Читать книгу The Complete Peanuts Family Album - Andrew Farago - Страница 10

“

9

”

14

THE COMPLETE PEANUTS FAMILY ALBUM

handful of appearances to their names. Molly Volley,

“Crybaby” Boobie, and “Badcall” Benny never became

global sports icons, and it’s impossible to find any good

Harold Angel merchandise at Christmastime. Loretta can

be seen in only two panels in the strip’s fifty-year history;

Lila’s only in one. Such is the life of a Peanuts supporting

character.

But with more than sixty characters in the strip, ranging

from the true cultural icon Snoopy to the would-be

licensing superstar Tapioca Pudding, why settle for just one

favorite character? Maybe you’re one of the Peanuts fans

who struggles daily with the condition that some scholars

might call panpeanutophilia, better known as “love of all

things Peanuts.” (Not many scholars, mind you. But some.)

Sure, we all love Charlie Brown, but that doesn’t mean

we should forget Charlotte Braun. Live like Joe Cool, play

like Joe Richkid. Or Joe Motorcross. Or Joe Grunge. Or Joe

Shlabotnik.

You can play marbles with Joe Agate, or you can play

by the gate with Snoopy’s brother, Marbles. You can have

truffles with Tapioca Pudding, or tapioca pudding with

Truffles. For every Patty, there’s a Peppermint Patty, and

for every Shermy, there’s a Shirley—and a Clara and a

Sophie, to boot! It’s enough to send you straight to Lucy’s

Psychiatric Booth for treatment.

But fortunately, to quote Lucy herself, “as they say on

TV, ‘the mere fact that you realize you need help indicates

that you are not too far gone.’”

Read on and you’ll learn the Van Pelt family tree

from Rerun to Linus’s blanket-hating

grandmother, the names of Snoopy’s

brothers and sister from the Daisy Hill

Puppy Farm, and the secret identities of

The Masked Marvel and the mysterious

Mr. Sack—and you’ll have one less thing

to worry about as you lie awake in bed at

night.

And if that doesn’t work, you can

always join the French Foreign Legion.

“I just draw what I think is funny,

and I hope other people think it is

funny, too.”

– Charles M. Schulz