Read this strip at gocomics.com.
This is one of Snoopy's earliest moments of pure anarchy.
The lead-in panels on this strip, the two at the top that newspapers had the option of leaving off, are important this time. Without those panels, this strip is about Snoopy the crazy dog. With them, it's about how Charlie Brown doesn't take good care of his records. Even without the lead panels the second interpretation makes more sense than the first, but it doesn't have the necessary narrative weight behind it without seeing Charlie Brown sailing that record through the air.
When I first saw this strip in a compilation it was without the lead panels, and I was confused that Charlie Brown didn't see it was plainly Snoopy' fault the record was scratched up. (The reprint did have Charlie Brown rolling the record on its edge, but as a kid I just assumed, rather confusedly, that was a way people transported records back then.)
Imagine how different this strip would be in the era of CDs and DVDs! :-)
ReplyDeleteI love this strip. Especially eye-catching and noteworthy is the "body-slam" panel in the lower left-hand corner. Pretty amazing detail and background work.