FUNNY THINGS is a powerful tribute to Charles Schulz

FUNNY THINGS: A COMIC STRIP BIOGRAPHY OF CHARLES M. SCHULZ

Writer: Luca Debus and Francesco Matteuzzi
Artist: Luca Debus
Publisher: Top Shelf Productions
Publication Date: August 29, 2023

Peanuts is an acute mixture of the harmless, nostalgic remembrances of childhood whereas additionally possessing a pointed, virtually nihilistic, critique of the world round us. There is a energy to the strip that I’ve not seen replicated by another cartoonist. I usually discover myself getting emotional occupied with Peanuts whatever the context due to how absolutely it appears to seize all of the nuances of day by day life.

I might argue Peanuts specifically, however the cartoon format generally, has a Sisyphean high quality. In Luca Debus and Francesco Matteuzzi’s Funny Things: A Comic Strip Biography of Charles M. Schulz, this high quality is introduced to the forefront. In the comedian, Schulz reminds us that “A cartoonist is someone who has to draw the same thing day after day without repeating themselves” which gives the elemental thesis of how the comedian examines his life, but in addition speaks immediately to how that is conveyed within the construction of comedian strips. The situation of the newspaper cartoonist is to produce day by day strips, confined to the identical panel construction used for print, again and again. As characters are designed and jokes found, these parts function on a difficult stability of at all times needing to be repeated however making an attempt to keep away from getting stale. The brilliance of Peanuts was usually in its potential to flip that structural necessity into a part of the textual content. Lucy holds the soccer for Charlie Brown, and he or she at all times pulls it away on the final second earlier than he can kick it. This by no means adjustments, and but Charlie Brown falls for it again and again. Like Sisyphus, one should think about Charlie Brown completely satisfied.

Debus and Matteuzzi’s Funny Things is damaged up into a sequence of 104 particular person comedian strips that replicate each the day by day and the Sunday comedian format to chronicle the lifetime of Schulz. From the onset, Schulz is on a quest to grow to be a day by day cartoon cartoonist. The strip is then animated by the thought of the repetitions of life, of routines and consistency that assist us perceive who we’re. Not solely does the cartoon format repeat, however Schulz himself is depicted as shifting from one routine to the following. The comedian spends time going over the Peanuts-esque day by day exercise of faculty earlier than transitioning to the military throughout World War II, the next battle of comedian submissions and rejects, and at last the fixed output of recent strips.

Debus and Matteuzzi are ready to seize the pure rhythm of a Peanuts comedian to an astounding diploma. Debus’ artwork adheres intently to the fashions of Schulz himself however not to the purpose of imitation. Rather, there is clear reverence and homage to how Schulz drew his characters and environments with out ever repeating verbatim Peanuts strips. Every punchline appears like a nicely oiled machine of rhythmic cartooning, taking full benefit of how the day by day newspaper format permits for pure joke construction with setups and payoffs.

However, as a result of this is a biography at coronary heart, there is a degree of continuity between strips that progress by way of Schulz’s life. One can definitely recognize the e book as merely a sequence of day by day strips to learn slowly over the course of a few weeks. But they work simply as nicely on the extent of a graphic novel, shifting from strip to strip with continued challenges and thematic exploration with out ever compromising the common enchantment and humor of a person strip.

By necessity, this universality does get a bit misplaced in direction of the very finish of the comedian. Once we arrive at Schulz’s battle with most cancers, there is a sure degree of philosophical musing prompted by hindsight that requires a extended studying expertise with every particular person strip working as a step in direction of the inevitable finish. However, that doesn’t harm the expertise general. The last moments are a capstone, reflecting on and pulling collectively the teachings of all of the earlier particular person strips to look at the legacy of Peanuts and Schulz at massive. It is a touching tribute that feels virtually like a dialog between the cartoonists and Schulz himself.

As Schulz nears the top, he says “There’s a sort of comfort in having a duty.” At first difficulties like the military, submitting cartoons and getting rejected, and even creating a fixed day by day output of strips is troublesome, even terrifying. However, as these actions grow to be routines, they make us stronger, they assist inform us who we’re. In his last days, Schulz contemplates who he is anymore with out the flexibility to cartoon, with out the regular routines that outlined his very existence on and off the web page.

Seeing many individuals’s childhood hero say he isn’t positive if his life issues is undoubtedly heavy, however dealt with with love and care. Debus and Matteuzzi are right here utilizing the format of this biography to its biggest heights, reworking the enjoyable and informative particular person strips into everlasting messages concerning the nature of existence itself. The weight of the existential disaster Schulz feels is allowed to linger and be answered in a manner that feels true to the medium of a cartoon.

But after all, because the comedian reminds us, “the most affectionate love is the one with a punchline.” Peanuts comes alive in not solely the angst, however within the enjoyable and wit with which these considerations are interrogated. Sometimes Charlie Brown’s ache is humorous as a result of life and tragedy may be humorous. Funny Things is a fixed barrage of nice one-liners and fascinating humor. Visual gags are current, however the focus is totally on the dialogue and repetition. Just as a lot as Schulz’s life is offered in and outlined by fixed repetition, the comedian makes a level to poke enjoyable at his creature-of-habit mentality and want for complete management over his strip. Even his close to fixed shifting away from and returning to Minnesota is performed for laughs simply as a lot because it feels endearing.

The greatest Peanuts strips at all times felt like peculiar life. The struggles of Snoopy making an attempt to be a author, the longing Charlie Brown felt for the red-haired lady, or the obsession with which Schroeder performed his toy piano. All of those everlasting conflicts and charms are alive in Funny Things. From the sentimental to the bittersweet, Funny Things is a powerful tribute to Schulz, taking over a huge problem to replicate Peanut’s construction with out merely repeating the strips everyone knows so nicely. At each degree, Debus and Matteuzzi succeed at presenting us with a biography that is richly informative and comforting, making it a vital work that deserves to be positioned on the shelf subsequent to any quantity of Peanuts.

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