Lucy goes on a glorious campaign of destruction here. It's the closest she's yet gotten to her malevolent destiny.
I think maybe part of the reason Schulz drew this one is just so he could draw lots of tiny little things flying around the room. Anyway, I didn't know Violet had a stamp collection.
The lead panels, as usual, aren't needed to get the joke, although they do explain why Schroeder is involved in the mob. (Linus is too young for such things.) Of all the offended chasers, everyone seems to be yelling at Lucy except for Charlie Brown, who is uncharacteristically grim-faced.
I had a friend growing up who would pull stunts like this. Needless to say, he wasn't very popular, and probably had some serious issues. I remember this strip as a kid, and it reminds me of him whenever I see it.
ReplyDeleteLucy's statement in the last panel suggests the psychiatry-speak that Schulz would lampoon so successfully in the years ahead, most notably (and in this case, ironically) with Lucy's five-cent psychiatry booth.
I like that Schroeder's initial reaction is bewilderment as the piano flies right out of his hands.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I didn't know Violet had a stamp collection.
ReplyDelete... and this is why she doesn't anymore.
The reprint of this strip in the old Fawcett Crest paperback ("Good Grief, Charlie Brown") has an extra panel between 6 and 7 that's just Lucy running, without the dialogue and without the other kids chasing. Probably F-C did that to balance things out with four panels on each page, since they opted to keep the last panel intact (and signficantly squashed it to fit on a single line). Thank goodness for Fantagraphics!
ReplyDelete