gocomic's archive is missing strips for the 7th through the 9th of April, 1955. Can anyone tell us what the Fantagraphics collections have for those days?
Sunday, February 5, 2012
April 4-6 & Sunday April 10, 1955
Sunday, January 29, 2012
March 27-April 2, 1955: The Martian Chronicles
A fairly intriguing sequence this week, continuing the prior spaceman strips. Schulz gets some good mileage out of halftone shading, a system which I don't think I recall him using much outside of these strips. Maybe he got given a free sample of halftone transfer sheets or something and figured, in a thrifty midwestern sort of way, that he should at least get some use out of them.
More halftone language gags. What sound is Charlie Brown actually producing in these strips? I like to think it's like radio static, but that's difficult to shout like in the third panel here.
Whatever sounds C.B. is actually making, Lucy seems to be learning to understand it.
And to translate it! But this all is simply a throwaway joke for CMS, something to use one week then never refer to ever again.
This strip proves that the halftone speech effect is not a representation of distortion provided by the helmet but some sound Charlie Brown was actually making. Lucy takes the opportunity to rag on C.B.'s round head again.
Hey kids, don't try this with a cat! I love how Schulz leaves the actual rubbing undepicted -- you can tell what happened just from context, Snoopy's fur, and the look on Snoopy's face.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Sunday, March 27, 1955: Bumpety-bump
Read this strip at gocomics.com.
The best thing about this strip is the lead panels, the two that some newspapers would strip out. That hilariously cold way Charlie Brown greets Lucy, who immediately shows why he's responding that way. It's difficult to mistake "fussbudget" for a compliment this time.
Linus' display of skill is typical for him -- almost everything he tries he turns out to be great at. Imagine Charles Schulz sitting hunched over his desk, thinking of all the ways be can write out the word "bumpety" and "bump."
Imagine him doing that, and imagine him thinking to himself afterwards, "How did I manage to land this wonderful job?"
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
March 21-26, 1955: What did you expect?
March 23
March 24Another serif'd word, the "Hey" in Lucy's speech in the first pane. I wonder what it was that inspired Schulz to use serifs for emphasis.
March 25This strip is the beginning of the long war between Snoopy and Linus -- to the victor goes the blanket. Snoopy may hate cats, but he's definitely picked up this maneuver off of one of them.
March 26
Monday, January 2, 2012
Sunday, March 20, 1955: STOMP STOMP STOMP
Sunday, December 25, 2011
March 14-19, 1955: ALL RIGHT, THAT'S ENOUGH
March 15
March 16
March 17
March 18
March 19
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Sunday, March 13, 1955: Charlie Brown's going to regret that "kind of dumb" remark
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
March 7-12, 1955: Candy and bugs
Friday, December 2, 2011
February 28-March 5, 1955: Everybody look down, it's all in your mind
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 1955: Lucy's not the most discriminating thinker
Monday, November 21, 2011
February 14-19, 1955: Snoopy hates that balloon
February 15Modern times. If this strip were updated for the present day Charlie Brown's farm would probably be industrial agribusiness.
February 16
February 17
February 18
February 19
Friday, November 18, 2011
February 6-13, 1955: Square Balloons and Valentine's Day
We have a fairly uninteresting Sunday strip to lead off, so I included the following week with it. And then just to go that little bit farther, I included the next Sunday strip in with it.
Well, they can't all be winners. Although the sight of a snowman with extremely long arms is kind of amusing. Next!
More of Linus' square balloons. This does make it a lot easier to store them. By the way, I like how the cartoon convention that blown-up balloons automatically float upward is ignored here. People don't typically exhale helium dammit.
I wonder if Charles Schulz drew this one in response to letters asking Violet's question.
This is a good example of something Schulz is good at, taking an absurd premise and elaborating upon it entertainingly. I believe it's not impossible to create a balloon that would blow up into a cube, but I don't know if you could do it with just latex.
We've seen Lucy at the piano before, and we've seen Schroeder cut her down, but this, I think, is the first time when the setting retreats into the background and it's really settled into the Schroeder/Lucy formula. This strip could just as well shown up ten years later.
Chagrimace. More willful ignorance from Lucy. I guess some skepticism is healthy, but what a thing to be skeptical of.
Every year, thousands ones of children accidentally construct cages around themselves using building sets. Won't you please give today to the cause of outlawing these horrible toys?
Particularly noteworthy: this is the first time Linus makes an utterance that isn't obviously either baby talk or an internal monologue. From here, it's only a matter of time before he starts quoting the Old Testament.
That car in the first two panels is entirely a throwaway, but it helps to underscore just how much the world has changed in the years since 1955.
That's an uncharacteristically mocking attitude from Schroeder in panel 2.
This is the first strip that focuses on Charlie Brown's problems with Valentine's Day, I think. Although the object of his affections isn't the Little Red-Haired Girl, this is definitely the kind of silly mistake he'd make with her later.