June 13-18, 1955: "Dot" is a sound effect

June 13:

At this point the girls aren't always disgusted with, annoyed by or bored at the sight of Charlie Brown, as this strip shows. I think the thinness of the tree could be taken as a metaphor for the thinness of Violet's affections, which makes this strip poetic in a way.

June 14:

I had not heretofore suspected that "dot" was onomatopoeia. but it is a kind of appropriate noise for jabbing a piece of paper with a drawing instrument like a crayon or pencil.

June 15:

I expect that today's kids don't get messed up as much, on the average, during their summertime adventures.

June 16:

This is exactly the kind of thing a Lovecraft protagonist with unknown blood ties to fiendish creatures, ancient sorcerers or some godling's spawn would do, and it's also similar to such a being's probable reaction once he discovers the universe obeys his or her whims -- at least, if he didn't immediately faint from the shock.

June 17:

I think Charlie Brown just might not have been laughing at "Pig-Pen"'s ambitions. A bit of youthful can be good for a kid, although probably something along the line he'll probably have to clean up more. For example, I can't picture, say, Mitt Romney covered with dirt. (In fact, his skin looks stain-resistant, like maybe some kind of polymer.)

June 18:

Ah, the ease with which the winds of love turn when you're seven. The characters are seven now aren't they? Originally I think they were intended to be just before school age, but now we've seen some moments in school, they were probably aged to that point since school is a ripe source of storylines, although we haven't seen very many yet. (And when Rerun shows up and enters kindergarten both Linus and Lucy, being siblings, kind of have to age to make room for him.)

February 21-26, 1955: Beware the Rhinoceros

February 21

Schroeder gets out of the house some.  Playing ice hockey on a frozen pond is sort of a winter analogue for vacant lot baseball. I wonder how much this happens anymore.

February 22

The second time Snoopy uses his imagination leads off a week-long sequence, and I think this is the bit that really causes it to "take."  They're a good opportunity to expand the character into something unique, and they have the additional virtue of making possible a lot of really fun drawings.  Snoopy's open smile upon finding his victim is my favorite part of this one.

February 23

In these early strips Snoopy usually restricts himself to being some kind of animal.  A rhinoceros is an interesting choice -- not a lion or a bear an elephant or something more usually recognized as a strong, powerful animal.  Not that rhinos are slouches of course -- just that I'd think they would be thought of iconically by their horn, not their strength and size.

Charlie Brown seems worried that Snoopy actually thinks he's a rhinoceros.  But how would he have been able to figure out what Snoopy was pretending to be?

February 24

WHOOPS!  I think this is the first time Snoopy has actually attacked anyone on-panel.

February 25

Some rhinoceroses are self-conscious about their appearance.  Anyway, a real rhino bump would be nothing to joke about.

February 26

Up until now Lucy's crabby personality has manifested in three primary ways: by reputation (her mother calling her a fussbudget), her dealings with Linus, and in defending her strange opinions against Charlie Brown.  Here is a fourth: the bucket of cold water on Snoopy's head.  It's also the first instance of her physically standing up to another character, here in the second panel.

I really love the goofy grin on Snoopy's face in the first panel.

Week of August 16-21, 1954: Airplanes must fly around clouds or else crash

August 16

It is odd to think of Pig-Pen as going to kids and bumming sand off of them. I can understand if he's unnaturally attuned to the stuff, but it can't be that expensive can it?
August 17

Lucy is kinder here than she was back on February 15 16, but it's still a mean trick.
August 18

At this point Pig-Pen is rolling along as if he's going to become a major character. It won't be for too much longer I think.
August 19

One problem with the week-at-a-time format is, often there's just not much to say about a strip. I'll probably start leaving some out before long -- I didn't mean this to become a repost of every strip....
August 20

If Peanuts were still being printed er, I meant written today, Lucy would be denying climate change. Charlie Brown's reaction is priceless. I find this kind of reaction funnier than the headaches and stomaches the poor kid's afflicted with later.
In the last panel, Lucy's laughing expression, with the slanted eyebrows, is atypical for Peanuts.
August 21

Charlie Brown brings his hand to mouth in wonder in the third panel is nice. Peanuts kid arms are usually drawn as simple tubes, so I find the shape of his arm there interesting. Not hugely interesting, but still.

March 25-27, 1954: Three, golly gee

Read these strips at gocomics.com.

More glued-together strips from Universal's slightly malformed archive.

March 25, 1954:
Patty is an expert at marbles.  I've had the same reaction that Patty gets from Charlie Brown and Shermy, from people who balk at playing Monopoly without the various house rules (like money on Free Parking or no auctions) that make that very long game much longer.

March 26, 1954:
Now isn't that a hellish visage to have suddenly thrust into your face?

March 27, 1954:
More developing of Charlie Brown's "loser" persona.  I wonder if Schulz knew he was fixing the kid's personality for all time in these strips, or if he thought it was just another story theme, like Linus' Newton-defying block building skills or Violet's mud pie fixation?

February 22, 1954: The sun is a mass of incandescent gas

Read this strip at gocomics.com.

We're here on the ground floor of another emerging Peanuts story theme, Lucy's willful ignorance.  She's come a long way from her doll-like, third-person-referring, self-pitying ("Poor Lucy") early personality.  Her mistaken knowledge of the universe, and her spreading that knowledge to Linus, is an upcoming cause of Charlie Brown's stomachaches.

The way the path behind Charlie Brown, in the first panel, curves up only to disappear is strange when you notice it.  I think it's being represented as disappearing over a hill and Schulz didn't draw the horizon.  My guess is, drawing the horizon line would connect the two characters visually, subconsciously connecting them when the whole theme of the strip is disconnection.

Lucy's pose in the second panel is great.  She puts a lot of energy into her mockery.

Ho ho ho!

Sunday, September 21, 1952: Man's Superiority Over Beast

I love this strip:

Lucy saying "Oh, my, yes!" in the second panel. No one says "Oh my!" anymore. It makes me want to revive it.

Snoopy's laughing poses in the last three panels show considerable visual ingenuity. The second panel there could be a counterpart for WEIRDSNOOPY. Snoopy has gone back to being small again in this strip, even though panel seven would probably read a little better if he were longer.

The funniest thing about this strip, I think, isn't Snoopy's laughing, or Charlie Brown's disgruntlement, but Lucy's silent watching of the hilarified dog. "This certainly is an odd thing that is happening to that animal. I should quietly observe the situation."