It's been 75 years since Charles Schulz's Peanuts debuted, beginning its life as a strip named Li'l Folks that had laid some groundwork for a lot of the things we would come to know Peanuts for over its 50 year run.
To celebrate, we are going to take a look at some of our favourite strips from the initial three months rounding out 1950 that the strip ran for, and possibly even have this be the beginning of a look through the years in the future.
15. November 01, 1950
There were a handful of strips I thought about having in this spot and I could have easily expanded how many were on the list but I'm a glutton for self-punishment. This one won it's place simply for the fact that it's always great to see things go in ol' Charlie Brown's favour, especially with the hindsight of how things generally go for the poor kid. It also ends up slightly summing up the strip on a personal level for, I'm assuming, most, as Charlie Brown may not be the most interesting or colourful character out of the Peanuts gallery, but you can't help but love him.
14. November 14, 1950
The series has been known for wonderfully mixing kids being kids with kids dealing with adult-like worries that ended up working great in establishing some of the issues kids may deal with that adults wouldn't consider, and how alike they are in what we face in life on a day-to-day basis.
This is one moment that I think ended up ranking now and may not have a decade/decade and a half ago. There is definitely something about getting older and having moments with people in your life where sitting around and not saying anything at all is still meaningful.
13. November 10, 1950
Further down the list we'll have Peanuts take on people observing their pets and how they go about their own day, while this one centers along pet owner's occassional thought of "I wonder what my pet thinks of me while we're interacting."
While you can do a few different things with that idea, and this one takes the usual route of 'they probably find us ridiculous', it's entirely because of Snoopy that this landed so well with me. Him bowled over and essentially holding his stomach along with "He's in hysterics!" really got me, primarily because that drawing of him in the final panel is so great.
12. December 2, 1950
A good bit that easily sums up the feeling of being a kid and suddenly coming across proverbs in every day life, with Charlie Brown not having a single bit of dialogue being the best choice in pushing his relatable confusion.
11. November 30, 1950
Some of the most effective strips, comedically, are ones that usually find a way to do the least, or just make slight changes in what's happening from panel to panel. This one floated around my brain for quite a bit while I was going through the comics for this article and steadily climbed in how much I loved it, the choice of words Charlie Brown goes through are a great set-up to the point that his respect and generally being impressed tips over the edge. I love the idea of Charles being somewhat petty over something like this.
10. October 03, 1950 / October 09, 1950
I felt the need to put these two strips together for one very obvious reason that I felt I'd be dumb not to talk about; Patty is probably the MVP of the early run of Peanuts comics. I'm in the process of finally sitting down and reading it year-by-year but even in the few months of 1950, like here between the randomness of the first bit and the wit of the second, she is almost constantly great. I hope she continues being great as I eventually keep going with these, since she fell by the wayside once more characters came in.
09. November 18, 1950
I mean, come on. The sarcasm here is hilarious based on the standard joke of a child having a very adult reaction to something trivial, but the joke as a whole gets funnier the older you are. I think at a certain point, especially in the workplace, a reaction like this is just be a weekly occurence.
It also works because of something that really stuck out to me upon revisiting the comics, which is I love Schulz's specific use of words; "It clears up a lot of things I've been worrying about lately" is a great way to emphasize the joke.
08. December 6, 1950
Chalk this one up to what I had touched on in the previous strip, since this one hit me specifically for Charlie Brown's use of the word 'inconsiderate.' It is such a simple thing but really stuck with me and always made me laugh whenever I saw it.
07. November 07, 1950
It's very rare to see Charlie Brown come off so jerk-y, especially to Snoopy. It is also equally rare to have an adult with actual dialogue in one of these strips instead of the kids just having a one-sided conversation, but that's what makes it work, almost like this was the one time where the joke necessitated actual written dialogue from -- not just an adult-- a parent. It's also a great joke about how, even though these kids exist in a universe where said adults are largely off-screen, the kids are still the kids. It also works because I seriously did not expect an adult to have dialogue as I was going through these.
