February 25, 1953: Charlie Brown takes an oath

I love this strip. The joke is actually kind of subtle, that Lucy's fussiness (slowly being established through showing, instead of just telling) might actually have a rational basis, and that Charlie Brown could be convinced of it. (Or, alternatively, Charlie Brown has a very dry sense of humor.)

I can't imagine any other comic strip choosing to make this kind of joke in exactly this way. Maybe Bloom County, but no it'd have made it a little sillier. Maybe Mutts (with Mooch in Lucy's role?), but no, Earl wouldn't take Charlie Brown's line at the end. This style of humor, in comics, is unique to Peanuts.

I can imagine Lucy's making this explanation on Ask Metafilter or something. (Her username would be "fussbudget," of course.)

February 24, 1953: Snoopy the Opportunist

Further establishment of Snoopy's food-crazy personality.

Sometimes a crazy sight gag can stand on its own, and sometimes it needs a reaction frame to set it off. This one, I think, needs the reaction panel.

February 21, 1953: Snoopy fetches

A simple, elegant strip.

February 19, 1953: Lucy works on her psychoanalysis degree

Lucy provides a dismissive, yet possibly accurate, diagnosis of a character from literature. It's the first time Lucy does something that could be considered psychiatry (seen practiced later from her famous booth), and the first time the strip has directly named some behavior as neurotic, an important step towards the sophistication of its classic period.

February 18, 1953: Obligatory flip-out

This is another case where Lucy's reaction to Charlie Brown's tantrum (running away, saying "Are you through?") are important because they show that CB's behavior is not merely cartoon exaggeration, it's supposed to be read as a tantrum.

Sunday, February 15, 1953: Linus is scornful

This is the second strip in which Lucy demonstrates her great capacity for malice, after the "Don't murder me Charlie Brown" one a few months ago.

It could also be considered to be Linus' first word.

Valentine's Day, 1953: The First Time Charlie Brown Got No Valentines

The Little Red-Haired Girl is some time off, but still, this is the first time Charlie Brown is depressed from getting no valentines. It's got a "chagrimace" and everything.

Aren't school valentines a shamefully artificial thing these days anyway? In order to prevent kids from feeling rejected, I seem to remember that we were encouraged to just give one to everyone in class, regardless of gender.

February 12, 1953: Hey! Hey!

Doesn't this actually just serve as more evidence that Charlie Brown's right? If Shermy had used Snoopy's name Charlie Brown wouldn't have thought he was being called.

February 9, 1953: Spite Candy

This is a great strip! I'm going to try to work "spite candy," or other spite things, into conversations.

Sunday, February 8, 1953: J'ACCUSE

This is an excellent strip.

I love Lucy's direct, indignant accusation of Snoopy: "You took TWO!" Although nowhere in her counting panels does she say the word "two," which makes me wonder if the spoken-aloud counting is a sham.

If the counting is taken to be real, my explanation is that Lucy has developer her own, personal representation of the number system, which she uses internally and translates when speaking to others. When she's speaking out loud as an aid to counting however, she uses her own symbols.

The question marks (excusing the fact that there are three of them) in the last panel are a bit weird, like he's questioning now Lucy's counting system but his own inability to comprehend it.

Oh, and Snoopy has thought balloons with word balloon tails here again.