Saturday, April 10, 2010

August 23, 1952: WEIRDSNOOPY

Peanuts

Beware the wrath of WEIRDSNOOPY



Scribble of rage!

Friday, April 9, 2010

August 22, 1952: A Grand Coup

Peanuts

The second strip with Lucy beating Charlie Brown at checkers. "A grand coup!" sounds awkward to me, maybe it was some gaming lingo that was going around Schulz's bridge circle, or something?

Thursday, April 8, 2010

August 19, 1952: Snoopy the impassive

Peanuts

Q. No one has been able to tell us what kind of dog we have. I am enclosing a sketch of one of his two postures. He only has two. The other one is the same as this except he faces in the opposite direction. - Mrs EUGENIA BLACK

A. I think that what you have is a cast-iron lawn dog. The expressionless eye and the rigid pose are characteristic of metal lawn animals. And that certainly is a cast-iron ear. You could, however, remove all doubt by means of a simple test with a hammer and a cold chisel, or an acetylene torch. If the animal chips, or melts, my diagnosis is correct.

--James Thurber, the Pet Department, The Thurber Carnival. Original text with illustration.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Sunday, August 17, 1952: Ragequit

Peanuts

This is the beginning of a running gag in which Lucy builds up an incredible winning streak against Charlie Brown at checkers. It's a major part of the building of CB's defeatest attitude.

It is interesting to note Charlie Brown's reaction to his own behavior in panel 7. When he went on a rage tirade a few weeks ago, enough that the girls hid behind trees to get away (similar to Lucy's reaction here), we accepted it even though it'd look pretty disturbing in real life because comics exaggerate and illustrate emotions to enable us readers to more easily see them. Here, however, the comic takes his behavior and has him react to it with realistic dismay. It's a rather cool little deconstruction of the form.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

August 14, 1952: Schroeder's address

Peanuts

Another of those little facts to file away for use in trivia contests. Schroeder's address is 1770 James Street.

Monday, April 5, 2010

August 11, 1952: Comic strip logic

Peanuts

Well, it makes a kind of sense. Presumably it wouldn't have worked if it hadn't been a toy telephone, or if Lucy had been talking to a person.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

August 9, 1952: HE SPEAKS

Peanuts

The most interesting thing about this strip is that, finally, Schroeder says something more than a word or two, and in English.

Saturday, April 3, 2010

August 8, 1952: Charlie Brown wins one

Peanuts

Is Snoopy actually playing, or is Charlie Brown playing both sides? For the most part the dog has shown mostly dog-like abilities. But if he's not really playing, then why does he seem invested in the game?

Charlie Brown certainly put the game away fast in the last panel.

Friday, April 2, 2010

August 7, 1952: Music humor

Peanuts

You know, I get the feeling that real musicians probably crack bad composer puns all the time.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

June 23, 1978: Happiness is....


It never ceases to amaze me how different the strip looked in the early days. Well, at least he stopped doing those saccharine "Happiness is..." bits.