September 4, 1951: Snoopy's yard

This one shows us, again, that Charlie Brown is probably not Snoopy's owner yet, but that someone owns him, or where else would he have gotten that doghouse? The expectation that his yard should be mown expands Snoopy's personality further; in the middle-era, when his doghouse burned down, it would be revealed that he lost a pool table and a Van Gogh in the fire.

The dial of a rotary phone is also visible here, which things, as I mentioned before, are now receding into memory.

September 3, 1951: Music notation

This is the first strip in which Schulz draws complex music notation, which he said in Peanuts: A Golden Celebration he found challenging yet satisfying to draw. Schroeder's still playing the generic baby, so the two haven't met yet.

I remember that there is a similar early Garfield strip along these lines. Garfield and Odie sing with each other. Jon comes along singing something different, represented by a different note. In the last panel, the animals shout their note at him while Jon reacts in surprise. It's one of the more entertaining early Garfield strips, I seem to remember.

August 31, 1951: A familiar shirt

It's the first use of Schroeder's trademark striped shirt, which is similar to Linus's later. It's the beginning of the character's progression out of babyhood.

August 29, 1951: Dog as shark

Ah-ha! It is the first glimmer of Snoopy's capacity for imagination, which if memory serves began when Snoopy fantasized being different kinds of dangerous wild animals.

August 28, 1951: Snoopy's birthday

Should this be considered Snoopy's official birthday? I don't think Schulz planned out his characters' backstories in that much detail, really. Does it seem strange to sing "Happy Birthday" for a dog?

Snoopy is a dog of many emotions: surprise, tearful gratitude, and anticipatory happiness.

August 27, 1951: Baby vs. Dog

A funny strip, though a variant of the ball throwing one from a few days ago. How about Schroeder's "talk to the hand" gesture in the second panel?

Notice that, to signal the characters eating, Schulz resorted to word balloons saying "chomp chomp" and "smack smack."

Also, it's not their first appearance by any means, but check out the fancy question-marks in the second and fourth panels, which were kind of a Schulz trademark in the early days.

And: scribble of ire!

August 24, 1951: The Pitcher's Mound

This seems to be the first instance of Charlie Brown pitching. I can forgive the umpire sitting behind the pitcher for the chance to see Snoopy, in one of his earliest fully-intelligent moments, declaring a ball to CB's consernation. A funny strip!

August 23, 1951: Snoopy is overexcitable

Nice drawings of Snoopy here, especially tired out in the last panel. I think this is the first time we've seen that look on him.

August 22, 1951: That's a mean baby

The look on Schroeder's face in the first panel is fairly unique for him. Also, behold the return of the scribble of ire!

August 21, 1951: King Neptune

This is one of my favorite early strips. Heh heh heh!