October 18, 1951: I'm sure Hobbes could think of something

I've mentioned before that, as I go through these, at times Calvin and Hobbes seems like it must have been directly inspired by early Peanuts. The characters are of similar proportions to the kids in C&H, and this bath-avoiding trick could have come directly from Calvin's playbook.

It's not a sure thing, but it does seem like it might be possible.

October 17, 1951: Quicksandbox

I just like this one. I make no excuses.

October 16, 1951: A familiar joke

The premise of this joke should seem somewhat familiar, as Patty and Violet behaved in a similar way in a previous strip, except they were talking about how sweet and gentle girls are.

October 13, 1951: Bang! Bang!

How about Charlie Brown's look of annoyance at the mention of House in panel two? Or his rather overplayed enthusiasm for (singular) Cowboy and (plural) Indians in panel three?

October 10, 1951: Humph!

Schulz had been heard to say that Beethoven was Schroeder's idol primarily because it was a funny word, but it cannot be denied that the idea of a young child fixating upon the notoriously stern composer adds a certain complexity to his character, which this and later strips take advantage of.

October 9, 1951: Gag

Some people complain about cloying sentiment in Peanuts, and it is true that there is some of that at times. This strip is proof.

However, I find that most of the people who complain about it haven't really been exposed to much of the strip. For every saccharine "Happiness Is A Warm Puppy" there are a hundred "Lucy Demolishes Charlie Brown Utterly, Destroying His Soul Like Some Demon Girl." For giving us all of those, I think I can excuse the occasional spoonful of sugar.

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.

October 6, 1951: See how they run

With this one, I think it's time to stop posting Schroeder-as-musician strips solely on that basis. This one's still interesting for presenting a straight-forward look from Violet, which is rather uncommon.

October 5, 1951: Inconsiderate druggist

How about that spread of comic books? Were those days really all that long ago? It's hard to read it here, but I think the comic in the bottom-right corner of panel 2 is Nancy! And beside it is Tip Top, which appears to be a Universal Features Syndicate comic from that period that featured new adventures of their comic characters. (Universal Features Syndicate is Peanuts' owner and distributor.)

This is as good a time as any to talk about the Peanuts comic books. These weren't compilations; they were actual comic books with material created specifically for them. I don't know much about them, but I do know that some (maybe all?) of them have Peanuts art not drawn by Charles Schulz. I remember seeing one book strip somewhere on the web that I saved a copy of (and was probably lost in a recent hard drive crash, unfortunately) which involved Linus and Snoopy meeting a small robot that grabbed Linus' blanket, inserted it into a slot on the robot's body, made a grinding noise for a panel, then neatly pooped it out into a pile of pastel threads.

Forget about Shermy and Faron. Gimmie back Blanket Pooping Robot!

Some information on them appears to be here. Here's Aaugh.com's history and guide to the books.

October 4, 1951: Editorial judgement

How does crossing the message out in panel three result in its seamless alteration in panel four?

Oh, and happy birthday Dad!