June 22, 1953: Lucy and the bugs

When I read this strip, I have a strong sense that we are now firmly in the era of classic Peanuts. The characters are solidly of that style, as opposed to the early or modern styles. There's still some evolution left to occur within the style, everything becomes just a little simpler over time and the characters get slightly more realistically proportioned, but we're mostly there now I think.

Two things that really drive this sense home for me. First, the theme and writing of the strip are solidly of the classic versions of the characters. We haven't really seen a crabby Lucy yet, but Lucy was never an entirely angry little girl, she has good days even in her tyrant years. And second, Charlie Brown's eyes when facing the reader, here, seem to be closer together than we've seen recently, which was the major thing about him that still harkened back to the old style.

Sunday, June 21, 1953: Linus thinks

Being thoughts, this doesn't count as Linus' first words. I'm not even sure this counts as Linus' first thought balloons, but I can't find the strip in the archives in which he complains about "big kids," which is the prior use I remember so maybe that comes later. But I think it is the first example of Linus' voice really coming through clearly to the reader, even if it isn't audible to other characters.

Linus is interesting because we first get a few strips with him thinking before he actually starts talking. Sally also does this when she shows up. I think Rerun gets it too.

June 20, 1953: Peanuts' evolving sense of humor

A different strip would have Snoopy bite down on the bone, have a sight gag of his reaction, and then maybe him chasing Charlie Brown. In fact, Peanuts itself wouldn't really be above that kind of joke right now.

But where this strip shows growth is that Schulz purposely passed up the chance to draw a funny picture of Snoopy biting a rubber bone to make a strip where he's embarrassed because he expected treachery and didn't find it.

Schulz also avoided Talking Head Syndrome (where a strip's joke is entirely dialogue, using art pretty much solely to attribute speech) by giving us good drawings of mortified Snoopy, laughing Charlie Brown and thoughtful Patty.

June 18, 1953: Lucy in a chase strip

Charlie Brown is enjoying that ice cream a little too ostentatiously, isn't he? That's why this strip is funny.

Although Lucy certainly becomes the most rancorous Peanuts character, this kind of harassment is not really what we think of as her "style," I think.

June 16-17, 1953: We Love Lucy: WINNAR FOREVAR

June 16, 1953


This is a brilliant strip. Lucy's ludicrous winning streak inflates bizarrely into megalomania, and all Charlie Brown can do is close his eyes in dismay. Sublimely silly!

June 17, 1953


Well at least he's charitable about it. Why should he deny Lucy the experience of winning another game of checkers?

June 13 and Sunday, June 14, 1953: The evil side of Charlie Brown

Charlie Brown isn't a very nice kid in these two comics.

June 13, 1953

Patty and Violet's reaction at the end here (including off-screen violence) is a bit exaggerated. I mean, they didn't have to follow CB's suggestions.

Sunday, June 14, 1953

This one is actually a little disturbing, considering that Schulz actually drew the flashbacks of Charlie Brown's antisocial behavior. Violet's reaction here seems quite justified. We can accept Charlie Brown's rueful chagrimace at the end as due to regret over personal failings rather than a "that's the way it goes" kind of resignation.

Is that how Violet fell off her tricycle? Because CB pushed her?

Who really throws lumps of sod at people? Did Schulz choose a clump of earth because it's less injurious than, say, a rock?

Wait a second, did he say plaid ice cream?

June 12, 1953: Gimmie that milk, fool

Setting aside why CB (using "Good Grief" for the second time) feels he needs to obey Lucy's request for his milk.... is she drinking through her nose? Why doesn't the liquid spill out?

(Sorry this is a little late. Blogger likes to sometimes take posts I mark for "scheduled" and set them to "draft" without telling me.)

June 11, 1953: You DOG You

Snoopy in the first panel looks so serious. Snoopy in the second and third panels is a little weird. Snoopy looks a bit different when seen in three-quarters perspective, I think. His face changes shape a little, becomes more rounded and flatter. Peanuts is so stylized that the characters have what amounts to different designs when seen from different angles.

June 9, 1953: Violet throws Charlie Brown out again

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!

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

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.