January 16 & Sunday, January 17, 1954: Trials of a Baby

January 16, 1954:

Sunday, January 17, 1954:

Surprisingly many of Peanuts characters have a special talent, one that overrides the limitations of real life.  Snoopy has many such "powers."  The force of Lucy's anger (later on) is terrifying to behold.  Charlie Brown's ability to lose has already been been demonstrated while playing checkers.  And Linus has a way of making or doing things that doesn't seem quite "right."  Stacking the blocks like he does in the first strip is an example.  He's also great at blowing up balloons halfway, and other unlikely feats of what I'm going to call, for lack of a better term, dexterity.

The second strip is the first time we get something akin to a stream of dialogue from Linus.  Until now his words have been things like "dottie dottie" or loud laughs of derision in the face of Lucy's selfishness, but here are several full sentences.  Noteworthy, however, is that although his words are in speech bubbles so generally are Snoopy's, and neither character has been shown using full sentences to communicate with the other characters.

I like how big kids are represented as running in herds that clean the floor of toys in their wake, like cattle devouring whole fields of grass.

Sunday, May 25, 1952: Listen: Lucy Van Pelt has become unstuck in time.

The title refers to the fact that, in this era of the strip, she is still maturing. For behold: she has stopped referring to herself in third person! If all the characters did that, then Charlie Brown would be over fifty in the last strip Charles Schulz drew.

The lettering on the crib is interesting. I can't help but think such a thing must seem awfully melancholy when the occupant grows out of it, and it takes up too much room, and it has sold or donated to charity, and so the named crib remains, forever a mute reminder of the childhood of someone obscure we you'll never meet and for all we know died a century ago.

How many stuffed toys does that girl have?!

In the logo in the first panel, there is a weird extra line between the A and the N in PEANUTS. Do you see where the line comes from? Here's a hint: look at the "b" in the word "by" below it.

October 8, 1951: Charge

When Charlie Brown needed a direct antagonist in the earliest days, most often Patty would fill that role. Look at the look on her face in panel four here. There is no mirth in her destruction. Her kick is simply a mechanical process. It is the role of CB's toy soldiers, in this world, to be kicked, and it is CB's role to have his toys abused. This is simply the nature of the Peanuts' universe.