Stephen King, Snoopy, It, and Me
When the novel It by Stephen King came out in the 1980s, everybody thought It had an interesting title. The ‘it’ was a mystery, though. What was the ‘it’ in It? Since author Stephen King was already popular at the time, these questions were worth getting answered, and a lot of people read It to find out. But twenty years earlier, there was another ‘it’ mystery that never got answered.
This Peanuts comic strip came out in the late 1960s (maybe even in 1970) at a time when a young Stephen King might have seen it in the funnies section of his local newspaper. I know that I was often inspired by Snoopy’s writing when I was a kid. It’s possible that Stephen King was as well. I was also inspired by Stephen King’s writing years later when I was in high school, even though I’ve never tried to write horror.
I always related to Peanuts because I felt like I had Snoopy’s personality but that I was trapped in Charlie Brown’s body (even though I don’t look like Charlie Brown). I had/have an imagination and like/liked to act out on it as Snoopy does, but I was usually shut down in some way by family or social structures when I was a kid, and that has had a huge affect on me as an adult. I’m sure a lot of people, especially those in my generation, can relate to Snoopy in the same way and were probably shut down the same way that I was, so I don’t think I’m anybody special or anything like that.
Thankfully, I don’t relate nearly as much to the demons that haunt Stephen King’s mind. King has suffered through addictions and obviously has had some dark moments in his life to come up with some of the ideas that he’s had. Yeah, he’s sold a lot of novels and made a lot of money, but I wouldn’t want to trade lives or experiences with him. I’m fine with what I have and what I’ve accomplished.
Charles Schulz drew one comic strip a day on average because the funnies page in the newspaper needed a daily cartoon, and Schulz was consistently good and often great. On the other hand, I think Stephen King could have written fewer novels and should have taken more time with a few that were just okay but could have been great if given more attention. Then again, I’m just a blogger, so who am I to give advice like that?
Readers of It by Stephen King eventually learned what the ‘it’ was by reading the novel, but we never learned what the ‘it’ in Snoopy’s It was. I’ve tried to find out. I admit that I haven’t read every single Peanuts comic strip ever, but I’ve read a lot of the hardcover AND paperback Peanuts books and have never seen a continuation of this storyline. That’s too bad. I would have liked to know what Snoopy’s book was about. I definitely would have read Snoopy’s It novel.
Charles Schulz, though, didn’t really need a book like It. He has/had dozens and dozens (probably hundreds and hundreds) of Peanuts related books. Hundreds of millions of Stephen King book copies have been sold. Hundreds of millions of Peanuts related book copies have been sold too. I’m guessing that Peanuts has the merchandizing advantage, but Stephen King probably has the movie advantage. Once you hit a certain point, that stuff might not matter much, though I wouldn’t know. Again, I’m just a blogger.
If I remember correctly, It was the book where I stopped reading Stephen King books on a regular basis. It had been a nice run of books, but something in either It or Needful Things struck me as Stephen King-ish (man, whatever schtick he did, he did in every book he writes, I thought at the time), so I moved on. I’ll occasionally try a Stephen King book, but I don’t think I’ve finished any in the last 40 years. I’ll still read read the occasional Charlie Brown book, though. Those never get old, no matter how old they are or how many times I’ve read them.
But enough about me and my opinions and questions! What do you think about It? What do you think about Charlie Brown and Snoopy? Do you still read Stephen King novels? Do you still read Peanuts books or comic strips? What authors or fictional characters do you relate to? Would you read Snoopy’s It novel if you could find it? If you love both prose AND pictures, leave a comment below.
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For more about It and/or Stephen King, see…
It by Stephen King and The Novel by James Michener: A Conversation
Literary Glance: It by Stephen King
And for more about Charles Schulz and comic strips, see…
The Comic Book/Comic Strip Home Page
G.O.A.T. vs. Goat: The Battle of Generational Slang
Happy Birthday to Everybody Every Day… starring Charles Schulz and Peanuts
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