Interview: Mark Evanier on the joy of creating THE ESSENTIAL PEANUTS collection

OLLIE KAPLAN: How did you select which Peanuts strips to include in Essential Peanuts?

MARK EVANIER: I didn’t pick ‘em, at least by myself. A jury of Peanuts experts – mostly the kind of folks you’d find lurking in and around the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa – made the selections. I had a vote, but only one, and I used it to lobby for a few strips that I felt had to be in there for the book to achieve its mission. But the idea was to point out strips that marked “firsts” or major turning points in that awesome body of work. And there were, of course, a lot more than 75.

KAPLAN: It’s the 75th anniversary of Peanuts. Can you tell me more about Schulz’s cultural legacy (and universal appeal), as well as how he impacted you personally?

EVANIER: Personally, Peanuts has always been a part of my life. I have no childhood memories that precede my awareness of it and my love of the strip. And I think that’s the essence of why the strip is special. A lot of comic strips can give you a chuckle each day, but very few become part of your life the way this one did for me. We just know those characters so well…well enough to get frustrated on Charlie Brown’s behalf when things, like baseball games and football kicking, don’t go his way.

KAPLAN: Do you have any specific memories of how reading a Peanuts comic strip influenced your growth as a creator—or person?

EVANIER: I can recall where I was and who I was when I read certain ones.  In the book, I tell about coming upon the first Peanuts paperback  I ever saw in a bookstore my parents took me to. There was a strip in there – it’s in the book too – that caused me to laugh out loud in the shop. To the extent it influenced me as a creator…well, anything that makes you laugh broadens your sense of humor and sharpens your sense of funny. I also find myself sometimes citing a gag or a witty remark the way you might quote a life-changing book.

KAPLAN: What fresh historical and cultural context will this collection add to existing critical work on Peanuts? Who are the 16 commentators adding to this dialogue?

EVANIER: To get fresh critical insights, you need to go to fresh people…people who haven’t yet told what the strip meant to them. The publisher rounded up a nice supply of them – Robb Armstrong (Franklin), Derrick Bang (Vince Guaraldi and A Charlie Brown Christmas), Rob Boutilier (The Snoopy Show), Paige Braddock (Schulz’s pen line), Alberto Brambilla (Peanuts in Italy), Benjamin L. Clark (Peanuts paperbacks), Alexis E. Fajardo (selecting the essential Peanuts), Ben Folds (the sound of Peanuts), Sarah Gillespie (editing Schulz), Chip Kidd (design of Peanuts), Amy Lago (editing Schulz), Mike Massimino (Snoopy and Apollo 10), Akio Matsunaga (Peanuts in Japan), Jeff Morrow (scoring Peanuts), Hilary B. Price (Peppermint Patty and Marcie), and Shuntarō Tanikawa (Poet laureate and translator of Peanuts in Japan).

KAPLAN: What can fans look forward to when the book releases? What do you hope both longtime fans and new readers take away from this volume?

EVANIER: I just hope they read it and enjoy it, and that it reminds them why Peanuts mattered to them so much that they had to have this book. Peanuts means a lot of different things to different folks.

KAPLAN: Is there anything else you want to add?

EVANIER: Just that this was one of the happiest assignments I’ve had in a long, long career as a professional writer.  When I was a kid, if someone had told me they’d pay me to read Peanuts strips and think about them, I would have thought that was just about the neatest job in the world.

Check out the preview pages below:

The incredible collection is avilable now from Abrams ComicArts.