Today in Comics History: This day keeps popping up in the adult Schroeder's therapy sessions

Hey, remember yesterday? Beethoven's Birthday? Now that's something that Schroeder out of Peanuts would never forget, right? Well, in 1957...


Lucy, of course, is utterly sympathetic:


Yep, you can always count on Lucille van Pelt for subtlety and restraint. ... NOT!


If you've ever wondered what Lucy does every year on June 1...now you know!


Ah, Schroeder. The world was never made for one as beautiful as you.


Peanuts (December 17-21, 1957), by Charles Schulz

Happy birthday, Beethoven! (Also: tell Tchaikovsky the news.)

It's Beethoven's birthday! Let's check out some more info about Beethoven!

Camper Van Beethoven is an American rock band formed in Redlands, California in 1983 and later located in Santa Cruz and San Francisco. Their style mixes elements of pop, ska, punk rock, folk, alternative country, and world music. The band initially polarized audiences within the hardcore punk scene of California's Inland Empire before finding wider acceptance and, eventually, an international audience.

Oh, I've made another one of my little mistakes.


Peanuts (December 16, 1953), by Charles Schulz
Clearly this is a very important day for one member of the Peanuts gang, and I'm not talking about Charlotte Braun.


Panels from "December 16th" in Peanuts (2012 series) #14 (December 2013), script by Caleb Moore, pencils by Vicki Scott, inks by Paige Braddock, colors by Donna Almendrala, letters by Alexis E. Fajardo
It's a day to celebrate the best way I know how: with cake.


Peanuts (December 16, 1954), by Charles Schulz
Did you know that many other famous people were born on December 16? Wow, that maternity hospital musta been crowded.


Still, there's no reason not to celebrate the works of this unforgettable man.


Peanuts (December 16, 1958), by Charles Schulz
So remember: when you celebrate the birth of Ludwig van Beethoven, the whole world celebrates with you! Sing his popular hit along with me: Da da da DAHHHHH!

It's the Great Batman, Charlie Brown

Chris Sims, America's Most Popular Batmanologist™ has a lovely article today over at our friends, ComicsAlliance, that you oughta check out. (Go ahead, click here and read it and then come back. I'll wait for ya.)

Back? Good.

That was an excellent example of Batman dressing up as another hero. in contrast, I'm going to show you what Batman's usual and favorite Halloween costume is.

He dresses up as Batman.

Double-page spread from Batman: Gotham After Midnight #6 (December 2008), script by Steve Niles, pencils and inks by Kelley Jones, colors by Michelle Madsen, letters by Pat Brosseau
(Click picture to Great Pumpkin-size)

Hey, did you spot the Little Cool Thing...a cameo appearance by the Peanuts gang?



Why does Bruce Wayne dress up as Batman on Halloween? Well, why not? (Also, he's already got the costume.)



Of course, some people just up and steal Batman's idea.



But in the end...it's all worth it. For the kids.



None of which explains, of course, the year Bruce went in drag as Madonna.

You picked a fine time to leave me, Lucille

I like to consider myself a little stuffed bull who's involved in his neighborhood, so I enjoy pedalling my Big Wheel up and down the streets of Park Slope, Brooklyn, waving at everybody, stopping in at the fabulous new location of LaBagel Delight to cry "I'll have a chocolate croissant!" when one of the guys behind the counter shouts "Next!", or peering in through the window of Little Things to see what new toys have arrived, or excitedly hopping on the number 67 bus, popping my Metrocard in the slot, and journeying down to see my pals Tom and Amy at my fave comic book store, Bergen Street Comics. Hooray, always so much fun! When I'm out and about around the Slope, I even keep my eye out for the guy who rips down all the flyers that people put up on poles. He woulda had his work cut out for him this week, tho', because Park Slope's been blanketed by these flyers:



These signs are everywhere. Wow, Lucy must have really made an impression on this guy Karl. Also, he must have terrible, terrible jokes. And, he must live in the 1970s if part of his conversation includes the question "Hey Lucy, what's your sign?"

And hey, Karl, if you walked her home, why are there posters all over the Slope, and not just around the area you walked her home in?



