It's Only a Game

Authors: Charles M. Schulz & Jim Sasseville
Format: 240 pages, black and white TPB 5.5"x6.5"
Price: $14.95
ISBN: 0-9716338-9-4
Published: November, 2004
Case quantity: 28
Worldwide rights available

In the late 1950's, amidst the surging popularity of Peanuts and during a strongly creative period, Charles M. Schulz created his only other syndicated newspaper comic. It's Only a Game focused on the fun and foibles of people and their pastimes: golf, bowling, bridge, fishing, and more. This bouncy material, full of Schulz's signature wit, has for decades been considered one of the lost treasures of the comics field. Now, almost half a century later, this material is collected into book form for the first time! Commentary and insight is provided by artist and cartoonist Jim Sasseville, who worked with Schulz on the feature.

"The same quality that made Peanuts a modern classic—Schulz's amused fascination with human pretensions and delusions—animates this minor newspaper cartoon. Unlike some contemporary sports cartoons, it focuses on amateur activities such as golf, bowling, Ping-Pong and even bridge. There's no cheering crowd, no huge prize to win. The people playing these games are at least nominally adults, though they look a lot like the Peanuts crew and behave like them, too. If Charlie Brown and his friends worry like adults, Schulz understood how childishly grownups can behave when they hit a bad shot or make a grand slam." -- Publishers Weekly