This week's comic shop shipment is slated to include the following new titles. Read on to see what comics-blog commentators and web-savvy comic shops are saying about them (more to be added as they appear), check out our previews at the links, and contact your local shop to confirm availability.
The Complete Peanuts 1981-1982 (Vol. 16)
by Charles M. Schulz
344-page black & white 8.5" x 7" hardcover • $28.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-471-9
The Complete Peanuts 1979-1982 Box Set
by Charles M. Schulz
designed by Seth
two 344-page black & white 8.5" x 7" hardcovers in a custom slipcase • $49.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-472-6
"The early '80s were an uncertain time for Peanuts — looking at this volume, you can sometimes see Charles Schulz coasting on his innate gifts and barely bothering with joke-writing. At other times, he's trying different kinds of humor than he'd worked with before: more absurdity, more formalist gags. This isn't 'classic' Peanuts by a long shot, and it still pretty obviously deserves its place at the top of the all-time poll." – Douglas Wolk, Comics Alliance
"I liked Lynn Johnston's Peanuts introduction, as it focuses on Schulz's resistance to getting older and the appeal of having an entire world completely in your control." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter
"Here is the book you should be paying attention to, in comic shops on Wednesday… Fantagraphics continues their fantastic reprinting of the entirety of Charles Schulz' classic comic strip." – Dave Ferraro, Comics-and-More
Setting the Standard: Comics by Alex Toth 1952-1954
edited by Greg Sadowski
432-page full color 7.5" x 10.5" softcover • $39.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-408-5
"An anthology of early comics by the master-without-a-masterpiece, from the early post-superhero period of his career–romance comics, as well as more violent genres. Edited by Greg Sadowski, who's really good at this particular kind of book." – Douglas Wolk, Comics Alliance
"This is one nice-looking book, certainly the one I'd place my greedy paws on for a look-see in a comics shop excellent enough to carry it. Greg Sadowski always does the job. It's intriguing to me how elusive an appraisal of Alex Toth's work has become despite the work having among its primary virtues directness and simplicity." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter
And at The Comics Journal, Joe McCulloch's…
"CONFLICT OF INTEREST RESERVOIR: Editor Greg Sadowski returns with Setting the Standard: Comics by Alex Toth 1952-1954, a 432-page collection of Toth things bolstered by a 1968 interview and the now-familiar heavily illustrated Sadowski endnotes; $39.99. The Complete Peanuts Vol. 16: 1981-1982 will probably be exactly that, with a foreword by Lynn Johnston; $28.99."