The Complete Peanuts, 1973-1974

The Complete Peanuts 1973-1974, the 12^th volume, picks up on a few loose threads from the previous year: meanwhile, Rerun embarks on his first terrifying journey on the back of his mom's bike and the schoolhouse Sally used to talk to starts talking, or at least thinking, back at her! This collection also includes one of the all-time classic Peanuts sequences, in which Charlie Brown's baseball-oriented hallucinations finally manifest themselves in a baseball-shaped rash on his head. Forced to conceal the embarrassing discoloration with a bag worn over his head, Charlie Brown goes to camp as "Mister Sack" and discovers that, shorn of his identity, he's suddenly well-liked and successful. Since the volume features a number of tennis strips as well as extended sequences involving Peppermint Patty's friend Marcie (including a riotous, rarely seen sequence in which Marcie's costume-making and hairstyling skills utterly spoil a skating competition for PP), it seems only right that this volume's introduction should be served up by Schulz's longtime friend, tennis champion Billie Jean King.