From Puppydog to Joe Cool: Snoopy’s 75-Year Makeover in the Deluxe The Essential Peanuts Collection
The Essential Peanuts collects decades of Charles Schulz’s strip work and shows how Snoopy changed from 1950 to 2000. The new slipcased volume highlights the beagle’s visual and personality shifts, and it arrives in stores in early October.
Snoopy evolution
Charles Schulz introduced Snoopy in 1950, and the character changed steadily as Schulz’s drawing style loosened. For example, Schulz said in 1975, “As my drawing style loosened, Snoopy was able to do more things.” Moreover, by the late 1950s Snoopy had grown taller and become increasingly imaginative, taking on alter egos such as Joe Cool and other heroic figures.
In other words, repetition and experimentation shaped the dog you know. As Schulz refined his approach, the strip’s visual language expanded, and Snoopy’s motions and poses became more expressive over time.
Book overview
The title is The Essential Peanuts, a slipcased coffee-table book edited by Mark Evanier and designed by Chip Kidd. It collects iconic Peanuts strips and adds historical context. The book is presented as a deluxe volume with extras like postcards, prints, an embroidered patch, stickers, and a facsimile of a classic Peanuts comic book. Below are pages from the collection that show early Snoopy changes.
Contents and contributors
The book includes a foreword by Jean Schulz and an introduction by Mutts creator Patrick McDonnell. Additionally, it features essays from 16 commentators, including an astronaut who contributed an essay about Snoopy.
Mark Evanier provides commentary on how repetition led characters to evolve, with Snoopy as the most dramatic example. The curated selection aims to place Schulz’s work in a wider cultural and artistic context, showing Peanuts’ influence across art and literature.
Release and purchase info
The Essential Peanuts retails for $75 and arrives in bookstores on Oct. 7. For purchasing details and more on the collection, see the publisher’s product page on Abrams’ store.
More details can be found on the book’s store page. Also, the Schulz quote above is documented on the Schulz Museum site.
For reference, the Schulz Museum’s FAQ that contains the quote is available at this Schulz Museum page, and the publisher’s page is linked again here for convenience: The Essential Peanuts.
