At Least, It’s My Happiest Place on Earth
Last month, I spent a couple of days among old friends—acquaintances since my early childhood: Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy, Schroeder…if you grew up reading newspapers (or collections), you can probably list off even the most obscure characters. (Remember Truffles? And Snoopy’s siblings?)
After interviewing two key people on the creative side of Peanuts and learning last year about the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center, I took a trip in mid-January to Santa Rosa, home to the museum and the Creative Associates group who continue to oversee Schulz’s legacy for animation, books, merchandise, and advertising. I spent a day at the museum looking through printing-related archives, meeting curator Benjamin Clark and archivist Sarah Breaux; and the next day, a few hours meeting up with studio folks, Lex Fajardo (editorial director) and Paige Braddock (chief creative officer). This was all research toward How Comics Were Made.(Sign for an email announcement, which will be made later this month; see below.)
Schulz and his second wife, Jean (still deeply, actively involved) bought a hunk of property to build One Snoopy Place, now a set of buildings used by the business and creative side; what is now the museum (for a while, a skating rink); Snoopy’s Home Ice and the Warm Puppy Café; and a baseball field they built for public use. There’s now also a gallery and gift shop! It’s a whole campus with no gates.
As part of my visit, Lex took me into Schulz’s studio. This is the one he used in Santa Rosa from the early 1970s through his passing in 2000. And there it was: the drawing desk at which he created “Peanuts” for decades—the place he made the magic that was part of my childhood. A big plush Snoopy sat in place of “Sparky,” his nickname from childhood, used by everyone who knew him well. (This was after “Sparkplug,” the horse in the “Barney Google” strip.)
When I was seven, I would have fallen to the floor and been unable to speak. As it was, at a distance of nearly five decades, I asked if I could take photos, did almost start crying, and reveled in getting to see the inner sanctum. It was modest and homey, of course. I was told that, after Schulz’s passing, his materials were put into storage for a time, and the area used for meetings. Later, though, they restored it to its original place. The museum has a re-creation that contains a drawing table he used for decades, earlier in his career, and a number of artifacts that are there for safekeeping. So I was able to compare the re-creation and the reality, just a block or so apart.
Hard to overstate how much of a fulfillment of a dream this was for me. And I hope to return as my book turns into a reality.
Ship Happens/Happened
You may know that I’ve been project managing Shift Happens, a massive set of books—1,376 pages in three volumes in a slipcase—for Marcin Wichary from the Kickstarter in February 2023 onwards. That came after spending years as his editor. We went through some real dark times of the soul in the fall as the slipcase manufacturer kept delaying delivery and then after initial problems with test shipments to ourselves, which arrived damaged about half the time.
But with the determined effort of our printers, managing all the packaging and handling shipping within the United States, we settled on a significant upgrade in approach that resulted in far less than 0.01% (yes, below 1 in 1,000) copies damaged during shipping so far.
It’s been a delight to hear from people as they receive the books and start reading them, and see photos of the slipcased edition next to typewriters, other books, and typographic artifacts. We’ll hit 100% shipped in a couple of weeks, and I’ll be moving on to other things—and off the last few months of heavy logistics.
How to Make How Comics Were Made
One of those things is, of course, How Comics Were Made! I’ve told you about the book in previous newsletters, so I’ll just point you to the website for more details. I’ve interviewed nearly 40 people for the book so far (cartoonists, production people, academics, historians), spent hundreds of hours researching remotely and at libraries, and collected several hundred unique printing artifacts. I’ve been working for several months, on and off, with designer Mark Kaufman, who is an illustrator, cartoonist, and fine artist as well.
The Kickstarter campaign will launch in late February, and I’ll have a mocked-up cover, a sample chapter (showing how comics syndication worked in the metal printing era), and sketches from Mark of cartoons and illustrations that he’ll be drawing for the book.
The response from people in the cartooning world about the book has been phenomenal. Of course, I need to reach readers like mad to make this work. You can sign up to get an announcement the moment the campaign launches; I’ll have 48-hour early-bird pricing on the prime reward, the print book, so if you think you’ll want to be part of it, it will be great to get in not too long after the launch.
I’ve put out issues #2 and # of my associated (and free) newsletter about comics history. You can read those in the archive: “That Explains the Tints” and ”Everybody Loves the Ben Day Artist.”
Retooling Patreon
I’ve had a Patreon running for some time devoted to supporting my writing about type, history, and language. As I’ve shifted into printing history, particularly focused on comics, I decided to retool the campaign. If you visit my Patreon, you can support me at all sorts of levels, some of which include new benefits, including ebook and print copies of the above book when it’s out, and livestream events, interviews, and Q&As.
Other Glenning
I had my busiest travel year ever last year; this year should involve a lot less. However, I have already semi-committed myself to a swing from Boston through coastal Connecticut to New York and maybe Princeton on a research trip if the book above funds. (Harvard, the Museum of Fine Arts, Yale, Columbia, and Princeton all have comics and printing material I’d like to examine in person or even photograph on-site, as appropriate.)
I’m also tentatively planning to attend Nancy Fest, an extravaganza at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum (at the Ohio State U.) in Columbus, Ohio, in May. It promises to be an amazing blow-out opening for a major “Nancy” exhibition. Later in the year, I may return to Columbus for CXC 2024: Cartoon Columbus Crossroads, a multi-institutional event that everyone raves about. And, depending on the printer I choose for my book, I may spend several days at a printing plant later in 2024 as well.
Thank you for your interest in my various projects! Your support is invaluable as an independent author, historian, and maker of things.
—Glenn