Alejandro's Reviews > The Complete Peanuts, Vol. 1: 1950-1952

Good grief! Here we go!


AND THERE WERE THREE

This is the first volume of the Complete Peanuts, created by Charles M. Schulz, starting in 1950 and reaching until 1952.

This first volume is quite amusing to read, since in this first three years of the comic strip, Peanuts still isn’t in its most known and popular status quo.

You have only three kids and even one of them won’t be seen again when the comic strip would settle in its recognized presentation.

There is Charlie Brown, of course, the heart and soul of the comic strip, and you have Patty (not Peppermint but the other Patty) and Shermy (who is the kid that you won’t hear about him later).

But even Charlie Brown and Patty aren’t like the ones that you’d be more familiarized later.

Charlie Brown is quite happy and even cynical, he likes to make pranks to his friends and he doesn’t have any trouble talking to girls even about romantic issues.

Patty is essentially what Lucy would be eventually on the more recognized format.


ENTER: SNOOPY

Soon, Snoopy, one of the most famous dogs in comic strips and media, and in many cases, the most recognizable character of the whole comic strip.

However, he is still in a development process in this first volume.

Snoopy still walks in four paws like a regular dog and his behaviour (while some unusual) still can be considered like the one of a regular dog too.

It’s odd that sometimes is not clear who is the owner of Snoopy, since you would assume that it’s Charlie Brown and eventually you find the dog house on Charlie Brown’s yard, but in some of the first strips, you find Charlie Brown visiting the house of other friends and Snoopy appears there as if he was belonging there.

Even in some strips you can “hear” Snoopy’s thoughts as if he would be talking that it’s quite unusual.


VIOLETS AREN’T BLUE HERE

Along with Charlie Brown, Patty, Shermy and Snoopy, you get soon enough Violet too, and since they’re younger than the usual age that you’d be more familiarized with them, Violet, while basically what you could expect from her, there are also some aspect according with her pre-school age like playing with mud pies.


LUCY, SHROEDER AND LINUS, BUT…

Quite advanced in this first volume, finally appears Lucy, Shroeder and Linus…

…BUT…

…they are not exactly like the ones that you’d recognized and even there is a very odd time displacement with them…

…since Lucy and Shroeder are quite younger than Charlie Brown and the rest. Shroeder already has his musical facet and he’s fan of Beethoven alright, but definitely he’s younger that the other kids, and Lucy even can’t read yet and she still sleeps in a cradle, which is quite odd (for being mild in this strange situation) since in the Peanuts most recognizable period, Shroeder and Lucy would be classmates of the rest of the gang that noticing the difference of age, it would make this impossible.

Linus appears in very few strips here, and he’s a baby that still don’t talk. Also, quite odd since he’d be Charlie Brown’s best friend sharing the same age in the most known era of the comic strip.

I guess Schulz will ask for the assistance of The Doctor or Marty McFly to fix this odd time displacement in these first three years of the popular comic strip.