May 14-16, 1953: Comics, and the foundation of "Happiness Is"

This is mostly notable because it's Schulz engaging in more metacommentary about comics.



One of the more insipid trends in Peanuts is those cloying "Happiness Is..." pictures. I actually don't think they were ever that prevalent in the comics; I think they were used more in books and merchandising. Still, this is a step in that direction. It is also the first instance, to my eyes, of Charlie Brown bemoaning his fate in the recognized Charlie Brown manner.



I think that would actually be a funny strip, in a New Yorker kind of way. (Which means other people probably wouldn't think it'd be a funny strip.)

January 22, 1953: Schroeder signs the fence

These days, the ubiquity of computers has give us the cut-and-paste comic strip. That is why we still have (although we really don't need it) B.C., although Johnny Hart died years ago now, the syndicate has a database of all the characters in a variety of poses, and can now just throw together a strip in a paint program. It's just another way that newspaper comics have come to suck as of late.

Peanuts, although its streamlined, iconic look might make one think it to be one of the few strips that could be conceivably improved by such a process, to my knowledge never used it. Thus, when you see a complex bit of art in multiple panels, such as Charlie Brown's signature here, you can be pretty sure Charles Schulz drew it the same way multiple times. It is fun to play spot the differences in those cases: the 'r' in Charlie is a little wider in the second panel and extents further below the 'l', the 'e' at the end has a slightly larger loop, the 'o' is crossed by the board seam at the right place, but the second dip of the 'w' in Brown is smaller....

January 23, 1952: Schroeder’s first multiword utterance is in German

Schroeder gets way into his playing in this one. His holding out his arms in the last panel is hilarious.

Also, I laughed out loud when I noticed how Schulz signed this one.