YOUR INDY WEEKLY: ULTIMATE PEANUTS
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by Ryan McLelland
Ultimate Peanuts #1
Triumverate Press – 2004 – FREE!
By Ian Harker
Website:
www.doppelgangercomics.blogspot.com
Rating: 2 and ½ stars (out of 4).
In the comic world when you hear the word ‘Ultimate’ as an adjective in a comic book title one usually thinks about the successful Marvel Comics reboot of Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, and others. However the satirical Ultimate Peanuts does not reboot perennial favorites like Charlie Brown and Snoopy, instead thrusting the characters the world has grown to love into a darker modern day world.
I always enjoyed reading Peanuts in the newspaper because it was such a simple comic with deep meaning behind it. Though the kids never grew up the times did and as life went on it was their imaginations that always kept them going. I often thought in later years if this meant that the Peanuts gang was actually dirt poor and thusly had nothing better to do with their lives then hang out with each other all day, simply because their parents couldn’t afford anything to do with them – aside from taking them all to Grandma’s for Thanksgiving Dinner.
Ian Harker presents Ultimate Peanuts as if the characters are now in high school and none of them are what they seem they would turn out to be (well, except Marcie and Peppermint Patty). Charlie Brown is still a bit of a loser who sits at home all the time taking hits from his bong. Everyone from Sally (now dating ‘Benjamin’ Franklin), to Charlie Brown, to lesbian friends Marcie and Peppermint Patty are very excited to go see a concert tonight being held by Schroeder, who has moved away some years ago to Germany and subsequently became a rock star.
Ol’ C.B. rides his bike around to score some more drugs and ends up smoking with his lesbian friends, much to his chagrin. He’d like to hang out with just some normal girls once and can we blame him? Everyone shows up including Lucy who has turned into a pretty hot girl but still mocks our pal Charlie Brown. They end up all there at the show where Schroeder AKA Caligula Necromaxx plays his show. All of a sudden Lucy is all over our man C.B. but we all now, just like when he was a kid, that the man is in for a world of heartbreak from the one who always pulled away that football.
Obviously this comic is not meant for all ages and is typical fare from what you’d expect from Ian Harker. Harker, who has seen slight success with his Ronthology and The Epic and True Life Story of Che Guevera, brings all new meaning to the word satire even if he does so unintentionally. He can take something so simple like the Peanuts and turn them into junkies with a blink of an eye. Some might read this comic, look at the art, and then think it’s the worst garbage ever produced while turning an American icon into something simplistic. What is typical with Harker and his thought-process is that he’s never going to leave a stone unturned. We all know that Charlie Brown would grow up to probably be a loser, Harker just takes it to the extreme of modern society. It’s a bash on modern culture and Harker’s words and drawings could make him comparable to a modern day Robert Crumb. It’s reading in-between the lines of this comic that one can see Harker’s brilliance.
The comic isn’t for sale as Harker usually gives them away for free at conventions or when you buy something from his website. This is probably because he doesn’t want to get sued from those Peanuts people for severely mocking all the character including the brain dead Linus who got hit by a tractor after falling asleep in a pumpkin patch. Ultimate Peanuts also sports a wonderful cover by amazing artist J.G. Jones which is, as stated on the cover, also used completely without permission. While not for every indy comic reader, Ultimate Peanuts might make you laugh or gag at what has become of the world’s most famous cartoon kids and worth finding just for that J.G. Jones cover (not to mention that the comic itself is free).
ED UP.
I mean come on, Booster Gold is a character that's been around for 20 