Well, Karl, I do happen to know Lucy, and I've got both good news and bad news for you. The good news is...I happen to know Lucy. Oh wait, I've already told you that. Okay, how about the bad news? Karl, let me break it to you gently, man: you really don't want to date Lucy. She's rude, abrasive, cranky, sarcastic, selfish, hostile, and sometimes outright violent. In fact, you might even call her a fussbudget! No, take it from me, Karl...if I were you, I'd run far, far away from Lucy.


Lucy's no prize girlfriend, let me tell you that. She'll insult you at the drop of your blanket:


She'll take over your life, because she just loves meddling in your personal business:


And don't think that you can charm her over with those jokes that she didn't laugh at. Lucy is very critical of any sort of attempt to entertain her!


Why, Lucy's so spoiled that you won't impress her with an informal date at a local Park Slope eatery. She wants diamonds, pearls, black tie and grand formal dances to entertain her:


But truth to tell, she's pretty boring on a date:


Don't think she'll be pleasant and cheerful, oh no no no no. The girl does love to bellyache!


And in the end, Karl, I'm sorry to tell you...Lucy is brutally violent:


So, Karl, Karl, Karl. Take it from your friendly neighborhood little stuffed bull...run, don't walk, away from Lucy. She'll be a bad girlfriend who will take advantage of you at every moment, and what's more, she'll psychoanalyze you at every drop of a nickel. Now, I know your sad, sad story sounds like it comes straight out of a viral campaign for an online series of indie film shorts, but you and I both know the heartache of unrequited love. (Sigh). So all I can tell you is buck up there, pal...there's plenty of fish in the sea and turnips in the garden and tire change shops down on Fourth Avenue and there's a great Greek restaurant on the corner of...oh wait, where was I?

Forget about Lucy, Karl. She'll break your tender, aching heart. And besides...she's already got a boyfriend.

Friday Night Fights, Ladies Night: You picked a fine time to hit me, Lucille

Lucille, you won't do your sister's will
Lucille, you won't do your sister's will




You ran out and married
But I love you still




Lucille, please come back where you belong
Lucille, please come back where you belong




I've been good to you baby
Please don't leave me alone




I woke up this morning
Lucille was not in sight




I asked my friends about her
But all their lips were tight




Lucille, please come back where you belong
I've been good to you baby




Please don't leave me alone




Well, I woke up this morning,
Lucille was not in sight




I asked my friends about her
But all their lips were tight




Lucille, please come back where you belong
I've been good to you baby
Please don't leave me alone




Lucille, baby satisfy my heart
Lucille, baby satisfy my heart
I played for it baby
And give you such a wonderful start






Now fire it up and read it again!:



All panels are from Peanuts by Charles Schulz, reprinted in various volumes of The Complete Peanuts, published by my good pals at Fantagraphics.



This Halloween, I'll be sitting in my pumpkin patch, waiting for the Great Bahlactus to rise up over the patch and bring candy to all the good little boys, girls, and bulls of the world.

Friday Night Fights: I'm just a girl, little ol' me/Well don't let me out of your sight

Q: What are little girls made of?


Peanuts, by Charles Schulz (10/3/50, the second strip of the series)

A: Little girls are made of kickass.


Bahlactus never got his picture on bubblegum cards, did he? Have you ever seen his picture on a bubblegum card? Hmmm? How can you say someone is great who's never had his picture on bubblegum cards?

"He's Armed and Dangerous, Charlie Brown"

An alarmingly atypical Peanuts Sunday strip I found in We're Right Behind You, Charlie Brown, one of the great old Holt, Rinehart and Winston Peanuts paperbacks from when I was a tiny stuffed bull. (As this book was published in 1964, I'm sure it's reprinted in one of the recent Fantagraphics Complete Peanuts volumes, but I'm not certain which one.)

Fun comics in Seattle!

