Peanuts/Later run questions

I was reading the Sunday Funnies, and saw the Peanuts reprint. It had Lucy, Sally, and a Shermie-looking dude (I say looking, because I can't recall Shermie being in the strip in the 70's and 80's) complaining that this 'stupid little kid' was following them. Yep, lo and behold, said 'Stupid Little Kid' is Good Ole Charlie Brown, who *defends* their insults by saying it must be his immaturity level that they're talking about. I read Peanuts up until about 1990, and I didn't recognize this strip at all. Does anyone know if it would be 90's?

The lack of imagination and even the semblance of humor in this strip astounded me. I usually find even the worst Peanuts strip to be at least mildly amusing. But not only was this one unfunny, but in terms of abusiveness, it brought up memories of 'Its Your First Kiss Charlie Brown'. Does anyone know if maybe these later strips were ghosted, or was old Sparky just not capable of realizing you can make even CB too pathetic to be even remotely likeable?

I know the strip you're talking about- it's been a while since I saw it, but from what I remember, the art style is consistent with Sparky's mid-to-late-70s-ish work- the linework got a bit sleeker in the later decades, for lack of a better term. And eh. Charlie Brown's loserness wavered back and forth over the years... and honestly, even Sparky can have an off day.

I know what you're saying, and I certainly never thought that Sparky hit nothing but Home Runs or doubles. But in this one case, I was struck by just how awful (in my opinion) it was. If Charlie Brown had at least rejoindered back 'I'm older than all of you, you blockheads!' I might've gone for it. Up until this point, and I've read newspapers and plenty of strip compilations, I don't think I'd ever seen a Peanuts strip I would give a flat zero score to. Add to that, aside from perennial pain Lucy, you have a second-or-third-at-best tier character (if that was supposed to be Shermie) and CB's own little sister who has called him 'Big Brother' since she could talk.

Thanks for the info.

For better or worse, Charles Shultz wrote and drew every Peanuts strip for it's entire 50 year run.He had no assistants drawing the strip (others drew the characters for greeting cards and merchandise and whatnot, but the strip was all Sparky). Few, if any, can match that accomplishment, but it does mean he's responsible for the stinkers as well as the winners.

And actually, I'd say the strip you mention sounds more 60's-ish, to me. If the inking is sleek, it's early, as a nerve condition in Sparky's drawing arm made his inking shaky in later years. However, if you read it in the paper recently, it'd have to be after 1970, as those are the strips Shultz's estate authorized to be re-run.

I may have phrased that poorly; I know what I meant, but it doesn't seem to have come across. There is a noticeable difference between the earlier and later art, and the strip mentioned is a somewhat earlier one, style-wise. 'Sleeker' is maybe not the best term to describe that difference, but I'm not sure how else to put it.

And honestly, Sally has never treated 'Big Brother' with much respect. Lucy doesn't respect anyone, and the other boy (Shermie or otherwise) was basically filler to deliver the third set of lines. It was a setup for a joke, for good or ill :/

No, abusing Charlie Brown is the big huge pillar of the strip, and usually, it somehow plays just right. The other characters almost never give him half-a-break—again, a pillar. Again, and I hate to dwell, I just never saw a Peanuts strip before that was so vastly unfunny. Even early stupid ones like Snoopy eating potato chips off the floor and CB saying with pride 'That was the vacuum cleaner'—I could at least get and be mildly amused by. It's a bit like being a MASH fan, having not checked it in years, then the rerun you see is where Rizzo taught Potter in a remedial driving class.

It's definitely from 1959-1965—it's in a massive Peanuts collection I got when I was 9 for having my tonsils out, and I memorized most of it as well as the copyright information.

And yeah, I'll admit, that one is...not great. But they can't all be zingers, you know, you have to expect that sometimes.

Peanuts is one of those strips that pops up in my newspaper.

I have complicated feelings toward it. On one hand, I think about how sad it must be to be a perpetual loser that everyone seems to hate for one reason or another. On the other hand, it must be said that nobody else got off easy.

I mean, take a look at Lucy. While she was a major Jerkass and apparent Karma Houdini, she frequently tried to form a relationship with Schroeder, who makes it clear every time that he loves Beethoven way more than he'll ever love her. It just goes to show that karma has ways of hitting a character where it hurts!

It was sad when Charles Schulz died. Personally, I think it's horrible that whoever's in charge of the newspapers insists on keeping the strip in its slot and turning it into a Franchise Zombie instead of just letting it die!

edited 12th Nov '12 3:36:08 PM by TiggersAreGreat

At least it's just reruns. It could be worse. There are dozens of comics that have been putting out new material for decades after their creators died.

Think of the new generations. They have the right to know Peanuts in the format it was created for, too.

Anyone got a link to the strip?

IMO, the worst strip Sparky ever did was this one from 1998.

I don't know, I found that one funny in how utterly absurd it was.

Anyone ever see the Peanuts strip that has Alfred E.Neuman in it? Sparky was apparently a big fan of Mad Magazine (and was friends with a number of the folks who worked on it).

No, but I watched the animated segment that adapted it. Since at the time I had no idea of what MAD Magazine was, I never understood that gag back then.

edited 13th Nov '12 5:22:00 PM by NapoleonDeCheese

I remember seeing that one in a book. It was part of a story where Charlie kept seeing baseballs in everything and he stayed up all night to watch the sunrise. The sun rose and it had Alfred's face on it.

This was also apparently Shultz's favorite sequence of all the strips he did. He said he didn't think it had any great moral or any great wisdom to impart, just that it was the goofiest thing he'd done, with the goofiest ending.

I'd have to agree.

Really? I think that one's great. I certainly found it funny.

Considering all the other stuff the comic did over the years, the notes the person wrote on that image sound like nitpicking.

Yeah, it's like complaining on how the dog walks on two legs and puts on clothes.

Those notes are mine. I still think it was an incredibly weak gag, but eh.

What's the trope for the November 07, 2013 reprint: "How come you can talk to me?!"

http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts

I don't know the trope you're referring to, but I remember that particular story arc. 'Twas always one of my favorites.

That arc where Rerun is born is SO weird. First, no one apparently noticed that the mother was pregnant in the first place. She goes to the hospital for "unclear reasons", and then suddenly comes back with a baby.

And even if the pregnancy somehow DID slip people's attention, you'd think their parents would talk about their baby sibling some time BEFORE the actual birth.

And then Linus decides what to name the baby, based on Lucy's derisive comment. Clearly, the parents have NO say in any of this.

This is one of the biggest necrobumps I’ve ever seen. Why not use the current Peanuts thread for this?

But to answer the bit on Rerun’s name, Lucy (and everyone else) calls him that, but it’s not actually supposed to be his real name iirc. It’s an example of Only Known By His Nickname.

Edited by KnownUnknown on May 30th 2019 at 10:48:22 AM