The Complete Peanuts #17

A delightful two-panel cover strip sets the tone perfectly: Linus holds a phone receiver, puzzled by Charlie Brown's muffled voice, while Charlie Brown — dressed head-to-toe in a green bird costume complete with cap and satchel — deadpans "It's hard to explain…" Charles M. Schulz's gentle wit is on full display in this seventeenth volume of Fantagraphics' archival series, collecting the daily and Sunday strips from 1983–1984. At $22.99, it's a thoroughly enjoyable way to spend time with the Peanuts gang during one of the strip's warmly humorous later chapters.