December 20, 1953: Sorry I asked!

Read this strip at gocomics.com.

I love this strip!  It presents the world of the kids in a way that makes it seem all real, like there's always a dozen things happening at once.  My favorite joke in it, however, is the one in the lead two panels, which is just a throwaway but has some pleasing off-screen violence.

The metaphorical opening panel uses Charlie Brown's trademark zig-zag shirt pattern, but the zig-zag is nowhere to be seen elsewhere in the whole strip, and is in fact a little uncommon in the strip at this point considering the kid usually covers it with a jacket in the winter months.  Maybe he was just reminding the reader of it.

There is a lot of prototype Calvin and Hobbes here, both in the snowman gag and the humorous sled crash at the beginning.

Sunday, September 20, 1953: Photographing Snoopy

We get a lot of funny drawings of Snoopy in this one, as well as establishing the dog's mischievous personality. Bill Watterson would reprise this strip much later, with Calvin in Snoopy's place and Calvin's dad in the role of photographer. I couldn't find a copy of that one on the internet, but one difference between the two approaches to the idea is that Calvin's dad tries to fool Calvin by saying "click" several times, and the strip ends with Calvin's making a funny face; there is no reaction shot at the end.