Shocking (not!)...Charles Schultz, sad lonely man

[youtalkfunny]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071019/...arts_schulz_dc

I was a young child when I started thinking, "This cartoon isn't funny. Why does it get so much hype? Why do all the grown-ups push this on me?"

Lucy always pulls the football away.

The Great Pumpkin never shows up.

Snoopy's imaginary life is fantastic, but his real-life existence is hum-drum.

Life sucks for Charlie and the gang. Why was this cartoon ever popular?

[Kimbell175113]

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Why was this cartoon ever popular?

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It's great.

I think it's popular mostly due to the cartoon version, though (at least with people today).

[tarheeljks]

this explains a lot about the cartoon

[Iconoclastic]

The conclusion reached by this book says more about its author than it does its subject.

[Dudd]

I was 99% sure there was going to be a molestation charge in this thread.

[Los Feliz Slim]

I am a big "Peanuts" and Charles "Sparky" Schultz fan. I have been to the Schultz Library in Santa Rosa, CA. The fact that he was often unhappy is not news to anybody who knew anything about him and shouldn't be news to anyone who is familiar with the strip. This does not for a minute diminish the value of "Peanuts" and in some ways enhances it.

I cried when I read the tribute strips after he died.

[Anacardo]

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I cried

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Yeah what else is new, dude.

[MiloMinderbinder]

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I am a big "Peanuts" fan.

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Why?

Srsly, does this comic have some interesting insight or humor I am missing? It looks no different than 95% of all other long-running comic strips -- like it ceased to be funny, insightful, or relevant decades before it ended and you can almost picture the cartoonist churning more of the same tired crap out day after day as a matter of routine. Also known as the Marmaduke Syndrome.

[Los Feliz Slim]

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I am a big "Peanuts" fan.

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Why?



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I am no cartoon scholar, but if you really think that "Peanuts" is comparable to "Marmaduke" in terms of depth, you need to look harder.

"Peanuts" is significant to me first and foremost because I read all the books when I was a child. The Charlie Brown specials (Christmas and Halloween especially) were a big deal to me as well. Maybe this is because I'm of a certain age.

I also think that Charlie Brown's sadness, always getting [censored] on by everybody else but continuing to persevere, reminds me of how I felt when I was a kid (although things were not nearly as bad as I made them out to be). The unrequited love for the little red-headed girl, the abuse at the hands (and mouth) of Lucy, the failures on the baseball field...yeah, the strip was melancholy as hell. Definitely part of why I love it. And why the fact that the creator was a pretty depressing guy shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.

[gisb0rne]

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Also known as the Marmaduke Syndrome.

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http://wondermark.com/tcsd/stripdoc_6.html