August 31, 1953: Teaming up

Violet can be something of a copycat, can't she?

Complaining that CB is crazy or talks too much I guess I could possibly understand, but how could the kid do anything about his face?

Sunday, August 30, 1953: It looks a bit like this

There are two versions of this premise. There's the one where one of the characters directly compares CB's head to a ball (usually concluded with a chase), and there's instances such as this one where a character indirectly remarks that Charlie Brown's head is round like a ball.

The very first joke about the size and shape of CB's head was of the second type, when the kid was in the water and Patty and Violet wondered why a beachball had floated out so far.

This is far from the last joke about the poor boy's head.

August 28, 1953: Lucy fusses, again

We've seen this setup several times by now. Whether Lucy's asking for a glass of water, or for sandwiches with the crusts cut off, she just doesn't seem satisfied. CB's reaction this time is the same as the previous instances. Lucy doesn't yet have the muscle to back up her demands.

August 27, 1953: Be careful what you wish for

This seems more like a Lucy maneuver than something Patty would do, not because Lucy is spiteful (she hasn't shown a lot of that yet) but just from misunderstanding Charlie Brown's request. Maybe Schulz used Patty because she's physically larger than Lucy, and thus more obviously capable of shoving CB out of his seat.

August 26, 1953: Charlie Brown the killjoy

Most of the characters in your standard comic strip have what might be charitably termed "quirks." Usually, comics don't intend you to emphasize with them. The humor comes from laughing at rather than with. One of Peanuts' great innovations is in making all of its characters, at one time or another, truly relatable. Even the terrible Lucy, at the height of her fell power, had strips in which she was a more-or-less normal little girl.

But of all these characters, Charlie Brown, the one Schulz himself described as the Everyman of the cast, is the one who is obviously the one intended to be empathized with the most. That's why I like these strips in which the focus is on another character reacting to CB, instead of the reverse.

August 24, 1953: Oh Come ON Charlie Brown

This is at least the second strip with this theme. Currently, Schulz's emphasis is on showing that Charlie Brown's neuroses are paranoid, and even a bit egotistical. That goes away after a while.

Sunday, August 23, 1953: Be specific with Snoopy

There's something of Calvin reacting to his dad in Snoopy's responses to Charlie Brown here. There's a later strip, involving a camera, that's makes this even more noticeable.

In the next-to-last strip, Snoopy's snout is thicker than usual, moving him closer to his modern appearance. But he's still got a long way to go there.

August 22, 1953: Snoopy vs. the Yard: The Ball

Another chapter in the tale of a poor young dog's persecution by lawn equipment.

August 21, 1953: 6,000 games now

6,000 games now.

If we accept that Lucy is by now maybe five years old, and assume that she was somehow playing from birth, that makes for 100 games a day month. Somehow I think they might have counted wrong.

August 19 is a duplicate. Anyone with access to the Fantagraphics collections able to fill us in on it?

EDIT: Joshua Probert mentions in the comments that "day" is way off. He's correct, it's more like per month. Still, considering the ostensible amount of time these kinds have been alive (which already looks silly compared to the time the strip's been running), 6,000 games is still fairly ludicrous, you must admit.

August 17, 1953: Potato chips, oh boy!

Walking over the potato chips that she's dumped onto the floor is a nice touch.