December 15, 1953: When Lucy had a conscience

View this strip at gocomics.com.

Is this remorse from Lucy for scaring the heck out of her brother yesterday?

December 14, 1953: Lucy goes that extra mile

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In this strip, we begin to see that Schulz is becoming more careful about showing emotions.  It's not just the hilariously shaken image of Linus in the last panel, it's that we can't get a good read on why Lucy did this.  She betrays no satisfaction or joy throughout the process.  It's like she's just doing what her mother told her like a good little girl.  But why is she sneaking up on her blissful brother?  Why is she shouting at him?  Later on the thrust of whole strips turn on whether a character's mouth was drawn with a slightly upturned stroke.

This is the third strip to use the "somersault" visual shorthand for violent disruptive motion.  The first time was in the first football strip (which has still yet to become a yearly thing).  The second time was, interestingly, another instance involving Lucy shouting near Linus.

Sunday, December 13, 1953: Schroeder's ready for the big time

Read this comic at gocomics.com.

Sometimes with these I think Schulz throws in realistically-proportioned adult objects just to demonstrate that he can draw well technically.  Of course Schroeder couldn't actually play the adult piano because his arms are too short; he'd barely be able to reach the keys unless the bench were right up against it.

I notice that, in some of the Sunday strips we've seen, there's a blank spot between a couple of the panels in the bottom row.  It's really noticeable because it always seems to overlap two of the panels.  Is this the result of some problem with their source documents?

META: Blogger Dynamic Views and Three

1.  As found on Metafilter, Tumblr blog 3eanuts presents four-panel Peanuts comic strips without the final panel.  The result is bleak and unrelenting, although I can't help but think what would happen if you did that with some other strips.  I think Dilbert would come out fairly well, since it often supplies subjokes along the way to the main joke, or uses the last panel to punctuate a joke that actually happened in panel 3.

2. Blogger has rolled out a new feature, called Dynamic Views.  Because I love you all, it is enabled on this blog.  (Also, it was on by default.)  Have a look!  The sidebar look is most useful I think, and I think that it could very easily become someone's "default" way of reading this blog.

I notice the add comment and rating features are missing from that view; you'd have to go to the main view pages to see those options.  I notice also that ads are not shown in that view, but that's okay.  I'll manage.  Somehow.... 

December 12, 1953: Mitten applications

Why does Patty look so concerned in the last panel?  I think it's less because of Charlie Brown's inventive use for a mitten as the fact that it looks like Snoopy is wearing one of her dresses.  Check it out in the first panel here.

Patty's dress has the same wide-spaced crosshatching that Snoopy's sweater has here.  The pattern of Patty's dress is of course covered up by her coat, which is why Schulz can use it for Snoopy's attire; otherwise the reader would be left wondering if there was some point of connection between the two.  I think it looks very nice on the dog, as it gives his sweater a kind of quilted look.

December 11, 1953: World-shaking calamity

Read this strip on gocomics.com.

This is a bigger deal to Charlie Brown than the rest of us because such a large percentage of his hair is disarranged.  (75%, that one on the back of his head passed unmolested.)

This does seem to make it clear that Charlie Brown has exactly four hairs.

December 10, 1953: Limits to Lucy's fussiness

Read this strip at gocomics.com.

Here Schulz subverts the pattern he's used several times, where Lucy finds fault with some kindness of Charlie Brown's and he upends something on Lucy's head in response.  Thing is this time Lucy has a point, but puts up with it anyway if there's no alternative.

Sunday, December 6, 1953: Snoopy appreciates the source of beta-carotene

Read this strip at gocomics.com.

It's amazing how much care Schulz put into Peanuts' backgrounds in the old days.  Look at all the different kinds of tree, the houses, the snow and the path.  Patty has a couple of very nice poses in this one too, especially with her shovel.  Charlie Brown running up to see her in panel 4 is also very good; panel 4 overall is one of the most beautiful of the whole strip's run.  The characters, despite their stylistic deformations, are realized in three dimensions very well.

Of course dogs will eat just about anything, but is it weird that Snoopy likes carrots so much that he'd swipe one off a snowman? 

December 5, 1953: Reciprocal slobber

Read this strip at gocomics.com.

There are a few strips that notice a basic similarity between the behavior of very little kids and dogs, and by my reckoning this is the first.  I seem to remember a few strips that played this up when Sally comes on the scene, when she and Snoopy team up to steal Linus' blanket.

Why is the noise of Snoopy licking depicted as "smack," and why is it in a word balloon?

When characters stoop over, like Lucy is in panel three, it seems easy to imagine them unfolding their legs and ending up much taller than they should be.

December 4, 1953: Winter in Peanutsland

Read this strip at gocomics.com.

This strip has some very nice backgrounds in it.  Later on Schulz, for whatever reason, would largely abandon tying to depict his characters' world in such detail, so let's enjoy it while it lasts.