Saturday, October 30, 2010

June 9, 1953: Violet throws Charlie Brown out again

Peanuts

This strip is another episode of the "Violet evicts Charlie Brown" saga that has been going for some time. At some point, possibly when the art style became more detailed, this stops seeming cute and starts seeming cruel. It's not now because Violet has a change of heart, but eventually her reservations diminish.

Charlie Brown's playing with blocks seems odd here. Although he's represented as being very young, he and his friends more typically play cowboys or spaceships. Blocks are usually used for the (even) younger characters, Lucy and Linus.

Scribble of ire!

Friday, October 29, 2010

Sunday, June 7: More Than You Ever Wanted To Know About Jumping Ropes

Peanuts

Awesome. I think I even like the joke in the lead throwaway panels better than the main strip!

There are shades here of Linus' pontificating a litany of made-up sightings of the Great Pumpkin.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

June 5, 1953: Back when Charlie Brown had self-esteem

Peanuts

I have to admit to feeling this way myself sometimes. I don't usually take Charlie Brown's tack to resolving it however, because... well, for exactly this reason.

In panel two, compared to the door, notice that Charlie Brown seems very small. There is no way he could reach the door handle. To state it plainly, usually the characters are drawn so they wouldn't have to reach up so far to reach doorknobs.

Made a minor edit....

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

June 4, 1953: Charlie Brown No Longer Exists

Peanuts

There is some kind of logical fallacy at work here, although I can't precisely identify it right now. It's the kind of thing I'd say "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence" to.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

June 1, 1953: Lucy's infatuation grows

Peanuts

More storm clouds on the horizon for poor Schroeder.

Compare, for a moment, the length of Schroeder's arms (the only straight arms in this strip) with those of the girls. It points out a notable quirk of Peanuts' art style, one that I seem to remember reading somewhere Schulz lamenting. That is, the normal length of the kids' arms only works if they're held straight. If they're bent they're obviously too short, so Schulz has to cheat them longer a bit. If he drew them longer when held straight they'd reach down too far, almost to the knees.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Sunday, May 31, 1953: Snoopy's not fond of fetch

Peanuts

Another of the earliest strips in which Snoopy gets thought balloons. He becomes much more of a real character with them, instead of just a creature that does funny things and has funny things happen to him.

Snoopy refers to chasing the ball as a way of making a living. Is kind of a throwaway line, but it does imply that Charlie Brown must be feeding him, putting another point in the owner column.

I'm not sure why I'm fascinated by the symmetrical gasping and panting in panel six. Seems a bit overdone, though.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

May 30, 1953: Look out, Schroeder!

Peanuts

I think we all know where this is heading....

How do you say hearts?

Saturday, October 23, 2010

May 27, 1953: Falling off the Tricycle

Peanuts

This is a funny strip I think.

Charlie Brown is the most versatile, by far, member of the cast. He can by turns be a smart-aleck, a victim, a bit of a jerk, a bit stupid, sly, witty, determined or hopeful.

Patty is becoming less of a foil for Charlie Brown, and Violet is turning against him generally. Those two characters mostly exist to bounce off of CB; Schulz seems less able to think of things for them to do on their own. Shermy has even less of his own existence.

Schroeder probably has the deepest private life of all the characters. Lucy and Linus sometimes each get strips to themselves, although, strangely, not too many with just the two of them. Snoopy gets his own strip sometimes too; he hasn't made a habit of having his own thoughts yet, though, so most of the time his strips have to be pantomime which is harder to write.

How do you fall off a tricycle?

Friday, October 22, 2010

May 25, 1953: You 'Ol Charlie Brown, You

Peanuts

This is the unreasoning hatred we're used to seeing from Violet, as well as the self-esteem issues of CB. It's been interesting to watch Charlie Brown's self-satisfaction fade for the past couple of years of the strip. The other characters still a lot of wearing down to perform on him though; Lucy hasn't even come into her full malicious strength yet.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Sunday, May 24: Lucy the expert

Peanuts

This strip is very much classic Peanuts in style. The first years of the strip usually used Sunday comics to present a bunch of jokes that might as well have been about any little kids. This one speaks to a definite personality. In fact, the joke at the end is kind of weak; the strip is more concerned with illustrating Lucy's authority on the subject of jump ropes than its result.