March 17, 1951: A bona-fide supraman

Charlie Brown and Patty at a table, another suspiciously kid-sized one, and have dinner as if they were married.  Charlie Brown's expressions in panels two and three make this one for me.  His logic is from what I like to call the Yossarian School of Philosophy.

March 15, 1951: Charlie Brown's youth-preserving regimen

Another turnabout joke, that being my name for these strips where there's a sudden rush of anger in the last panel based on something a character said, flipping the mood instantly from casual conversation to rage.

The cause here is another insult to Patty, resulting in another exclamation point, and another comment from Charlie Brown during the following chase. The joke here is actually rather funny.

March 13, 1951: What's so great about rocking?

Patty and Violet have a somewhat stereotypical conversation in a primarily verbal joke.  I like noticing what characters do during these jokes; here, it involves them picking flowers for wearing in their hair, if anything an even more stereotypically-female activity.

March 10, 1951: Good riddance

More matters of mud.

March 8, 1951: Clickity clickity

This is the first time I've noticed sound-effect words other than percussion noises from someone getting socked.

The characters continue to progress, in design, towards their modern versions.  I have to wonder how much of that progression was intentional and how much just happened.  Notice Shermy's little eyebrow raise at Patty's comment in the last frame.  This is often used to show characters reacting subtly to a joke.

March 5, 1951: A toy beagle

What the heck is that thing Violet's dragging supposed to be?  For some reason I'm reminded of something Daffy Duck was once turned into during his fight with the animator in Duck Amuck.  Another character finally meets Violet here, although without comment.  Snoopy seems okay with becoming a toy in the last panel.

March 3, 1951: From the earth they came, and so shall they return

More of Violet's mud pies.

Take note, here, of Violet's hair. She's the only character at this point with hair that doesn't cling completely to the head; it hangs down a bit. This doesn't last forever actually, later on Violet's hair is changed to be more like the other characters.

February 28, 1951: Shermy named again

Shermy's name is mentioned again.  I'm obsessing a bit on this because learning character names is fairly difficult in many comic strips.  Most individual strips of many comics are intended to stand alone, but even so, characters are only named once in a great while. You'd be forgiven for not knowing Wally, from Dilbert's, name, or... hey, I just realized I still don't know what the triangle-haired woman is called.

February 27, 1951: Om-nom-no-- is that a worm?!

Back to Patty and Charlie Brown here.  I'm given to wonder what differentiated Patty and Violet in Charles Schulz's mind.  I get the sense that Violet is younger yet a little more matronly with her skills at dirt-baking.  Patty is a bit more insecure.

The main reason I point out this strip is how Charlie Brown is drawn eating in the last panel.  I find it appealing.

February 24, 1951: Does this qualify as gross-out humor?

This strip marks the beginning of a strange theme, Violet's fascination with making mud pies.  The "pardon my fingers" comment is a nice touch.

By the way, I just noticed that none of the other characters, besides Snoopy, have met Violet yet.  Patty and Shermy have yet to see her.

The book Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography by David Michaelis observes that most of the characters in Peanuts had analogues in people from Schulz's life.  While this is an appealing explanation to me, I wonder how accurate it is.  While I think an artist ultimately takes everything he creates from his life in some fashion, I'd say that sources are often heavily obfuscated.

The book notes that the name "Van Pelt," the last name of Lucy and Linus, was taken from some real-life friends of Charles and Joyce Schulz.  The name of the two Patties, both vanilla and "Peppermint" varieties, come from the same person, a cousin of Charles Schulz, with the later character being closer to the actual person.

Schulz often picked unusual names for characters: Linus. Marcie. 5. Eudora. Woodstock.