Come back, Seth–all is forgiven!
It’s difficult to describe how gorgeous Fantagraphics’ The Complete Peanuts Volume One is. I don’t own a copy–my plans to subscribe to their subscription plan (hey, did they ever end up doing that) went away with my old job–but I flipped through it at Midtown Comics the other day, and Holy Mary Mother of God, it’s just spectacular. I’m still not nuts about Seth’s cover design, but seeing it in the actual size and shape of the book (not to mention wrapped around the book’s contents) does make it work pretty well (in spite of the design, if not because of it). And inside! The paper is lovely, the reprint quality is completely astounding, and the material itself is both adorable and laugh-out-loud hilarious. And speaking anecodtally, the bookstore I work at has already sold out of them. Congratulations to everyone involved, because if this doesn’t end up being the book of the year, I’d almost be frightened to see what is.
(And on an unrelated note that I couldn’t leave unplayed, thanks to a gift certificate and store credit, I bought $120 worth of comics at Midtown for a grand total of three bucks and change. Damn, that’s hot!)