06. October 19, 1950
Reading this made me think that the punchline would have to do with Charlie Brown just sitting around thinking or the like. Instead, this really caught me off-guard and the slight ridiculouslness of it made me immediately love it. It really cracks me up that a child would have a nap sitting up on the side of the street while it also makes me kind of jealous, I miss the days I could easily just sleep anywhere at any time.
Extra points for Patty's incredible "It's a good thing I'm sympathetic" self pat on the back. That line alone would have secured this strip a spot on the list.
05. November 20, 1950
A perfect example of 'kids-renegging-on-an-idea-and-being-kind-of-jerks-because-of-it', this strip wouldn't have worked the same if it had been the other way around. If it had been, it would have been the usual day-to-day sort of thing Charlie Brown deals with, but since he's the one who has the idea to swap pulling the sled up and then turn back on it with the classic "think I hear my mother calling," this joke works infinitely better. A lot of that may have to do with how some of the earlier Peanuts strips come off in hindsight in terms of how we know these characters, but seeing Charlie Brown be the jerk to Shermy makes this pretty funny.
04. November 08, 1950
Following an example of how kids might behave with each other comes one that, though told with Patty, touches on how a parent's day can go sometimes with their child.
How many parent has had an experience like this? Sure, they are a lot nicer than Patty is here when they attempt to let their child know if something may be... a bit much, but the end result can always be the same. I love Charlie Brown's reluctant agreement that Patty may have a point about the drums and the way he deals with it is genius, a wonderful bit of child misunderstanding what the main issue, or request, may be.
03. December 13, 1950 / December 22, 1950
We finally come around to what I alluded to at number 13, here having two strips that adorably deal with the day of a pet owner.
Both strips work so well for the same reason; Snoopy's unending excitement and happiness mixed with Charlie Brown's growing frustrations in the face of trying to do an everyday activity. While both touch on how we see, and react to, our pets whilst waiting for them to calm down, it's Charlie Brown's proclamation in the second strip that sells it as a whole for me, another example of my love of the words Schulz chooses for the kids to use.
December 21, 1950
It's incredibly nice of Patty to talk about Charlie Brown the way she does in the strip that kicked off our list, but this is my vote for the sweetest and most adorable strip from the first three months of Peanuts.
It's always funny to see how Schulz twisted the kids world's into reflecting adult sensibilities, worries, and general outlook and frustrations, but those are equally matched by times where the kids are just kids. Charlie Brown is the youngest of the initial trio by a bit, and I love the fact that we have moments like this, where information like that isn't just touched on by mentioning birthdays and ages but by exploring what one child may know and the other doesn't yet.
It's just a really cute strip that I knew would be at the top of my list. It probably would have topped it if not for, well...
01. October 02, 1950
There was never a question as to which strip would be my favourite from its intial few months. It is such a simple idea just as simply executed that I do genuinely think about it often (even when there's nothing Peanuts related thing to write or going on) and it always makes me laugh.
The debut of the series ranks as one of my favourites in general and one that encapsulates essentially everything that it would be known for, primarily good ol' Chuck simply trying to live his life while some of the other kids are, well, the way they are. This is especially interesting to look back at given the fact that, in the first bit of Peanuts, Charlie Brown has not completely morphed into the character that we know and love him as. He can be just as mischievous as the others and yet here Schulz lay the groundwork for 50 years of strips to come.
It's also brilliant on its own, as Peanuts has always dabbled in the general idea that kids can be very cruel for no reason whatsoever, and this is that idea stripped down to its raw essence. There is no teasing about a red-haired girl, no footballs being pulled away, no children mocking the choice of a christmas tree, no deconstruction of the psyche at a cardboard psychiatrist booth... this is pure, unadulterated and unnecessary cruelness in the midst of trying to live your life day-to-day.
It's a perfect piece of creative work.
