Peanuts Begins by Charles Schulz for February 18, 2017

Well, that’s an excuse for one time. Five thousand more to go!

Oh, well this explains everything!

Only about 50 years to go with at that gag to becoming recurring.

And so it begins …

And let yourself rot and decay, until you die?

Birth of an archetype

So, this was Lucy’s first excuse, huh? Why do I sense the stirring of a sadist? :)

With this strip, Peanuts has finished beginning and has finally begun :)

But where was Chuck’s signature cry “AUUUUUUGH!”?

And the tradition begins

You got up Charlie Brown, and tried again and again. This is one of the reasons why I read this strip, simply wonderful.

Best running gag in comics, and probably the longest running, running gag in comics.

a double

Maybe he should be the one with the helmet.

He kicked the football! I’m shocked. Lucy may have been holding it so tight that it didn’t move, but he did kick the football!

Also, I could’ve sworn I’d heard that it was originally Violet who held and pulled away the football, but here it is, and it’s Lucy from the start. This IS the very first time it happened, isn’t it?

Annnnnd away we go…..

A hard kick to a ball, not knowing it is firmly held in place can hurt!

A milestone!

And so it begins AHAHAHA

“Don’t ever do that again” he says. HA! How you will live this nightmare, over and over. Miss Van Pelt gets grief for pulling the ball away fro 50 years, but Gullible Brown keeps falling (pun intended) for it.

And so it begins.

Actually, the second time Lucy did not pull the football away, unlike it will be in the future.

And here’s how it all started!

You have no idea what you’ve started, Charlie Brown. Brace yourself …

The original “Running Gag”: Lucy Edition.