February 18, 2017

Charles Schulz's vacation: a crucial archival detail

From Monday, October 2, 1950, until the final strip appeared on Sunday, February 13, 2000 — ironically, the morning after he died — Charles Schulz gave the world a total of 17,897 strips: 15,391 daily strips, and 2,506 Sundays.

This takes into account leap years, the fact that Sunday strips did not begin until January 1952, and the single vacation that he took, from November 27 through December 31, 1997 (inclusive).

Yes, it's true: Schulz took a vacation, no doubt to re-charge his batteries. During that time, the syndicate re-ran old strips ... a detail that Fantagraphics fails to mention in the 1997-98 volume of their Complete Peanuts series.

A casual reader thus would conclude, incorrectly, that the strips during 1997's final five weeks were new at the time, just like all the others that year. 

Sharp-eyed fans will note, however, that each of these repeated strips bears a three-digit date (i.e. 12/25/97) as opposed to the two-digit dates (12/25) usually placed each day.

And yes, anticipating the obvious question, we can tell you which reprints ran on which day:

11/27 — 11/25/92
11/28 — 11/26/92
11/29 — 12/28/88
11/30 — 11/27/88
12/1 — 12/3/87
12/2 — 12/8/89
12/3 — 11/29/90
12/4 — 12/1/90
12/5 — 12/4/90
12/6 — 12/5/90
12/7 — 12/18/88
12/8 — 12/6/90
12/9 — 12/8/90
12/10 — 12/10/90
12/11 — 12/11/90
12/12 — 12/12/90
12/13 — 12/13/90
12/14 — 12/3/89
12/15 — 12/10/91
12/16 — 12/8/92
12/17 — 12/21/89
12/18 — 12/22/89
12/19 — 12/23/89
12/20 — 12/29/87
12/21 — 12/20/87
12/22 — 12/13/89
12/23 — 12/9/89
12/24 — 12/24/87
12/25 — 12/25/91
12/26 — 12/13/88
12/27 — 12/14/88
12/28 — 12/2/90
12/29 — 12/15/88
12/30 — 12/17/88
12/31 — 12/31/92

We at FiveCentsPlease always try to go the extra mile!

February 7, 2017

Two Valentine's Day Peanuts specials air Friday, February 10, 2017 on ABC

It's the annual hour of love and heartbreak for the Peanuts gang: ABC will be showing Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown together with A Charlie Brown Valentine from 8 - 9 PM (Eastern/Pacific) on Friday, February 10, 2017.

February 2, 2017

Big batch of Valentine's Day limited edition prints from Dark Hall Mansion

Dark Hall Mansion has a bumper crop of Valentine's Day-themed Peanuts prints this year - so you can pick whichever print matches your heart's desire when they go on sale on Friday, February 3, 2017 at 12:30 PM (Pacific time)!

Your choices are: "Friends Are Always There" by Dan May, "Happy Valentine's Day, Charlie Brown" by Steve Thomas, and "Love Forever" by Mike DuBois.

The Dan May and Steve Thomas prints are glicee-printed, hand-numbered, and available on both high-quality paper and canvas. The Mike Dubois prints are screen printed, hand-numbered, signed by the artist, and available as standard prints or groovy foil editions.  Each DuBois print is also accompanied by an additional mini-print.

See below for details, and Dark Hall Manson's webstore to place an order!

Click any of the images below for a larger version.

Dan May editions:

"Friends Are Always There" Standard

"Friends Are Always There" Variant

Steve Thomas editions:

"Happy Valentine's Day, Charlie Brown" Standard

"Happy Valentine's Day, Charlie Brown" Variant

Mike DuBois editions:

"Love Forever" Standard
"Love Forever" Variant

"Love Forever" Lava Foil Standard (also available in variant color)

"Love Forever" Sparkle Foil Standard (also available in variant color)


Prices, sizes, and number of prints are as follows:

Dan May Editions: 
Standard 18" x  24" edition of 280  $65
Variant (pink moon) Edition of 50 $95
Select 18" x  24" Canvas Edition of 10 (based on Std editon art) $150
Select 18" x  24" Canvas Edition of 10 (based on Variant pink moon art) $150
2-Print Set: 11" x 14, includes BOTH Std + Variant Dan May paper editions. Edition of 100: $55

Steve Thomas Editions:
Standard 18" x  24" edition of 280  $65
Variant (pink) Edition of 50 $95
Select 18" x  24" Canvas Edition of 10 (based on Std editon art) $150
Select 18" x  24" Canvas Edition of 10 (based on Variant pink art) $150
2-Print Set: 11" x 14, includes BOTH Std+Variant Steve Thomas paper editions. Edition of 100: $55

Mike Dubois Editions:
Standard 12" x  12" edition of 195  $45
Variant (pink) 12" x  12" edition of 175  $60
Foil Lava-Standard Printed on Lava Foil  Edition of 45 $75
Foil Sparkle-Standard Printed on Sparkle Foil  Edition of 45 $75
Foil Lava-Variant (pink) Printed on Lava Foil  Edition of 45 $75
Foil Sparkle-Variant (pink) Printed on Sparkle Foil  Edition of 45 $75

Visit Dark Hall Mansion's Facebook page, their Instagram feed, or their blog for more information, larger pictures of the artwork, and behind-the-scenes photos.