I’m now offering one on one comics creation classes!

Congratulations to listener @troystory.bsky.social, and Mike Deas, for the upcoming publication of their incredibly sweet story, Still Friends, available now for preorder.

Congratulations to @johnmerullo.bsky.social for his latest book and for completing the Great Peanuts Re-read.

Latest Episode: Understanding Snoopy #2 - A Few Lines Expressing Joy. This week we discuss Snoopy’s metamorphosis from cute puppy to banana nose anarchist to doghouse philosopher. Along the way, we discuss evolving art styles, Ninja High School, and Jeff Smith’s Bone. pod.link/unpackingpeanuts

Podcasters in the wild: Jimmy and listener Paul Castiglia meet at Lakeside Comic con.

New Episode of My Podcast over on Substack. I talk about Superman two months late, but I also teach you how to plot a comic.

Latest Episode: Understanding Snoopy Episode 1 - Super Minimalist Snoopy. We kick off our new era with a season-long examination of the greatest comics character ever, and everyone’s favorite flying ace/grocery store clerk, Snoopy! pod.link/unpackingpeanuts

Should we change the name of the Unpacking Peanuts newsletter from the Great Peanuts Re-read to something new?

Quick update — we’re changing our plan. New episodes will remain free for everyone. After rethinking the schedule (and hearing from listeners), we decided to keep the podcast open to all. Big thanks to everyone who supports us. New season starts Sept 2 with a focus on everyone's favorite beagle.

Yup, that's me, talking about that final Complete Peanuts volume, some of my favorite Peanuts strips, a bit of personal history, and more! Go give it a listen!!

Thanks for having me aboard! It was great talking with y'all, and I hope that everyone listening hears the fun we had. (But credit where credit is due; I am merely CO-author of Schulz: 100 Objects; I share the Eisner Award for it with the mighty @benjaminlclark.com !)

@nat.gertler.com joins us to talk about his long association with Peanuts, preserving obscure Schulz art and comics, and why these characters still resonate within culture. Nat is the author of Charles M. Schulz: The Art and Life of the Peanuts Creator in 100 Objects pod.link/unpackingpeanuts

Thanks Todd Webb for sharing these pages of Charles Schulz's Preliminary Drawings from McSweeney's Quarterly Concern #13. We've been wondering what they looked like.

Listener Deborah Lofas of the UK tells us that the Royal Mail has just issued a set of 8 Peanuts commemorative stamps with some country specific changes like Snoopy on a British post box and Snoopy and Woodstock as Buckingham Palace guardsmen. Here's the link: shop.royalmail.com/special-stam...

Wrap-up Season 12 - No One Shook Hands and Said Good Game. We look back on the fun and challenges of reading all 17,897 Peanuts comic strips. Then we discuss the death of Charles Schulz, the continued impact of Peanuts, and what’s up next. Plus: Rory goes to college. pod.link/unpackingpeanuts

2000 - Charles Schulz… How Can We Ever Forget Him? We complete the Great Peanuts Re-read, and bid a tearful farewell to Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus & Lucy. But wait, there will be more! Find out what’s next for Unpacking Peanuts. + How could it ever get better than this? pod.link/unpackingpeanuts

Liz and Michael with our favorite podcast announcer, Aziza.

Highly entertained by this Wikipedia entry on the Gen Z teenage male hairstyle of choice... although surprised to see it refer to Soft Cell's barnets as 80s precursors to the trend

1999 Part 4 - Rerun Would Never Pull the Ball Away. The last full year of Peanuts comes to an end, and it’s a long series of goodbyes… to characters, settings, and famous routines; including the last ever football strip. Plus: What do you think of the coloring? pod.link/unpackingpeanuts

You spread the good word of cartooning. Of course y’all are cool people! Jimmy is definitely one of my cartooning heroes as it was me discovering Amelia Rules! that gave me the confidence to follow my own path and that a humor comic can make it in a world dominated by heroes, ninjas and zombies.

1999 Part 3 - A Very Public Farewell. Schulz announces his retirement which gives the remaining strips an elegiac quality that’s hard to miss. We say goodbye to Andy and Olaf, and Rerun marches towards his destiny as an underground cartoonist. Plus: We should buy banjos. pod.link/unpackingpeanuts

Superlistener @debperry.bsky.social sent us these photos from Peanuts: A Golden Celebration.

1999 Part 2 Snoopy, Woodstock, & the Times That Try Men’s Souls. We inch ever closer to the end of Peanuts, and so we savor each strip (and farewell) even more! Rerun continues to shine, & Patriot Snoopy faces the frigid Valley Forge winter, in August. + We agree to differ. pod.link/unpackingpeanuts

In our latest episode, 1999 Part 1, we talk about how the Sunday strips were colored for the newspaper. This is a photo from Peanuts: A Golden Celebration that shows the process. pod.link/unpackingpeanuts

In the Peanuts strip from January 28, 1999, Sally, Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, and the pig-tailed girl are looking at something while Rerun observes a drawing of Earl from Mutts. Reverse image search reveals the mystery drawing as The Port at Touques by Claude Monet (black chalk on paper).

