“My name is 555 95472 but everyone calls me 5
for short… I have two sisters named 3 and 4.” With those words,
Charles Schulz introduced three of the quirkiest
characters to the Peanuts universe, the numerically-monikered
95472 siblings. They didn’t stay around very long but offered some
choice bits of satirical nonsense while they did.
As it happens, this
volume is particularly rich in never-before-reprinted strips. These “lost” strips include Linus making a near-successful
run for class president that is ultimately derailed by his religious
beliefs (two words: “great” and “pumpkin”), and Snoopy getting involved
with a group of politically fanatical birds; Lucy’s attempts at improving her friends branches out from her
increasingly well-visited nickel psychiatry booth to an educational
slideshow of Charlie Brown’s faults (it’s so long there’s an
intermission!) Also, Snoopy’s doghouse begins its conceptual
expansion, as Schulz reveals that the dog owns a Van Gogh, and that the
ceiling is so huge that Linus can paint a vast (and as it turns out
unappreciated) “history of civilization” mural on it.