January 23, 1951: Why he's called "Snoopy"

Snoopy's personality continues to develop.  Clearly, here is a dog of uncommon intelligence.  At least we now know why he's called "Snoopy."

January 22, 1951: He's asking for it

Another chase here, after Charlie Brown slyly insults Patty, who is beginning to show almost Lucy-like characteristics of ire.  Also, check out Charlie Brown's Shakesperian posing in the third panel.  It's best not to compare the length of his arms to the size of his head here.

Another thing to notice here is that the characters, viewed from the site, don't look tremendously different from their modern incarnations.  When we get a head-on or three-quarters view, however, they'll still look fairly alien.

January 20, 1951: Dogs and ties

Notice that Charlie Brown calls Snoopy "that dog."  He still hasn't been named yet.

Once again, the joke is a simple visual gag borne of subjecting kids to the trappings of adults.  Why would CB wear an adult's tie?  But there's also the strangeness of the situation.  How could this state of events have come about?

EDIT: karlosthejackal notes, in the comments, that Snoopy was named in the past. Thanks ktj, I should take better notes!

January 19, 1951: Give him some Prozac

There's a strong New Yorker-cartoon vibe to this one, with kids throwing around psychiatry terms. In the end it turns out to be nothing... or is it?  Surely there must be something wrong with a kid who purosely wears over-tight shows all day without taking them off....  Well, maybe he's breaking them in.

January 15, 1951: No wonder they hate Charlie Brown later

Another CB-and-Patty exchange here.  Boy, wasn't Charlie Brown something of a smart aleck back then? Maybe his later troubles are a result of negative karma build up during the first couple of years.

I think even the shaggy dog jokes from this era are saved, though, by Schulz's winning art style.  Look at Patty's "angry look" there.  So much emotion conveyed with a simple angry eyebrow and a balled fist.

January 11, 1951: The chair recognizes Patty

Revealed!  The secret origin of all those Peppermint Patty in school strips in the later days!  (No relation to the original Patty, of course.)  This is a pretty topical strip even today.  It's not hard to see one of the better modern strips using this joke.

Site news: Metafilter link, other things

Metafilter linked to the blog yesterday. Thanks for the promotion from Projects, KokuRyu!

Peter From Japan (from comments): I've switched the feed over to Full.

Issac (from comments): I think I will add a "depressing" category, thanks for the idea. Such a flag seems uniquely suited to Peanuts, although not so much in the early strips we're in now.

January 10, 1951: The chase is on

Another example of the last-panel turnabout joke, this time involving a chase.  Be warned: a lot of these are coming up.  It's funny how this joke, about "being hot" would be considered flirtatious today.  I like the exclamation point above Patty's head in the third panel, a way to show surprise without having it register on the character's face.

The punchline from Charlie Brown, "I get my laughs," is rather meta.  The formula on this style of joke is pretty strict, and the ultimate humor relies on coming up with something for the joking character to say in reference to his motive in the last panel.  Schulz used them enough that he must have had a hard time coming up with fresh punchlines for these sequences.

January 5, 1951: Loyalty, indeed

Another example of female violence.  I have to wonder to what extent Schulz was influenced by James Thurber....

What I like about this strip is the disconnect between Patty's opinion of Charlie Brown (the kid) and Charlie Brown (the name).  At least CB isn't too broken up about it.

January 4, 1951: Dad's not a boxer

Another example of the problem of what to do with the characters as they tell a verbal joke.  The joke itself, by the way, is a rather good one, turning on its end the "My dad can lick your dad" schoolyard argument.  At the end though, Schulz makes sure we know they don't hate their fathers.  For all the hostility these kids can display towards each other, Schulz's basic humanism somehow shines forth.  What a complicated man.