared in 1974 and there’ll be a "new" strip daily. Click on the Strip Archive for the comics for the last month or so if you’ve missed any and check out the Timeline and bone up on Peanuts history. President Clinton’s statement about how Schulz uniquely utilized his chosen medium to entertain and enlighten is also there. There’s a whole set of links for kids, including Trivia Games (fun for adults too) and a Coloring Book. You can either download (for free) the images, print them out and color them the old-fashioned way, or you can click on the Online Coloring Book and color online. There are also free Shockwave movies. You’ll need Shockwave to color online and/or view the movies, get it at (http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download).
   The Peanuts website also has a link to a pretty cool site. Do you want to be part of the Internet Get Well card for Charles Schulz? Click on the link to the National Cartoonists Society (http://www.reuben.org) and add your name to the nearly 20,000 people who are wishing him well online. The NCS’ annual award and URL is named for their first president, the ingenious cartoonist-cum-inventor, Rube Goldberg. The NCS has links to various media sources covering the retirement of Schulz, such as the BBC and the Washington Post. Because this site is for professionals in the field of cartooning, we get a "backstage" glimpse at how Schulz’s peers have honored and wished him well, not available anywhere else. Almost 100 members of the NCS created special one-panel comic art just for Schulz and we can view and download the images (for your own use only, of course). The artists are among the heavy-weights in cartooning like, Hank Ketchum (Dennis the Menace), Mort Walker (Beetle Bailey), Patrick McDonnell (Mutts) and Jack Davis (Mad magazine). Among the most touching sentiments are those drawn by Bob Staake, who says to Schulz, "every cartoonist on this planet dips his pen into an inkwell filled with chicken soup—and more love and admiration than you can imagine!"
   If all this has put you in the mode of Peanuts consumerism or collecting, there are a couple of sites that will satiate your Snoopy lust. There’s the Snoopy Shop (http://www.umstore.com/snoopy), which is run by Charles Schulz’ publisher, United Feature Syndicate. They have such a vast selection of merchandise that your best bet is to use their search engine to narrow down what you want. Choose from categories like art, apparel, books, items for babies & children, home & office and multimedia. Going to Snoopy’s Gallery & Gift Shop (http://www.snoopygift.com) directly supports Schulz, as this is one of three businesses he actually owns. Click on the link to his Redwood Empire Ice Arena in Santa Rosa, California, where an annual Christmas ice skating show staged by Schulz and starring Peanuts characters takes place. The Gallery is really more of a Peanuts Museum with a gift shop, and there’s an online exhibit at (http://www.snoopygift.com/gallery/fashion.html). The current exhibit is Snoopy in Fashion and a variety of fashion designers have specially created clothes for Snoopy dolls. The designers include such notables as Giorgio Armani, Oscar de la Renta, and Karl Lagerfeld.
   For anyone who’s ever had a Charlie Brown Christmas, known someone like Peppermint Patty, had your heart broken by the Little Red Haired Girl, or flown asunder like the fearless Red Baron, you know there’s a little bit of Peanuts in all of us.