May 22, 1953: The Betty Crocker of dirt

She might be drawn differently now, but Violet still seems fascinated with mud pies.

We watched it happen, but I'm still amazed by how differently the characters look now from how they looked three short years ago. It affects how we feel about them I think; this version of Violet doesn't look to be as sweet-natured as the little girl Schulz introduced originally. That's an important step towards her developing antagonist role.

May 21, 1953: On the mound: The origin of the pitcher's mound

This is the first strip in which there is an actual pitcher's mound, and not a flat spot of earth. Of course the later mound is a lot wider, but it's not actually much shorter.

One flaw with the premise of this strip: when the other team is up to pitch, wouldn't it help them just as much?

May 19, 1953: Snoopy viciously attacked by yard apparatus

This is one of a type of strip from around this time where Snoopy is attacked by some mechanical device that he fails to understand. These strips rely on the dog being naive on the subject of human invention, which requires a certain flexibility of characterization.

Remember, this is the same dog that lives in a duplex and has been seen with a TV aerial atop his house. But Snoopy is used here more for being a dog than for being Snoopy. Later, when his personality becomes less doglike, these jokes will make less sense.

May 18, 1953: On the mound: The baseball changes hands

In an earlier strip the baseball was Schroeder's, and Charlie Brown told him to take it and run home when his team was in the lead.

I think this is the first use of the term "good grief."

Sunday, May 17, 1953: Dirt, marvellous dirt

I think this is quite a charming strip, despite the return to the theme of mud pie baking. Frames 6-8 contain what I consider to be among the most winning drawings of Patty Schulz ever drew. I think it's the hair; the dirt lends it a shading that makes it seem a bit more real, a bit less stylized.

Patty's willingness to get messy echoes the character of "Peppermint" Patty. Schulz and Peanuts notes that the two are based on the same real-life person, making the flavored version kind of a revision of the original.

May 14-16, 1953: Comics, and the foundation of "Happiness Is"

This is mostly notable because it's Schulz engaging in more metacommentary about comics.



One of the more insipid trends in Peanuts is those cloying "Happiness Is..." pictures. I actually don't think they were ever that prevalent in the comics; I think they were used more in books and merchandising. Still, this is a step in that direction. It is also the first instance, to my eyes, of Charlie Brown bemoaning his fate in the recognized Charlie Brown manner.



I think that would actually be a funny strip, in a New Yorker kind of way. (Which means other people probably wouldn't think it'd be a funny strip.)

May 13, 1953: Baseball Blockhead

First use of the word "blockhead." Also, the first strip in which another character comments on Charlie Brown's lack of pitching skill.

May 12, 1953: Snoopy's duplex

This strip is a variant of those previous sight-gag strips in which Snoopy's house had a TV antenna and where he lived in a hotel.

It's funny, but it also slowly pushes the edge on what is seen as "normal" in the Peanuts world. Snoopy's growth into his vibrant later personality is gradual, the change accomplished slowly through strips like this.

May 11, 1953: Snoopy and the realistic bird

This is only the second bird ever seen in the strip; the first was seen early on, and actually looked more like Schulz's adult bird design (which to clarify _doesn't_ look similar to Woodstock) than this one.

This is only the third non-Snoopy animal seen in the strip. (The second was a generic dog who chased a car.) The worm would be the fourth, I guess.

Sunday, May 10, 1953: Lucy and the Balloon

Here we get a glimpse at the struggle that roils just beneath Lucy's exterior. Notice how she alternates between pleading and threatening? Speaking in terms of the development of her personality, the threatening would eventually win out. Later Lucy would probably pop the balloon just from the dire intensity of her incredible wrath.

The lead panels, not printed by some papers and thus optional, are interesting here. What do put put in those panels so that it's still understandable from their absence, but still in some way contributes to the story? Schulz had yet to hit upon his trick of putting an abstract drawing in the first panel. Here, they're used to underline the point that Lucy has anthropomorphized the balloon.

This is also the first strip I've noticed in which Peanut's catch-all expletive "Rats" is used.