July 21, 1952: Sad Sad Snoopy

I do think I prefer this age of Peanuts, in terms of art style, to all the others. It's true, when Peanuts' art became simplified and iconic it allowed the strip's humor and voice to aim for the stratosphere, but we also come to lose things like Snoopy's expression in the last panel here. Now that's a depressed dog.

This is a bit more confirmation for the idea that Snoopy belongs to Charlie Brown, I think.

July 20, 1952: The wishy-washy of days gone by

Charles Schulz reminds us, in nine panels, about an age of childhood receding into history with astonishing rapidity. This strip is approaching 60 years old....

July 19, 1952: Dog speech addendum: Heh, heh, heh

Snoopy can also laugh derisively!

A very cute strip involving the dog. His ears, particularly, are adorable here. They're like little wings.

July 18, 1952: Lucy's family

Peanuts rarely lets us know much about the home lives of its characters except where they relate to each other. This strip shows us that Lucy may be feeling a bit ignored at home. I don't think Schulz intends that Lucy's forthcoming anger issues arise from dissatisfaction with her parents... but it would explain a lot, wouldn't it?

July 17, 1952: Lucy answers the phone

This is one of those strips that relies on a character being very young and not quite grasping how the world works. These strips gradually lessen in number as Peanuts switches from being mostly about situations to which generic characters are exposed, to being more about characters with definite personalities and the ways they exhibit them.

At the moment, Schroeder is the character that leads the way in that direction. There are not very many generic musical prodigies in the world. Charlie Brown is also developing a definite personality, but there are still few strips using him that couldn't also be changed to feature some other character. Shermy is still (and would ever be) fairly generic. Patty's role as foil to Charlie Brown seems to be subsiding, and other than the occasional mud pie episode Violet doesn't tend to show a lot of individualistic behavior. Lucy, on the other hand, is a real hit and will only become more willful in the months to come.

July 14, 1952: Murmurs of Linus

This is the first hint as to Linus' existence in the strip. He doesn't actually appear for another week or so.

July 12, 1952: Charlie Brown is bi-lingual

Snoopy can say "Arf." So, apparently, can Charlie Brown, even though he isn't a native speaker.

July 11, 1952: Gimmie some candy!

Patty doesn't seem to be concerned about her own health, does she?

July 8, 1952: HE SPEAKS

Schroeder utters complete sentences!

Also, he can somehow whistle chords!

Sunday, July 6, 1952: Group picture

Lucy still has her round eyes (which look even weirder than usual in the second panel). Snoopy says "Shh!" And it's another turnabout/chase strip, demonstrating that, while Charlie Brown has been seeming depressed lately, he's still got a lot of his old self in there.