Showing posts with label wordless. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wordless. Show all posts

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Sunday, June 6, 1954: String and rope

Read this strip at gocomics.com.

This isn't the first time Charlie Brown has flown a kite, I think. It doesn't count as the beginning of the kite-flying-failure aspect of his character either, since all of the characters are holding (or jumping, or are tied to) some piece of string, and two are actually running with them.

Also different are the character's attitudes at the end. All of them are wearing a "dumbfounded" expression, including Charlie Brown. More frequently after causing a kite crash, Charlie Brown's expression is more like dismay, or disgust.

One thing I wonder about... in the last panel, three of the characters are sticking their tongues out. This is a bit of graphic shorthand sometimes used in comics (especially older ones) to represent dumbfoundedness or annoyance. But where did this convention get started? It doesn't seem like a particularly obvious connection to make, to stick out your tongue in the face of a blameless accident. How did this get invented? (While we're at it, when did "Z" become the universal signifying letter for sleep?)

Notice that Shermy is walking Snoopy here, making the dog's owner more doubtful again.

All of the current characters are represented in this strip except Linus.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

April 27, 1954: With real working truck bed!

Read this strip at gocomics.com.

This is a frequently-used structure by Schulz at the moment. It goes:

1. A character does or says something silly.
2. Another character, or in the case of Snoopy vs. The Yard plain old physics, shows why the thing done is silly.

It's not much by itself, so these strips usually have something else going for them, either funny art (as here), empathy with one of the characters (such as the silly one who realizes by the end his mistake), or in some cases the silly character bullheadedly persisting in his error regardless. This happens with Lucy a lot, but Linus also becomes susceptible to it, every Halloween....

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

April 22, 1954: So, it's his umbrella?



Read this strip at gocomics.com.

This is a silly strip, it doesn't really have a strong gag but it's visually appealing.  One has to wonder about the practicality of a dog owning an umbrella though.  How does Snoopy close it?

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Sunday, January 10, 1954: Snoopy and a Baby #1


Read this strip at gocomics.com.

The times when there's a baby on hand for Snoopy to wordlessly react with are relatively short when compared to the length of Peanuts, which is a shame because I think they're among the funniest, most whimsical strips of its run.  Snoopy develops a great double-team act with Sally when she arrives on the scene.

Snoopy's head drawn in profile in panel 5 is archetypal Snoopy.  There is just a hint of the direction the character would be taken in later there.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

October 7, 1953: Fact: Charlie Brown HAS kicked a football

Peanuts

Although his shoe and sock came off with it, and it didn't go very far.

Monday, August 16, 2010

February 21, 1953: Snoopy fetches

Peanuts

A simple, elegant strip.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

November 4, 1950: Om nom nom

Peanuts
OMG SNOOPY ATE PATTY!