December 23, 1953: 10,000 games

Read this strip at gocomics.com.

I think this strip marks the end of the checkers winning streak series.  Poor Charlie Brown should have quit while he was (less) behind.

This strip implies strongly that all of Lucy and C.B.'s games have been against each other.  If the two tried playing against other opponents, maybe it wouldn't have gotten to 10,000 games?  Of course Lucy prefers it this way.

It's like Paper playing against Rock.

Sunday, November 22, 1953: Yes, Lucy is still beating Charlie Brown at checkers

Read this comic at gocomics.com.

8,000 games now.  So, Lucy plays because Charlie Brown takes losing personally, eh?  She does make it to an even 10,000.  That day isn't very far off even.

The background grass seen back when Charlie Brown lost 7,000 games is seen here again, this time behind Lucy in the next-to-last panel.

Nice abstract drawing in the lead panel, although it looks like Schulz is cheating Charlie Brown's arm a little.

Looks like a chagrimace in panel 7.

October 6, 1953: The marbles shark

Charlie Brown sucks at checkers, now it's time to demonstrate how bad he is at marbles.

I notice that his persecutors are exclusively female. Shermy, despite his harsh words in the first strip, is the least antagonistic character towards him of the cast. Lucy and Patty dispense game beatdowns, Violet throws him out of her house on a whim, and Snoopy is a mocking presence.

And yet the characters don't seem to notice yet how put-upon CB is, so it doesn't really register to us, yet, as a genuine phenomenon.

August 21, 1953: 6,000 games now

6,000 games now.

If we accept that Lucy is by now maybe five years old, and assume that she was somehow playing from birth, that makes for 100 games a day month. Somehow I think they might have counted wrong.

August 19 is a duplicate. Anyone with access to the Fantagraphics collections able to fill us in on it?

EDIT: Joshua Probert mentions in the comments that "day" is way off. He's correct, it's more like per month. Still, considering the ostensible amount of time these kinds have been alive (which already looks silly compared to the time the strip's been running), 6,000 games is still fairly ludicrous, you must admit.

May 18, 1953: On the mound: The baseball changes hands

In an earlier strip the baseball was Schroeder's, and Charlie Brown told him to take it and run home when his team was in the lead.

I think this is the first use of the term "good grief."

May 13, 1953: Baseball Blockhead

First use of the word "blockhead." Also, the first strip in which another character comments on Charlie Brown's lack of pitching skill.

April 20,1953: Lucy's winning streak continues

We return to Lucy and CB's checkers rivalry. We're still establishing Charlie Brown's loser personality here. There's persistence, and there's stubbornness, and then there's this. It's like it's not even admirable anymore. I mean, sheesh. There comes a time when you just have to give up, you know?

I'd think the most aggravating thing, to them, about their rivalry here would be that every so often they have to pick up the board and move a little further down the fence as they fill up the vicinity with tally marks.

October 6, 1952: Lucy's Happy Dance

Lucy's developing her egotism nicely I see. I don't really get how CB can take solace in the fact he came in second. I assume Schroeder is peeved in the last panel because he knows coming in last is the true measure of ability.

May 28 & 29, 1952: Two strips about baseball

In the first of these two strips Charlie Brown is catcher and Shermy is (I assume) pitcher, but the curse of CB's team is already beginning to take hold. The other strip is the first record I've noticed that CB's team usually loses, and the first time he's noticeably upset by this.