December 20, 1952: 4,000 games

The key difference between this strip and prior "Oh Those Kids" strips is the expression on Charlie Brown's face in the last two panels. Before, if Schulz did a strip like this, Charlie Brown would have a neutral expression at the end. Here, he's speaking sarcastically. With just a lowered eyebrow drawn over the eye, the entire point of the joke has changed.

The Peanuts characters are unusually difficult to draw in complex poses, due to their short arms and legs, but Schulz does a good job with CB's legs in the last panel.

December 18-19, 1952: Now that's a sad kid

Schroeder in the third panel is rather sadder than the average. His expression is maybe a little overdone? Anyway the kid is probably four or five right now, that's rather young to be obsessed with playing the big room.



He's not sad at all here.

December 16-17, 1952: Charlie Brown writes to Santa

This is a very Calvinesque pair of strips, as in, Watterson got a lot of mileage out of Calvin's letters to Santa. I especially like the second one, I find it hilarious.

Sunday, December 14, 1952: Sandwich histrionics

Lucy remarks about Charlie Brown's annoyance with her asking him to do something. This is another case of a character's personality becoming defined from another character's verbal recognition of it.

That happens because comics use exaggerated behavior as a way to communicating effectively to the reader. To show anger, you show a character actually kicking the thing he's angry at, even though a real person would not usually do such a thing. It illustrates anger effectively however, and I think readers subconsciously recognize this and adjust their expectations. But it also means that, to actually establish a character's personality, you have to describe it explicitly somewhere, and in a strip that doesn't (generally) use narration like Peanuts you have to do that by putting that description in the mouth of another character.

Schulz would become quite masterful about adjusting reader expectations. His characters are able to act out theatrically when necessary, but can also play it very far down at times.

I also like the serif lettering on "RATS!" in panel 7.

December 13, 1952: Lucy offhandedly remarks

I could remark something about her incredibly Lucy rage, but Charlie Brown's already done this in a previous strip. Lucy has too.

December 11, 1952: Zombie Linus!

Look at it in the wrong frame of mind and there's something gruesome about the last panel here. Be careful around TV kids, it'll transform your eyes into circular scribbles.

December 9, 1952: It's the classics for Schroeder

It is worth reminding the reader that light piano jazz would become inseparable from the animated adaptations of Peanuts, so we must assume that Schroeder's not speaking on behalf of Charles Schulz in this strip.

December 8, 1952: Charlie Brown changes his shirt

It is rather a long time to go on wearing the same shirt. But the other characters have their own distinctive looks, including Violet, so it's really unfair to pick on the kid for this.

I wonder what it was that caused Schulz to decide on that distinctive zig-zag pattern, which is not a style of shirt that I am aware of as ever being popular, or at least not other than in the sense of referencing Peanuts.

December 6, 1952: Delayed reaction

I think it's just the idea of "BOO" that startles Charlie Brown in this strip. A philosophical horror at the nature of the word.

I think it's almost funnier that Lucy's so confident that her trick will work.

December 3, 1952: Linus and the ball

Schroeder and Lucy have grown too much to be the strip's baby, now it's Linus' turn to have hapless infant adventures. After Linus grows to be the same age as the other characters, the strip doesn't get another new infant until Sally, and then she's the last one until Rerun, who doesn't show up for a long time.