Preview (Of Sorts) — Top Shelf Takes You Behind The Blanket In ‘Funny Things: A Comic Strip Biography of Charles M. Schulz’

Time to take a little (late) peek inside some of Top Shelf Productions‘ releases from this last month, starting with the brilliant strip comics biography of Charles Schulz…

Top Shelf Productions always has a wonderfully diverse slate of releases and that’s absolutely true of this past month, with Funny Things: A Comic Strip Biography of Charles M. Schulz, the cutest little mad scientist Shelley Frankenstein, and the tenderly powerful But You Have Friends giving a variety and depth to Top Shelf’s August.

We already looked at Emilia McKenzie’s beautiful But You Have Friends here, but missed out on the other two – something we’ll put right straight away!

So, time to take a little look inside the books, beginning today with the perfectly-done comic strip biography of Charles M. Schulz.

Funny Things: A Comic Strip Biography of Charles M. Schulz

“Filled with affection, charm, and poignant insight, Funny Things imagines Schulz through the lens of the very world he created, inviting us all to meet the man behind the blanket.”

Luca Debus and Francesco Matteuzzi tell the story of the man behind the strips in comic-strip format.

Of course we all know that Schulz was one of the most influential and definitely one of the most popular cartoonists of all time, certainly of the 20th Century.

Now, Luca Debus and Francesco Matteuzzi pay tribute to the master by telling the story of Schulz’s life in the medium that made him immortal: the comic strip.

The book’s done in landscape format, of course, mirroring the strip format, with a mix of colour and b&w for the daily (b&w) and Sunday (colour) pages. It’s a clever and heartfelt book that begins with the final days of the great man’s career and then jumps back and forth to chronicle artistic achievements and personal episodes.

Funny Things: A Comic Strip Biography of Charles M. Schulz by Luca Debus & Francesco Matteuzzi, Hardcover graphic novel with B&W (daily) and full-color (Sunday) pages. Published in August by Top Shelf.