Thursday, June 30, 2011

April 28-30, 1954: Comics, stairs and hoops

April 28, 1954:

The latest in the "Charlie Brown, Cartoonist" sequence. This one, I think, has an uncharacteristically clunky final panel. I find it difficult to imagine how Schulz could have thought CB's statement at the end works, it's very un-Peanuts-like.

April 29, 1954:

This is more like it. After the "Big Kids" Sunday strip, I think this is the first one to have a full thought balloon from Linus. I find the stairs in the second panel a little problematic, though. It's like the stairs sort of "slope" down off the side, like a carpeted hillside or something.

April 30, 1954:

Is it any wonder Snoopy forgets the kid's name? Anyway, this strip only works because of the limited size of the panels. Presumably Snoopy can see ahead off-panel, so why doesn't he notice the hoop is only as large as his snout beforehand? Maybe it's why Schulz draws him with his eyes closed in the third panel.

3 comments:

  1. Heh, "hot dish." Schulz is betraying his Minnesota roots in that first one.

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  2. It *is* a sloping hillside in the second strip, though, right? It's an outside scene and Linus is falling down the steps that lead to the sidewalk? It looks fine to me if that's the case.

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  3. Huh. I assumed he was indoors in the first panel, with a carpeted floor. You might be right.

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