©Warner Press and About Comics.

Publisher Nat Gertler was kind enough to send me a copy of this book he published, no doubt because of the glowing review I gave the “Complete Peanuts” series published by Fantagraphics. These are one-panel cartoons created by Charles Schulz (do I need to add of “Peanuts” fame?) for YOUTH magazine, aimed at teens in the church he was a member of, headquartered in Indiana.

I enjoyed reading it, and got a few chuckles out of some, like the one above, which are about teens in general. Many others focus on church themes and activities that were probably amusing to the target audience, but weren’t so much to me. The drawings are a bit odd, probably because we’re all so used to seeing Schulz’s small children. They often seem to have Peanuts heads stuck onto tall, gangly bodies.

Others use cartooning shortcuts, like the girl’s profile above, that seem pulled from some other artist’s repertoire entirely.

I’d recommend this to any Schulz fan, just don’t expect the same level of overall genius as “Peanuts.” The aim here was much more specific, and for the general audience there are as many misses as hits.

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