Hi hi hi everybody! Here I am in the Emerald City! No, not that one—that's what they call Seattle, Washington! John and I are here on a business trip (even tho' he is doing mort of the business!) Yesterday we went to see Mister Mulliner (no relation to this guy!) at Amazon.com so John could sell him the wonderful Norton books he has, and then today we went to visit Fantagraphics and had lunch with Mister Gary and Mister Kim 'n' Eric 'n' Greg 'n' even Conrad came along for the visit! I had a wonderful Cuban sandwich that was so good it made me immediately forgive Fidel Castro for most anythin' that he might have done. Viva la sandwich! I even got to play with Mister Kim's dachshund, Lugvig! I miss Ludvig. He was very long and low and cute. If you are reading this, Ludvig, hi hi hi!

We went to Zanadu Comics in Seattle which is a lovely lovely store! They have lots of comics and books and action figures and toys and all sortsa stuff. John bought me a bunch of new comics to read but instead I thought I'd tell you about some other things he got for me there and that I got this week in Seattle that were so much fun than just the usual bunch of weekly comics!


THE ESSENTIAL LUKE CAGE, POWER MAN: HERO FOR HIRE: This comic is fun! First of all John bought me a big fat Marvels Essentials collection of Luke Cage: Hero for Hire! This is one of the 1970s Marvel comic books John loves a lot and I thought it was the most fun ever. It's about a big strong black superhero private detective in New York—he's kinda like "Shaft" except he has super-strength and diamond-hard skin and you can sing a song about him without being told to shush yo' mouth. Luke Cage works out of an office by a movie theater on 42nd Street back in the 1970s and has all sorts of adventures fighting bad guys and solving crime and yellin' "Sweet Christmas!" and "Jive Turkey!" and "Luke Cage is Bustin' Through!" all the time! He sure did get beat up a lot but he's pretty tough. It's a big big book of black-and-white comics reprints and it took me all day to read it. I highly recommend it. Two hooves up! (You can buy one for yourself if you click on the Amazon link up and to the right—see? Right over there! Tell 'em Bully sent ya!)


WESTERN GUNFIGHTERS #16: This comic is fun. John usually buys me new comics but he said what I need once in a while is to see what comic books used to be like. That's why he bought me the Luke Cage book and that's why he bought me this raggedy old back issue from the bin at Zanadu and told me I'd enjoy it. And boy howdy did I! We are going to Reno, Nevada next week (we'll be visiting Amazon's Fulfillment Center there) and I'm really looking forward to seeing the West. This comic book got me all ready for being out West! It was four reprints of Marvel western comics that were—as the cowboys would say—darn tootin' fun! There was a Kid Colt, Outlaw story, and Black Rider (oooh, he's spooky!) and Apache Kid, and a story about a bad gambler...western fun all around! Some of the stories were by my personal pal Stan Lee. (Stan's a heck of a nice guy but make sure you remind him, very politely and gently, that he didn't create the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man all by himself! He had lotsa help!) Anyway, yee-haw, this old comic was fun, and I sure do hope John will buy me some more back issues once in a while.

THE COMPLETE PEANUTS 1957-1958: This comic is fun. And John didn't even buy this one for me! Eric at Fantagraphics gave it to me and said that even tho' the book won't be published and in your local bookstore until October, I could have a early paperback copy! YAY! Thanks, Eric! You're the coolest, dude. If you look at the picture above you can see it isn't a finished book. This is what we in the publishing world call an "advance reading copy" or "galley" (well, at least what John tells me it is called!) I was a little worried when they told me it was an "advanced reading copy" because I was thinking maybe I wasn't advanced enough to read it, because, you may recall, I am jus' a little stuffed bull! But Eric assured me that it wasn't "advanced," it was "advance" and that just meant it came out early. Hooray for Eric! He also gave me a nifty "Dennis the Menace" pin and John told me that Camilla would say it was very approprate for me to be wearing a "Menace" pin .............. I don't get it. Anyway, that just made it the best visit every to Fantagraphics and I really, really enjoyed reading THE COMPLETE PEANUTS 1957-1958 in our hotel room in Seattle. It is all early comic strips by Charles M. Schulz (make sure you spell it right! it's not "Schultz!) and some of the best strips are in here. Mister Kim said "Sparky was hitting on all cylinders in these strips!" I didn't see any sparks or cylinders but I laughed and laughed and laughed. That's why THE COMPLETE PEANUTS 1957-1958 gets my award for the most fun comic of the week.