Ma, Simon :: Comic Art

Snoopy and Charlie Brown prelim – Ryan Sook

Artists: Ryan Sook (Penciller) , Ryan Sook (Inker)

2 Comments - 488 Views - 3 Likes

Snoopy and Charlie Brown prelim – Ryan Sook Comic Art

Click Image to View Full Size

Additional Images:

Published version

My favourite Peanuts strip

Previous Item:
Marshal Law convention drawing 1993 – Kevin O'Neill

Next Item:
Batman convention drawing 1992 – David Mazzucchelli

Artwork Details

Title:	Snoopy and Charlie Brown prelim – Ryan Sook
Artist:	Ryan Sook (Penciller)
Artist:	Ryan Sook (Inker)
Media Type:	Pen and Ink
Art Type:	Prelim
For Sale Status:	NFS
Views:	488
Likes on CAF:	3 4
Comments:	2
Added to Site:	10/2/2022
Comic Art Archive:

Description

This is the prelim for Ryan Sook’s contribution to the KaBOOM! 2015 book Peanuts: A Tribute to Charles M Schulz. I picked this up off eBay about five years ago. It is interesting to note the adjustments to the image that RS did before it was Photoshopped for its inclusion in the book. Ryan Sook is an artist who has been operating just under my radar for some time now because he has been working on titles with characters I have no great fondness for and the days of me getting comics for just the art are in the past. Felix Lu, RS’s art rep, has been trailing that RS’s next project will be his crossover breakthrough and send his career into the stratosphere. When that happens anyone who saw Bill’s Hero Initiative auction special with Ryan Sook in the summer will think it only his just desserts. Many of us have helped the Hero Initiative if only by bidding on and winning one of their modestly-priced eBay auctions but to donate so many pieces of art for the cause including commissions as RS did and spending a couple of hours talking up the cause is philanthropy above and beyond.

It is gratifying for me to own this prelim because it will be the closest I come to owning an original Charles M Schulz strip (“that’s the sound of the world’s smallest violin playing”). But it will do me just fine. Even if I were to win the lottery (unlikely, as I do not play it) the thought of spending more, considerably more, money on one piece of paper than what many/most people in the burg I live in earn in a year would mean I had lost touch with reality. (Have you seen the sterling–dollar exchange rate recently?) In any case, I would never be able to acquire the one strip which is my favourite. You might be asking, “which one is that?” … Well, I am going to tell you anyway. It is not a humorous one.

I guess I am a long-time Peanuts fan having read them before I was in double digits which although probably quite common in the US is not so prevalent this side of the Atlantic (although to be fair my perception of this may say more about me, and the towns/cities I have lived in than the reach of Peanuts in the United Kingdom). I knew only one boy who read the paperback reprints and when he had to change school he cleared out the entire contents of his desk and gave away his 10–20 odd collection of Peanuts books. The publication of the latest paperback reprint was eagerly awaited by me and my siblings and the gap between the books coming out was filled by taking the daily newspaper that ran the strip, and then clipping the strip out to be collected in a cuttings book (stuck in with Peanuts glue, natch). We probably still have somewhere those cuttings books of yellowing newsprint. So I am familiar with all the classic storylines and the standout individual strips, but I stopped reading the last ten to fifteen years’ worth of strips. I might have felt I had grown out of Peanuts. So when an exhibition of items from The Charles M Schulz Museum and Research Center came over to London in the winter of 2018–19 I was going to give it a miss. That is until someone who had gone to see it and whose opinion I respect recommended it very highly, and so I thought to myself, “When am I ever going to go to Santa Rosa, California?” Never is the answer, and London is next door by comparison. The day I visited was a crisp winter’s Saturday, I was in one of the greatest cities in the world, the sun was shining, the weekend stretched ahead with endless possibilities. It was the sort of day you feel glad to be alive. The exhibition site was full of joyful, laughing families having a good time. I was not expecting to see any classic strips thinking all the cream had been given away or sold years before, and then I came across the cartoon excerpted above. The hall suddenly became very dusty, as the saying goes, if you know what I mean. I had read that cartoon perhaps forty years or more previously but it did not mean much to me then because I did not understand it. It took forty years of lived experience for me to “get it”. If you don’t feel it emotionally then read it again in 20, 30 or 40 years’ time depending on how old you are now. So in summary, if you are ever offered the opportunity to visit the Charles M Schulz Museum or any of its loan exhibitions then do go, even if you have not read the strip for years and years or think you might have grown out of it. The rest of the exhibits were pretty terrific too. And to think I almost didn’t go.

The museum caption reads: 1 September, 1973 The booth was meant to be a funny, gentle way of showing that we all share the same problems and anxieties. Although Lucy’s advice was usually useless she also had an uncanny ability to understand when a problem was just another of life’s normal rites of passage and give exactly the right answer. Charlie Brown’s willingness to be open and honest, giving voice to his vulnerabilities and asking for help was in the end the most effective way of navigating his anxiety.

Social/Sharing

About the Owner

	Simon Ma ( 2 ) Premium Gallery Owner
Joined:	April 2013
Last Login:	September 2025
Country:	UNITED KINGDOM
On CAF:	Artworks Commented On Liked Art Site Activity on CAF

Contact the Owner

Use can use a contact form to send an email to this gallery owner,
but, you must be logged in to use this feature.

Comments on this Artwork

You must be logged in to make comments.

Marcus Wai
Member Since 2005

Posted on 10/3/2022

Very cool piece! I'm pretty sure Ryan Sook had a chance to visit Santa Rosa, if not, then maybe the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco which the Schulz family championed with donations of money and artwork for many years. Very easy to associate the Peanuts artwork with your youth since each of them have a date and Schulz remained a constant comforting presence throughout eras of tulmult. The subject matter is timeless and Sook taps into that feeling.

Simon Ma
Member Since 2013

1 - Posted on 11/8/2022

Marcus Wai wrote:

Thank you for your, as always, interesting and informative comments. I did not know that about the Schulz family so my admiration for them increases yet further. I have had minimal dealings with the SF Cartoon Art Museum, but I have found Summerlea and Andrew helpful, friendly and knowledgeable; qualities which are useful in promoting what is in my opinion the equal-greatest (tied with cinema) of all artforms. They do admirable work.

All
	Jason Baccus 9/7/2025 4:39:00 PM
	Greg Huneryager 9/7/2025 4:19:00 PM
	P A 9/7/2025 4:16:00 PM
	M Y-C 9/7/2025 4:15:00 PM
	Paul Handler 9/7/2025 4:00:00 PM
View All


	Nikolaos K 9/7/2025 3:59:00 PM
	Chris Johnson 9/7/2025 3:54:00 PM
	Anthony Mauceli 9/7/2025 3:44:00 PM
	Jon Imparo 9/7/2025 3:39:00 PM
	Dan Moler 9/7/2025 3:33:00 PM