DEBRIS.COMgood for a laugh, or possibly an aneurysm

We visited the Charles Schultz Museum, on the theory that little kids enjoy comics. I think maybe our kid is too little, though; he slept through the whole thing. And he can’t see very well yet anyway.

I wandered through the space, reading the placards and the old strips. I’m not really a fan of Peanuts, so I felt disconnected from it all. The exhibit that most appealed to me demonstrates this, as it results from an exchange between the comic and the real world: Snoopy’s Doghouse gets “Wrapped” By Christo

The original Peanuts strips were drawn on sheets of paper measuring about 30'' wide. At that size, the drawings seem much more like art. Most of the detail is lost when the size is reduced to 15% and printed with an 85-line screen onto fuzzy newspaper stock. There’s something beautiful in the bold black lines on thick matte paper that’s entirely absent from the reproductions on newsprint with muffler-shop ads bleeding through from behind.

The biggest eye-opener in the entire museum was this innocuous book on a low table amid photo albums and scrapbooks. “For Adults,” the label declared. What could this be — long-suppressed Peanuts porn, revealed only after the artist’s death?

But it was just a guestbook. I guess the label is an attempt to keep youngsters from doodling on the pages.