Sunday, August 30, 1953: It looks a bit like this

There are two versions of this premise. There's the one where one of the characters directly compares CB's head to a ball (usually concluded with a chase), and there's instances such as this one where a character indirectly remarks that Charlie Brown's head is round like a ball.

The very first joke about the size and shape of CB's head was of the second type, when the kid was in the water and Patty and Violet wondered why a beachball had floated out so far.

This is far from the last joke about the poor boy's head.

May 25, 1953: You 'Ol Charlie Brown, You

This is the unreasoning hatred we're used to seeing from Violet, as well as the self-esteem issues of CB. It's been interesting to watch Charlie Brown's self-satisfaction fade for the past couple of years of the strip. The other characters still a lot of wearing down to perform on him though; Lucy hasn't even come into her full malicious strength yet.

May 4, 1953: Charlie Brown has a big, round head

More turnabout/chase shenanigans with Lucy. It's another version of the beach ball strip. (And in fact, it seems fairly easy to get CB's goat.)

By the way, May 3 is not up at comics.com. Does anyone know if the strip is in Fantagraphics' compilations?

March 22, 1952: About face

It's a turnabout/chase strip in which Charlie Brown didn't intentionally insult Patty. He seems to be growing out of his smart-aleck phase.

January 2, 1952: Dreams of the Round-Headed Kid

Slick joke by Patty here, and there's also some nice non-standard poses for her. The art in panel 3, however, is kind of weird. It looks like there was either a printing error, a hasty erasure, or maybe Schulz just forgot to ink in the front of the chair.

December 22, 1951: And A Bite For Beethoven

The teddy bear in panel two is only there to make sense out of his inclusion in Patty's words in panel three.

Although this is a baby joke strip, Schulz still slipped in that Beethoven reference in there.

Charlie Brown gets no respect.

August 16, 1951: Those immortal words

It's the first time a character is called a "blockhead."

June 22, 1951: Nyuk nyuk nyuk

Patty gets back at Charlie Brown for past chase strips.

Two things:
1. Charlie Brown's mouth looks a little weird in the last panel.  Ever see Grim Fandango?
2. It's a bit less funny when it's a boy chasing a girl after a bad joke.

March 15, 1951: Charlie Brown's youth-preserving regimen

Another turnabout joke, that being my name for these strips where there's a sudden rush of anger in the last panel based on something a character said, flipping the mood instantly from casual conversation to rage.

The cause here is another insult to Patty, resulting in another exclamation point, and another comment from Charlie Brown during the following chase. The joke here is actually rather funny.

January 22, 1951: He's asking for it

Another chase here, after Charlie Brown slyly insults Patty, who is beginning to show almost Lucy-like characteristics of ire.  Also, check out Charlie Brown's Shakesperian posing in the third panel.  It's best not to compare the length of his arms to the size of his head here.

Another thing to notice here is that the characters, viewed from the site, don't look tremendously different from their modern incarnations.  When we get a head-on or three-quarters view, however, they'll still look fairly alien.