Thanks @benjaminlclark.com

1999 Part 1 - I Am Not A Puppy Dog! Snoopy will not suffer fools. The gang visits an exhibit featuring Monet and McDonnell. Even the Little Red Haired Girl’s mom shows up. Meanwhile, the guys theorize with wild abandon about the coloring of Peanuts in the late 90’s. pod.link/unpackingpeanuts

1998 Part 3 - Tell Me What I'm Doing Here! That’s All I Ask! Rerun gets to the existential heart of Peanuts as he continues to shine in these late Peanuts strips. Meanwhile the guys talk about how audiences and critics relate to artists with decades long careers. pod.link/unpackingpeanuts

Charles Schulz in Playboy, March 1958. Peanuts was always hip. @unpackingpeanuts.bsky.social

"But I'll tell you who had the very best booth at the licensing expo this year was Peanuts 75th anniversary. They went all out. They had the most amazing, amazing booth space. And it was so fun." Harold talks about the Licensing Show Vegas

1998 Part 2 - Foxtrotting With The Little Red-haired Girl. Schulz comes as close as he ever will to depicting Charlie Brown’s one true love, and it goes great…for Snoopy anyway. Elsewhere, Woodstock parts a birdbath, and Rerun gets a compliment! Plus: Tango Tango, Charles! pod.link/unpackingpeanuts

1998 Part 1 - Are We Not Beagles? We Are Peanuts! Daily comics have turned full color, and so we get into comic strip coloring and wonder if the entire form has de-volved. Then ask “What IS Rerun’s real name anyway?” And hear from readers on the question “What is Peanuts?” pod.link/unpackingpeanuts

I will have to add more to this visual essay about Peanuts as I give it more thought (and maybe ink page two). I posted it before, but here are both pages together. @unpackingpeanuts.bsky.social @collectpeanuts.bsky.social @jonscrazyblues.bsky.social

No new episode this week due to Harold's travel schedule. Back on June 10th. We'll miss you too. pod.link/unpackingpeanuts

1997 Part 3: Rerun hides under the bed again. Lucy and Charlie Brown go on a date. Michael causes the gang to have an existential crisis and the very concept of the podcast is shaken to the core! Woodstock leads Olaf and Andy to the edge of the earth. Plus: Al Pacino! pod.link/unpackingpeanuts

1997 Part 2: Everyone Needs A Break Now and Then. Schulz announces he will take a 5-week sabbatical after Jeannie says he’s “getting jumpy.” Then gets a call from one of his heroes. Rerun is in kindergarten and the stress is destroying him! Plus: The Little Pig Haired Girl? pod.link/unpackingpeanuts

Orvieto Library in Umbria has a surprisingly good collection of Peanuts books. These strips are from Nov 9-11, 1976. Lucy talking about her grandmother during the war has a different feel in Italian than in English.

1997 Part 1 - Every Child Should Be Issued a Dog and a Banjo. After years of hearing Sally’s philosophies, Charlie Brown comes up with one of his own. And the gang takes on perhaps the weirdest Peanuts strip of them all… or maybe it’s just an ad. pod.link/unpackingpeanuts

Nice job Debbie. It begins to capture the complexity.

1996 Part 3 - Automatic for the Beagles. The discussion continues about what Peanuts is and the difference tools make in the life of an artist. Rerun shows new aspects of his personality, and we bid a fond farewell to one of the oldest Peanuts cast members. Plus Mutts. pod.link/unpackingpeanuts

1996 Part 2: Angel Food Cake with 7-Minute Frosting & a Side of Attempted Murder. Harold takes us on a deep dive into the back issues of Editor & Publisher to tell a dark tale of real life drama. But it’s not all gloom and doom. Harriet is back and she brought baked goods! pod.link/unpackingpeanuts

1996 Part 1- The Strange Death of Tapioca Pudding. We have a long discussion about what makes Peanuts work, and how Schulz’s presence is felt. Is it possible we’re overthinking this? Meanwhile, Rerun provides some of the best moments. Charlie Brown is still up all night. pod.link/unpackingpeanuts

Latest Episode: 1995 Part 3 - The Outer Space Adventures of Woodstock and Spike. Woodstock goes to the moon and it makes Michael’s head hurt. Cheating is rampant at Peppermint Patty’s school, but no one seems to mind. And Schulz predicts the world of print on demand. pod.link/unpackingpeanuts

Latest Episode: 1995 Part 2 - Woodstock is at his wit’s end, and all his pal Snoopy can do is muse on Fitzgerald. Rerun shows us more facets of his ever expanding personality. Meanwhile Linus’s struggle for security rages on. Plus: Some Enchanted Evening pod.link/unpackingpeanuts

Thanks William. I'm not sure we knew it actually existed.

I'll be at the Schulz Museum Cartoon-a-thon in honor of Paige Braddock on April 19! schulzmuseum.org/cartoon-a-th...

What I've been working on lately. I was a part of the @unpackingpeanuts.bsky.social Zoom meeting and got the chance to work on some fun silly comic ideas with the gang. I was teamed with Jimmy, and I've been working on what our idea was :D #fancomic #podcast

New chapter for Jimmy's new comic is up! open.substack.com/pub/gvilleco...

1995 Part 1 - At Long Last, Charlie Brown is the Hero. When a kid from another neighborhood takes advantage of the guileless Rerun, Charlie Brown steps up to defend him. Elsewhere, Sally is still Sally, Lucy still loves Schroeder, and Schulz fights through his tremor. pod.link/unpackingpeanuts

No wonder our Patreon supporters had no trouble imagining new comic strips from the pantheon of Schulz characters. They are creators themselves. @johnmerullo.bsky.social is author of Behold All the Dwellers Upon Earth, a political fantasy available at Brimmerverse.com