December 6
This is an intensified version of a previous snubbing strip. Charlie Brown still hasn't quite started taking snubs to heart.
December 7
Charlotte Braun won't be with us long folks. I mentioned before, I seem to remember, that her niche would be taken over by Lucy (whose fussing becomes better-illustrated as Schulz turns up her volume), and some parts of her character design would later be refined and used for Sally.
December 8
Charlotte Braun rarely appears in collections -- I think gocomics' archive and of course the Fantagraphics volumes are pretty much it.
December 9
Come on now, Lucy isn't really
that bad a girl, at least not yet.
December 10
There's something about the way Lucy looks straight up that looks a little weird. In the second panel, is that her chin or her cheek?
December 11
Is this an early example of Schroeder warming slightly to Lucy, or is it sarcasm on his part?
Lucy has been described, and has self-identified, as a fussbudget before, but I think here it's starting to become a defining attribute. I think a lot of people's impressions of the characters originated from the early collections (some of which I read as a kid in first grade -- I devoured all their Fawcett Peanuts collections), and we're just starting to get to the era where strips would frequently be drawn from for those reprints. That's the era that started frequently referring to Lucy as a fussbudget, so they would come to figure prominently in perceptions of the character.
The paddleball bit with Charlie Brown is a wholly unnecessary, but nice, touch.
Lucy and Schroeder's "impossible" love has always been one of my favourite story arcs in the whole comic; neck to neck with the Snoopy's WWI and writer strips.
ReplyDeleteIt's also funny how Lucy passed smoothly from "fussbudget" to "crabby" while growing up.
Fantagraphics released an "Unseen PEANUTS" comic for Free Comic Book Day a while back. Charlotte Braun appeared there as well. She even got the cover (with Charlie Brown).
ReplyDeleteCharlotte Braun's character strikes me as more of an inspiration for Frieda than for Sally. Specifically, I notice the naturally curly hair and the obsession over what other people think of her.
ReplyDelete