Friday, November 16, 2007
An Introduction
Charles Schulz’s beloved Peanuts comic strip was one of the most influential and long-lasting strips in history. The simply drawn Sunday comic grew into a phenomenon spawning TV Shows, movies, books and countless merchandise. It is near impossible, in fact, to find an American who hasn’t heard of Charlie Brown, Lucy, Snoopy, Linus and the rest of the Peanuts gang.
The character of Daniel, however, is considerably less familiar, even to the most devoted Peanuts fans.
Before Peanuts officially debuted in 1950 for the national public, it developed a fairly substantial cult following in the underground comic scene from 1947-49. This following was largely due to the somewhat controversial, Daniel, a character you most certainly will not read about in any modern Peanuts history book. In exchange for proper funding and the means to reach a mainstream audience, Schulz’s lawyers demanded that the character of Daniel be discontinued and removed from the Peanuts world entirely on the grounds that he was “a bad influence,” “slightly offensive,” and “too racist.” The lawyers didn’t feel that Daniel’s moral flexibility and unyielding racial intolerance “fit in” with the rest of the gang and, in a tight financial situation, Schulz begrudgingly agreed to the terms and began categorically denying Daniel’s entire existence, much to the dismay of the underground comic scene.
What you will find on this site are rare, hitherto-concealed original Peanuts comics featuring the now extinct Daniel character...Enjoy...
The character of Daniel, however, is considerably less familiar, even to the most devoted Peanuts fans.
Before Peanuts officially debuted in 1950 for the national public, it developed a fairly substantial cult following in the underground comic scene from 1947-49. This following was largely due to the somewhat controversial, Daniel, a character you most certainly will not read about in any modern Peanuts history book. In exchange for proper funding and the means to reach a mainstream audience, Schulz’s lawyers demanded that the character of Daniel be discontinued and removed from the Peanuts world entirely on the grounds that he was “a bad influence,” “slightly offensive,” and “too racist.” The lawyers didn’t feel that Daniel’s moral flexibility and unyielding racial intolerance “fit in” with the rest of the gang and, in a tight financial situation, Schulz begrudgingly agreed to the terms and began categorically denying Daniel’s entire existence, much to the dismay of the underground comic scene.
What you will find on this site are rare, hitherto-concealed original Peanuts comics featuring the now extinct Daniel character...Enjoy...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)