December 19, 1951: Words of Flattery

This strip seems to me to be more like the "classic" Peanuts era, as opposed to the "early" era we've seen so far. It seems to me to be more about examining Charlie Brown's personality than something that kids do. The characters have been mostly placeholders up to this point, but this seems to say something about a specific little boy, instead of a Platonic archetype.

December 15, 1951: Doghouse Roof

At what point did Patty stop hanging out with Charlie Brown, and go to being more, along with Violet, of a co-antagonist?

My theory is it was about the time that Linus aged to the point of being CB's primary friend. Maybe it was something nagging at Schulz, how the main character of his strip, despite being around six or seven years old, seemed to be spending most of his time with girls. Shermy, for whatever reason, never seemed to relate to him the same way.

December 14, 1951: She throws like a...

Setting aside the question of whether Violet's throwing range is realistic, this is a good example of the kind of strip that fueled Peanut's early popularity. It's just funny. Everything about it. The surprised pose from Charlie Brown in the first frame, the determined look on Violet's face throughout, the wide smile on Charlie Brown's face in the end, and the frustrated reaction from Violet.

There are a lot of funny strips coming up....

December 13, 1951: Dogcicle

Another strip to fuel the who-owns-Snoopy fires. Mostly I just think this one's funny.

December 12, 1951: Sleeping In The Snow

Snowman shenanigans is another thing Peanuts has that Calvin and Hobbes appropriated. Although to be fair, Watterson took it to lengths that approach the sublime. Peanuts could get quite dark, but Charlie Brown never did anything like the uproarious Snow Goons sequence, or any of the one-off snowman chamber of horrors strips.

EDIT: Argh, forgot the embed code. Fixed now. Thanks Eric J for pointing this out.

December 11, 1951: Snoopy Lives His Dream

Snoopy can't talk. He hasn't even gotten thought balloons yet. So, how does Charlie Brown know that Snoopy always wanted to live in a trailer? At least the barely-verbal Schroeder can play Beethoven.

December 10, 1951: Revolutionary

This one seems kind of pointless until you recognize it as a U.S. Revolutionary War slogan.

(If you were confused about the comment on yesterday's post, the wrong strip got linked. It's been fixed now.)

December 7, 1951: That's going to make a mess

It's the first time anyone in the strip has played hockey, which is one of those pasttimes Snoopy and Woodstock engage in later on.

EDIT: The strip from the day before was showing up. Fixed.

December 4, 1951: Dog At The Wheel

This one's funny too.

December 3, 1951: Beware the Wrath of the Irate Prodigy

This is just a funny cartoon. Go, Schroeder!

The marks in the last panel used to show dazedness are interesting. A question mark, two stars, a dizzy spiral and motion lines. It actually seems a little overstated, now that I look closely at it.