November 24, 1953: Charlie Brown *still* has a big, round head

Read this strip at gocomics.com.

Maybe I should start categorizing these.  This is a type of joke we've seen several times before, beginning with the beach ball strip.  That began as a kind of comment Schulz made about his art style.  This is Lucy's second time making a joke at the expense of Charlie Brown's head.  The "WHEE!" is new however.

This is a chase strip, but it's not a "turnabout" strip because Charlie Brown has a reaction shot in the penultimate panel.

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.

Sunday, November 2, 1952: I've been tricked!!

A favorite strip of mine! Also a chase, this time after Lucy who is beginning to show her true colors.

Sunday, July 6, 1952: Group picture

Lucy still has her round eyes (which look even weirder than usual in the second panel). Snoopy says "Shh!" And it's another turnabout/chase strip, demonstrating that, while Charlie Brown has been seeming depressed lately, he's still got a lot of his old self in there.

New Year's Day, 1952 : I think I see why Patty hates Charlie Brown now

I think Patty is fully due that Scribble Of Ire in the last panel.

October 23, 1951: Finding only half a worm

Another Calvinesque strip, right down to Charlie Brown's angular smile in the last frame. I can picture Calvin doing this to Susie very clearly.

The outline of the tree in the third frame seems rather artsy for Peanuts. It's a nice effect though.

June 8, 1951: I name thee Laughing Dog

I feel like I'm beating a dead horse here, but again, it's odd to think of a time when the characters didn't know if Snoopy could understand what they're saying.

Other than the laughing post in the first frame, Snoopy is very dog-like here, just blankly staring forward.

February 20, 1951: Lost ball

Patty's joke here at Charlie Brown's expense is exceptionally deadpan, she doesn't break expression at all.  Take a gander at Charlie Brown's look of dismay in the last panel, part of Schulz's continued search for effective ways to display emotion.  It's great, but kind of strange.  His face reminds me of a Chinese hanzi character.

This is also another self-effacing reference to Schulz's art style.