February 22, 1951: Violet's birthday

Funny thing about this strip, when he finds out Violet's birthday was last month he says he wishes he had known as he wanted to get her a present.  But they met just fifteen days ago!

This one is just funny, I think.  My first exposure to the characters of Patty and Violet were in compilations that painted them in a pretty negative light, often ganging up to denigrate poor Charlie Brown.  The little girls in the strips I saw almost seemed like different characters.  Though of course they paled beside the magnificent, maleficient Lucy Van Pelt.  

LUCY VAN PELT. Her her name, ye gods, and tremble!

February 20, 1951: Lost ball

Patty's joke here at Charlie Brown's expense is exceptionally deadpan, she doesn't break expression at all.  Take a gander at Charlie Brown's look of dismay in the last panel, part of Schulz's continued search for effective ways to display emotion.  It's great, but kind of strange.  His face reminds me of a Chinese hanzi character.

This is also another self-effacing reference to Schulz's art style.

February 19, 1951: Belittling remark

A rare piece of cartoon metaphor here, as Patty's words literally diminish Charlie Brown in stature. I think this is probably the only strip which does this. Schulz must have been dissatisfied with this solution, as later strips show embarrassment using cross-hatching to represent blushing.

Snoopy's smug look in the last panel is a winner. There are strips where Snoopy just sits there smiling, uncomprehending, like a real dog, and there are strips like this one where he has more of a personality. Not close to Snoopy's later brilliance, but still, a step along the way.

February 17, 1951: Radio used to be cool

Notice: the only signal that the radio program is exciting, essential to understanding Violet's question and the point of the joke, is Charlie Brown's body language in the first three panels.  In later strips Charles Schulz would probably provide some additional visual signal, like some words hanging in the air.

Ah, for the days when turning on the radio would more likely present some exciting adventure show or comedy, instead of lame pop music or a blustery cadre of demagogues. The world changed greatly during Peanuts' run, the peace and love generation were yet to be seen at the strip's start, and both the creator and strip had to adapt to the times.

February 16, 1951: Beethoven

Schroeder's introduction is still some months off, but here Charlie Brown provides the first in a long line of Beethoven references.

February 14, 1951: Valentine's Day

Another turnabout strip, another chase, and more of CB's playful insulting of Patty's looks.  The punchline, "It's risky, but I get my laughs!" is almost the same as a prior chase strip, I notice.

At first, Peanuts didn't take much notice of holidays. My theory is that, as a cartoonist's run continues, their initial stockpile of ideas and energy becomes depleted as the enormity of the task settles in, and they start having to riff on whatever comes to mind. That is the true test for a published cartoonist, not how great the strip is at first, but can they keep it up?

February 8, 1951: More Violet

Charlie Brown reminds the readers of Violet's name again here.

Violet's style is already something that might not have been possible in those tentative early strips, with their head-hugging hair.  Violet's hair is the most complex seen yet, with strong highlighting and thick, black shapes suggesting strands of hair.

Notice the girl's use of a bookstrap.  Are these ever seen anymore?

Thanks for the feedback, Aaron!

February 7, 1951:Violet is introduced

Here is the introduction of Violet, another frequent player in the early Peanuts roster.

Patty lasts in the strip longer than Shermy, but is later completely supplanted by "Peppermint" Patty. Schulz and Peanuts states that the Patty characters were both based on the same real-life person, with the second one being closer to her actual personality, although with decades between the characters' heydays it's easy to allow him some leeway in his depiction.

Violet leaves the strip as a major player a little later than Patty (if my memory holds up), but would occasionally show up even in the 90s.

Shout out: Weapon Brown

Weapon Brown (some images potentially NSFW) is an parody indie comic that places the Peanuts characters as grown-ups. Oh, and after the apocalypse.

I ran into Jason Yungbluth, the guy who draws this, at DragonCon last year. He's cool. And he linked to the site, so the least I could do is link back.

February 5, 1951: Sitting at the kids' table

More Snoopy cuteness here.  Here we see him begging and standing in a normal dog-like pose.  Awww.

But the real reason I picked this strip out is the size of Charlie Brown's table.  Not only is it his size, but it looks a little funny in order to squeeze his legs under it and have his arms above it.  Notice that he's pulled a bit away, probably because he can't sit close to it!  Visual puzzles like this must have been a tremendous test for Charles Schulz's ingenuity in the early days.