Posted by Bob Muir on Nov 19, 2014 in
Animation,
Cinema 
Look, we’re getting an animated Peanuts movie whether we want it or not. Thankfully, BlueSky Studios has got the look down pat, despite being CGI. And “voices” like Snoopy and Woodstock sound good. But what is up with that generic pop song? That’s not Peanuts. It’s likely just trailer music, but it seems odd. Anyway, the Christmas theme makes me want to see this soon, but it’s not coming out until 2015. While Peanuts is still a classic comic to me, I wonder if modern kids will view it the same way. Read more…
Tags: 20th Century Fox, Peanuts
Posted by Ben Huber on Oct 24, 2014 in
Animation 
Last year, it was reported that French animation studio Normaal Animation would be making a massive 500 90-second animated shorts based on Peanuts. Here’s two looks at the shorts, in both French and English (off-camera). Sadly, they appear to be sluggishly done. I’m not a Flash hater, but when it has that stereotypical “Flash” look, it turns me off. I’m sure these’ll be popular, though, and they’ve definitely caught Charles Schulz’s style in still images. The series will premiere in France on France 3 on November 9th, and will slowly have an international roll out through the next year. No word on when they’ll come the US, though! Check out the videos below. Read more…
Tags: Charles Schulz, Peanuts
Posted by Bob Muir on Mar 19, 2014 in
Animation,
Cinema 
20 Century Fox’s Blue Sky Studios is making a big-budget Peanuts film, based on Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and all the other classic characters created by Charles M. Schulz. Considering how many other modern animated/half-animated films have come before and sucked, it’s reasonable to be skeptical. But wait a second — this teaser looks good! While the animation nut in me pines for 2D animation, even I can admit how limited the Peanuts cartoons were, so it’s not like there wasn’t room to grow. This animation style, while done with CG, does a great job of retaining Schulz’s original designs and art style while mixing in faux-stop-motion animation. With a script by Schulz’s son Craig, Schulz’s grandson Bryan, and Cornelius Uliano (who simply has a cool name), there’s certainly potential for this movie to duck the trend of awful modern animated reboots and rehashes. Here’s hoping! Peanuts will be released on November 6, 2015. Read more…
Tags: 20th Century Fox, Charles Schulz, Charlie Brown, Peanuts
Posted by Michael Sacco on Jun 19, 2011 in
Dr. Who 
Artist Larry Wentzel has a whole bunch of Peanuts-themed Doctor Who art on his Flickr page, but I think this one is probably my favorite. Wentzel says “I imagine after the 11th Doctor was put in the Pandorica, the villains broke out into a little celebratory dance.” I bet they did, too, or at least I hope they did after seeing this picture. Seriously, these guys are just getting down. I didn’t know Daleks could bend that way, much less play piano. Maybe that one’s a special model. Vince Guardalek?
Michael Sacco is a freelance editor and writer, currently working as senior editor at WoW Insider.
Tags: Doctor Who, Peanuts
Posted by Guest Author on Nov 15, 2010 in
Comic Books 
Sparky: The Life and Art of Charles Schulz by Beverly Gherman
Most Americans should have heard of the Charlie Brown character or even if they don’t know the comic, should know of Snoopy. He is quite a well known beagle, merchandised and branded in many other countries. The story of Charlie Brown inspired a musical, cartoon, and tons of merchandises. Still this entry is not about the merchandises or products that are available. I still bet a lot of people would be interested in reading about the creator behind the famous Peanuts comic strip. His name is Charlie Schulz, or as friends and family referred to him as Sparky. Read more…
Tags: Charles Schulz, Peanuts, Snoopy
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 19, 2010 in
Comic Books 
I just love the ironic pairing of Linus from Peanuts with this very cheesetastic t-shirt slogan! This design is available from Mighty Fine t-shirts which has an entire line of Peanuts t-shirts including this wonderfully self censored Charlie Brown: Read more…
Tags: Peanuts
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 4, 2010 in
Comic Books,
Hobbies and Collections 
These vintage Peanuts toys come straight from the pages of the 1968 Montgomery Ward Christmas catalog. You could get two of the characters for $5.30 or the entire set for $12.90 and as you can see you had your pick of Charlie Brown, Schroeder (sporting a Beethoven sweater), Lucy, Snoopy and Linus clutching his trademark blanket. On the same page there was also a selection of Huckleberry Hound and Pogo toys: Read more…
Tags: 1968, Hanna-Barbera, Peanuts
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 15, 2010 in
Hobbies and Collections,
Star Trek 
So much of the toy fair is really aimed at kids, and while there are fanboy friendly booths here and there Diamond is always a pleasure to visit with the variety of cool goodies that they have. Shown above is a Qee Bear Spock — and below you can see a wide range of toys from Alice in Wonderland to Mickey Mouse: Read more…
Tags: Alice in Wonderland, Disney, Mickey Mouse, Peanuts, Qee, Ren and Stimpy, Spock, Toy Fair 2010, Urban Toys, Where the Wild Things Are
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 11, 2010 in
Comic Books 
I just love the character designs in those old school Peanuts comic strips, while they’re much more primitive than that later work of Charles Schulz there’s a powerful charm to them. On June 2nd Dark Horse will be releasing this 60th Anniversary Classic Peanuts: Charlie Brown in a limited edition (only 950!) which will feature a matching tin box, a button and a cute character booklet. Of course I noticed that the man behind this sculpture is none other than Craig Yoe who in addition to being a talented artist is an obsessive fanboy when it comes to the history of comic books.
Tags: Charles Schulz, Charlie Brown, Peanuts
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 23, 2009 in
Comic Books,
Hobbies and Collections 
The amazing thing about Peanuts is that it represented the life’s work of Charles Schulz, and as such the character designs changed over time. As a side note while his character designs were very graphic, they’re incredible hard to draw — Schulz’s draftsmanship was brilliant. Next year marks the sixtieth anniversary of the comic strip and to celebrate Dark Horse will be releasing Peanuts Then and Now Figure Sets showing the characters as they first looked in 1950 and then as they looked later in the series. Here’s good old Charlie Brown as he appeared in 1950: Read more…
Tags: Charles Schulz, Charlie Brown, Peanuts, Snoopy
