Peanuts Where Beagles Dare Reviews 

Pick of the Week: Snoopy Sets Off Against the Red Baron in “Where Beagles Dare!” [Review]

By | September 24th, 2015
Posted in Reviews | % Comments

Kaboom! brings out the third book in their “Peanuts” original graphic novel series, “Where Beagles Dare.” A dangerous mission in enemy territory. Friends and foes around every corner. What’s a lone beagle to do? Is he even brave enough to deal with all this?

Written by Jason Cooper
Illustrated by Vicki Scott & Paige Braddock and Whitney Cogar

What’s to Love: Remember those seasonal Peanuts animated specials that’d air during the holidays? Those long-form stories are the same satisfaction we get from our Peanuts original graphic novels, which feature full-length stories. We’ve got a brand-new one in Peanuts: Where Beagles Dare, and it comes out just in time for The Peanuts Movie!

What It Is: Snoopy, the World War I Flying Ace, is on holiday in France but his leave is cut short when he’s recruited for a top-secret mission. Snoopy must dodge his way through no-man’s land, go deep behind enemy territory, and battle the Red Baron in the blackened skies above. Will Snoopy ever return home to quaff a few Root Beers with Woodstock and have dinner with Charlie Brown? Find out in this original graphic novel featuring Charles M. Schulz’s beloved Peanuts characters and starring Snoopy!

Left alone and to his own devices for the afternoon, Snoopy imagines that he’s been sent out on a top secret mission as the World War I Flying Ace to foil some plot by the Red Baron. His journey leads him around the “Peanuts” neighborhood, which transforms into France, Germany, and England within probably the most famous dog in all comics’ overactive imagination.

“Where Beagles Dare” is overall cute and charming. The solicit promises that the book is modeled more off the seasonal animated Peanuts specials, so it goes for a more sustained and focused story than the typical Shulz strips, though writer Jason Cooper and artist Vicki Scott (along with inker Paige Braddock and colorist Whitney Cogar) are super aware of the strip world “Peanuts” originated in, and end every page on a gag, joke, or punchline.

The book is zippy and cute, with lots of bits that at least crack a smile. Scott provides some nice compositions to help give it an animated flavor. Scott and her art team clearly love drawing Snoopy, and that adoration for the character stretches across every spread.

Sometimes the story feels a little strained, especially as Cooper and Scott continually introduce more and more of Snoopy’s extended family and prolong the final flight against the Red Baron. Not all these other characters play that well, but I think kids will dig the fact that Snoopy has plenty of kooky brothers and sisters too.

Maybe that’s part of what kept this book sort of distant for me: unlike a lot of the kaboom! line of comics, this one seems targeted almost entirely toward kids. There’s something tame and safe in the material, as if Cooper and Scott didn’t want to do anything to alienate kids or confuse people who might have some sort of misguided notion about what “Peanuts” is about. They also lean crazy heavy on the nostalgia angle. The sight gags, jokes, and punchlines are executed mostly competently and sometimes very well, and the joke-a-page structure helps so if one gag doesn’t play out, we’ve already moved on to the next one. Generally, Scott and her team stick to a five-panel structure, and that helps give the book a nice smooth rhythm that helps make it an easy reading experience. A lot of the stuff with Woodstock and the other birds is adorable. Cooper keeps the story moving forward, and knows that this isn’t the type of book to linger around a set-piece for too long. But the jokes are more darling and cute, involving fake moustaches, root beer, and commentary about silly situations.

There’s also a deep reverence to the source material, and I honestly think that that’s another element that kept this book from being as interesting as it could have been. “Where Beagles Dare” feels like it so much wants to be part of “Peanuts,” but isn’t quite ready to stray far from the look of Shulz or embrace an identity of its own. It lacks a lot of the philosophical or moralistic or satirical elements of the dailies or Sunday strips, but Cooper and Scott do manage to get some questions about nationality, xenophobia, empathy, and family into these pages. At one point, Snoopy remarks to his sister, Belle: “You mean if the Red Baron was here right now, you’d offer him a doughnut?” When she says, “A good nurse doesn’t care about territories. We help people who need it. No matter who they are.” Confused, Snoopy goes, “If you’re just going to treat everyone the same way, why have a war in the first place!?” These messages, I think, are the important ones, the ones we ought to stress to kids, and Snoopy is a wonderful character to present the idea of empathy through. And these are what I was hoping this book offered more of.

“Peanuts” was never an empty, superficial strip, and there are moments when “Where Beagles Dare” toys with being more than a fun little romp through the neighborhood, and it’s at these moments the book really comes alive for me. The book hits all the nostalgia buttons for adults and has enough of a colorful and fun vibe to be engaging to kids. It’s a sweet, charming, and enjoyable read, even if it wants to ignore things to make it more interesting and memorable.

Final Verdict 7.0 – at the end of the day, it’s also about Snoopy and he’s the best.


//TAGS | Pick of the Week

Matthew Garcia

Matt hails from Colorado. He can be found on Twitter as @MattSG.

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