April 16, 1953: Playing Guns with Girls

The gender norms of Peanuts are worthy of examination. They're rather complex.

For decades, all the female characters wore dresses nearly all the time. Late in the strip's run Lucy's default outfit changed to what looks like a jogging suit.

Considering that the strip is still in the early 50s this isn't surprising. The girls, however, don't appear to be so traditional regarding to their choices of games to play. They play dolls and house (or Mud Pie Chef) sometimes, but they've been just as apt to play Cowboys and Indians, or Space Hero.

This is really progressive if you think about it: even as late as Calvin and Hobbes, Susie, when playing, is nearly always seen at some girl-oriented activity like playing Tea Party or House. (This is probably because it's so entertaining to watch Calvin react to stereotypically feminine things.)

May 12,1952: Roll a d20 to resolve the attack

Role-playing games often use the question of who-shot-whom in a game of Cowboys and Indians to explain why they use die rolls to resolve those issues. They assume that most players aren't as fair-minded as Charlie Brown!

Calvin would not have let Shermy win like that. In fact, Watterson would have probably turned this into a Sunday strip, and have Calvin go to extravagant lengths to come up with reasons that Shermy could never have hit him with his ray gun. This is why Calvin was so popular with his non-tiger friends.

March 7, 1952: William Tell

It's been a little while since we've seen Snoopy. So, here: Snoopy!

January 30, 1952: Schroeder gamely fights typecasting

We know it's Schroeder because of the musical notation in the first panel, but this is a side of the kid seldom seen.

November 7, 1951: All Hail The Machine That Goes....

If guns actually did go "ping" instead of "bang," I get the feeling they'd be loads less popular.