Sunday, November 13, 2011
EXTRA: R. Crumb on C. Schulz
"I liked Peanuts for a while. In the late '50s, early '60s, I read it. It was good; well written and funny. I didn’t mind the minimalist drawing style. He caught on because his stuff was so cute and still kind of poignant and meaningful that everybody liked it. Everybody! How could you not like it? Who could dislike it? [laughs] There’s not a thing unlikeable about it. And because of that, Shultz became the richest cartoonist – one of the richest men in America. I met him once actually, at a book fair in San Francisco. He told me he liked my work, which took me aback."
Saturday, November 12, 2011
EXTRA: XKCD makes a subtle Peanuts joke
Page: http://xkcd.com/972/
Hover over the image on that page to see the source of the joke made overt. It's a reference to a very silly Lucy/Linus Sunday exchange, which starts off when Linus tells his sister "I'm aware of my tongue."
January 17-22, 1955: It Snow Trouble
Another snow pun for a title! Get used to them, it's far from the last....
We had another strip like this not long ago, where Charlie Brown didn't seem to come out of it too badly, but poor Snoopy was overwhelmed. Like in that strip, the funniest thing to me is how effortlessly Charlotte Braun belts out her words. There's a good set of lungs on the girl.
Oh no. Oh, no no no no no. What character in comicdom can get something as willfully wrong as can Lucy Van Pelt? Other than Mallard Fillmore, of course. Lucy actually knows she's wrong unconsciously, I think, which is why she sets herself against Charlie Brown's disagreement before she even hears his opinion. She's so happy with her discovery.
Notice... both here and in the previous strip, Schulz draws forward-facing characters with neutral expressions without a mouth, possibly for parity with the way he draws his characters when they face the side. He experimented with this a time or two before. He abandons it eventually.
I've had conversations with people that have gone exactly like this, right down to my depressed skulking away at the end.
Another mouthless face. And Lucy called Charlie Brown's face funny-looking.
Charlie Brown has some standard ways of expressing displeasure, which are already beginning to get set in. 1. "Good grief." 2. "I can't stand it." 3. "My stomach hurts."
Schroeder is practicing his scowl for the role.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Sunday, January 19, 1955: Nervous energy
Read this strip at gocomics.com.
Charlie Brown started out very slightly antisocial. Now he's moved into obsessive compulsive disorder. He's shown some signs of depression, but it hasn't really set in yet. The market isn't yet large enough to support five cent psychiatrist booths, but it's coming.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
January 10-15, 1955: Lucy is hard on toys
A disturbing insight into Lucy's attitude towards property.
For some reason this strip reminds me of that disco version of Beethoven's 5th Symphony.
That's kind of hyperbolic. Lucy didn't even know what a metronome was before Monday!
Girls in Peanuts tend to be rather more rough-and-tumble than in other strips. Lucy, of course, eventually gets to where she won't think twice about returning a slug in the jaw for an insult. "Peppermint" Patty won't even be arriving on the scene for many years yet.
When someone tells you to close your eyes, yeah, it's usually a good idea not to if you can get away with it. Anyway, why doesn't Violet just rummage through her candy bag facing the other way?
An enthusiastic speech by Schroeder, boldly staking his claim as the neighborhood artist.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
January 3-8, 1955: It snow problem
Snoopy vs. the Yard: Snowflakes
This is the first sign of strife between Lucy and Linus concerning Linus' blanket. Still, Linus' holding onto a security blanket hasn't been presented in anything other than positive terms otherwise -- this seems to be more Lucy selfishly claiming Linus' property as her own than shame or anger that he's carrying it around.
Lucy might have just a touch of OCD....
It is funny when a character defines a trait so completely that it causes extraordinary things to occur. Pig-Pen seems quite pleased by his accomplishment, and even the snowman itself seems happier than average.
Lucy's mood continues to sour. Although Linus hasn't spoken much yet, we can already see their relative ages beginning to approach each other.
It's like, the snow might all melt tomorrow, so might as well get your snowman quota for the year out of the way now.
It's becoming harder to find insightful things to say about every strip, and it was never the purpose of the blog to re-publish every strip anyway, so it is probable that soon we'll go back to only notable strips, of which there are still a good number at this point.
Monday, October 31, 2011
December 30, 1954-January 2, 1955: Once upon a time they lived happily ever after
gocomics' archives are missing the strips from December 27-29, 1954. Anyone have access to these strips? Perhaps it's just as well as, other than the Sunday strip, these aren't particularly inspiring, IMO.
The doggy tradition of eating anything offered to them has its pitfalls.
But the wool fibers are the best part!
Another of the surprisingly long-running series of strips involving Snoopy trying to watch television.
This is a good one. The exchange in the lead panel, "Charlie Brown" in a sing-song voice delivered by Lucy followed by a weary "Good grief" from the other, was probably duplicated in at least one football strip. We've had one strip so far in which Lucy pulled away the football that Charlie Brown was trying to kick (twice), but it was accidental, and it hasn't become a yearly tradition yet. This strip brings us closer to the antagonistic relationship that is at the heart of the football strips.
It's also pretty witty. "Once upon a time they lived happily ever after. The end." That's what we call simplifying the equation right there.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Sunday, December 26, 1954: Schroeder's Mania
Read this strip at gocomics.com.
"You'll never believe this, but I was hoping you'd come over.." Gee thanks, kid.
This strip neatly encapsulates much of Schroeder's character. I remember seeing it in a compilation when I was maybe eight or so. Even then I had trouble believing in the existence of 12-volume biographies of Ludwig van Beethoven in comic book form, Beethoven ballpoint pens and Beethoven bubble-gum, but maybe there's some Beethoven subculture out there I've had no contact with. Is that Beethoven brand bubblegum, or is it bubblegum with Beethoven trading cards? Anyway, "Very scowly."
I imagine one of Schroeder's parents getting him the train in a desperate attempt to broaden the kid's interests outside his overpowering obsession. Because idolization is one thing, but this is bizarre.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
December 20-25, 1954: Square Balloons and Christmas Day
Here's another early sequence, in which Linus confounds Charlie Brown by blowing balloons into cubes. I've joked about Linus having uncanny powers, but how else can you explain this?
At least you can stack them neatly this way.
Look at Lucy's look of horror in the second panel. This strip makes it a little more clear what Schulz is getting at with this sequence. Although blowing up balloons into squares is a marvelous skill, Charlie Brown seems to think it's something wrong somehow, and Lucy thinks it'll bring dishonor to her house. I guess people put more importance into balloon-inflating style back in 1954.
Even if he tries to blow it up into a rough sphere, it comes out square. This could be taken as a metaphor for something I suppose. Actually, multiple somethings.
What would happen if you gave Linus an innertube to blow up?
"Hey! Come back with my pagan idol of music!" "Take it easy, I'm just replacing it with a good, honest Christian symbol! Er, that used to be an element of nature-worship. Merry Christmas!"
We'll have more of Charlie Brown and Schroeder and Christmas next time....
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Sunday, December 19, 1954: That kids really likes that rubber band
Read this strip at gocomics.com.
When Lucy gives you rubber, Linus makes rubber-ade. And this is full-bore Lucy here, in full Hate Mode. The funniest thing about it I think is Linus' annoyed scribble of ire as Lucy addresses him with a serif'd "Hey!" He knows what's coming.
That's a weird look on Linus' face in the last panel.