Such a novel concept. A graphic novel biography about cartoonist Charles Schulz done in the comic strip style of his beloved Peanuts characters. Like the adventures of Charlie Brown, the strips are funny, poignant, sad, joyful and full of self deprecating loathing. Charles Schulz was Charlie Brown - always doubting and never feeling good enough at anything.
There's a lot of interesting segments of Schulz's life and career that I was extremely interested in learning more about. His childhood inspirations for the cute little redhead girl and Snoopy. The lengthy session of rejection upon rejection from publishers and syndicates. How A Charlie Brown Christmas got off the drawing board and onto our television sets. His infidelity, resulting in a divorce from his first wife.
Let's talk about that last part. I didn't check this graphic novel out from my local library for the sordid parts of Charles Schulz's life. I honestly didn't even consider that part of his life when I was deciding whether or not to select this book. But as I started reading through Funny Things, I started wondering how creators Luca Debus and Francesco Matteuzzi how they were going to cover such a delicate topic. Harder topics such as the lingering death of Schulz's mother from cancer was dealt with in such a gentile way. There were still elements of humor as the lad known to family and friends as Sparky had to say goodbye to his mum before being shipped off in service for the American Army during the height of the second world war. So how was Schulz's affair with a woman half his age going to be portrayed in this book? The answer: discretely and an inferred blame on Ol' Sparky.
I was also interested in learning about the last days of Charles Schulz and his retirement of the Peanuts comic strip. I remember it being a big deal that Peanuts was coming to an end after 50 years. It was an eerie and poignant coincidence that the artist died the night before the last strip was to run in Sunday papers worldwide. I didn't know that he was extremely ill with cardiac issues and incurable colon cancer. While the reader doesn't have to say farewell to Charles Schulz, the book does end with a bittersweet moment of the beloved artist finally realizing how much people loved him and his gang of Peanuts!
I'm very glad for this book. After learning about Schulz's infidelity after being told for years how godly a man he was, I was put off reading Peanuts for a very long time. But this book helped me to realize that people are human and they make mistakes. Really dumb mistakes. Funny Things helped me to repent of my judgmental ways and to forgive Schulz, even though he never did any wrongs against me. How pompous was I?!
A must read for fans of Snoopy, Charlie Brown and Peanuts. Yes, there are several Schulz biographies out there. But there's never been anything like this graphic novel biography from Top Shelf Productions. Combining interviews from the creator himself with some dashes of artistic license, Funny Things should not be overlooked if you are a fan at any level of a blockhead and his beagle.
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.
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