I enjoyed the graphic novel a lot!
I would like to thank the publisher for giving me a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I chose to read The Comics of Charles Schultz because I love Snoopy comics. I like how it is philosophical in a sense that it’s light but makes you wonder. Fun light read but very entertaining.

I love Charlie Brown! I mean, it's hard to review since it's such a classic comic, but its reputation sort of speaks for itself.

I was given this ARC by NetGalley in return for an honest review.
It appears I am not the only one, who was mislead by the title of this book. Originally, I thought this was a collection of Schulz’s comics and with much enthusiasm I dove into this e-book. To my great disappointment it was only a collection of essays by others (academics, people with opinions) on Schulz’s comics with rather sobering commentary of his work.
As a graduate student of literature/literary studies, I felt more excited about spending my free time reading comics rather than working myself through yet another stack of commentary essays, which attempt to make greater connections and find deeper meaning in one of my favourite childhood comics.
Overall, the essays may have interesting points to facilitate further discussions and I would suggest it to someone looking for a topic to explore.

I love anything Peanuts related so this book was an easy sell to me. I thought the author's commentary was well-written and insightful. Would recommend.

I was unable to get a chance to read this book before it became archived.

Read a great comics after a long time, it was a wonderful feel.........

I requested this book via NetGalley and was provided an ARC in exchange for an unbiased review. I was under the assumption that these might be actual comics since I have been on a Peanut Binge.It turned out that this was not the case.

It took me a while to get through the book, because it was not light reading. It is more of textbook material than anything else. That does not mean I did not find it interesting.This book has essays from different people, each focusing on something that the Peanuts comics that they identified. It is a very in-depth analysis with each person dissecting their point using a few of the comic strips as evidence. I always felt there was something not altogether innocent about the Peanuts series, and I have only recently started to enjoy it.the series has a very depressing outlook for the most part. This book gave me food for thought. I did not agree with a couple of essays but with a few, I did. 

I need to iterate that it is not a book for light reading though, and attempting it without interest in some form of psychology would probably be a waste of time.While on the other hand, if that requirement is fulfilled, it should aid debates upon the topic involved.

I've read many of Snoopy/Peanuts comics for years now. But reading the background and the behind the scenes of how the comic came into action is really entertaining to me. Since I have a friend who is the biggest fan of Snoopy, I will definitely buy a copy for him.

Imagine if a bunch of pseudo-intellectuals each trying to prove they are more academically rigorous than the other put out a bunch of essays trying to intellectualize your favorite comic strip. This collection of essays - no comics - is not for the casual reader and as well-researched and intellectually set out as they are, they are simply too academic, too hi-falutin, too filled with grad student excesses to be enjoyed. And, using there Peanuts strip to push gender queer issues as the first essay does is intellectualism at its worst and adds things to Peanuts - a comic about grade school kids -- that Mr.Schulz probably never intended. Did not finish.

This wasn't what i expected it to be and felt maybe it could have been more obvious in it's title or cover telling you that it was not a collection of his comics.
It was an interesting book although I was expecting the comics of Charles Schulz instead of heavier essays,

I just reviewed The Comics of Charles Schulz by Jared Gardner and Ian Gordon. #NetGalley
The book wasn't what I was thinking it would be. I did learn some about Charles Schulz and the idea behind the Peanuts. It was long and at times, I wanted to put it down and leave it. It's more essay then book. In my opinion you would have to really want to know more about Charles Schulz to read this book.

While this book did drag at points, I did enjoy it. It was great to learn a bit of history of Peanuts because it's just so iconic. Well researched. 3 out of 5 stars.

Schultz is a complicated man and this book emphasizes this fact. His comics can be depressing bleak with an underlying current of the man who is drawing them. I enjoyed this book

I am one of those people who reads the introductions and acknowledgements and extra material found in many books. So I was not expecting this to be a collection of comics without commentary.
The authors share with us that this is a compilation of "broad interdisciplinary range" essays which "make clear Peanuts offers countless possibilities for study and analysis.."

A few of those points include:
"Much of Peanuts is about sorting out, imagining, establishing or performing an identity."
"Peanuts examined changing conceptions of childhood after World War II...and social anxiety about the impact of a burgeoning consumer culture."
"...Snoopy was a vital tool for Schultz to engage with current events."

If all you are looking forward to is a recap of the famous strip, its history and maybe a little background about the artist, Charles Schultz, this may not be the book for you at this time.

This book is not afraid to be controversial. The essays are wonderful tools for further discussion and exploration. If a book opens ones eyes or mind and makes one think, that should be applauded, even if you don't agree with all the conclusions drawn.

The book is not meant for a reader like me. It might be an in-depth collection of essays on the subject.

What a fun and knowledgeable book for any fan of Charles Schulz. I really enjoyed all the information and history we got with this book not just a few comics with a tiny bit of history but tons of it. I highly recommend it.

I grew up with Charlie Brown. At first I was a bit taken aback by the many cultural, social and psychological interpretations of Charles Shultz' comics shared by the contributors. Then I looked again at this book's purpose - it's an analysis of newspaper comics and their influence and history, focusing on Charles Schultz. When I step back and view it through that lens, I am fascinated by the essays contained within. The editors have collated so many viewpoints, and each has its' merit. I found myself skipping around and cherry-picking the essays that spoke to me first. I think this would make a great book discussion selection, as I certainly wanted to discuss and debate what I had read.
Well done.

Maybe I should have read the description closer, but this felt too clinical for an examination of such an iconic comic.