PEANUTS VOL. 12: 1973–1974 – CHARLES M. SCHULZ-BILLIE JEAN KING

The 12th volume of Peanuts features a number of tennis strips and several extended sequences involving Peppermint Patty s friend Marcie (including a riotous, rarely seen sequence in which Marcie s costume-making and hairstyling skills utterly spoil a skating competition for PP), so it seems only right that this volume s introduction should be served up by Schulz s longtime friend, tennis champion (and 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient) Billie Jean King. This volume also picks up on a few loose threads from the previous year, as the mysterious Poochie shows up in the flesh; Linus and Lucy s new kid brother Rerun makes his first appearance, is almost immediately drafted onto the baseball team (where, thanks to his tiny strike zone, he wins a game), and embarks on his first terrifying journey on the back of his mom s bike; and, in one of Peanuts oddest recurring storylines, the schoolhouse Sally used to talk to starts talking, or at least thinking, back at her! The Complete Peanuts 1973-1974 also includes one of the all-time classic Peanuts sequences, in which Charlie Brown s baseball-oriented hallucinations finally manifest themselves in a baseball-shaped rash on his head. Forced to conceal the embarrassing discoloration with a bag worn over his head, Charlie Brown goes to camp as Mister Sack and discovers that, shorn of his identity, he s suddenly well liked and successful.