Peanuts by Charles Schulz for February 15, 2020

poor Joe

That figures!

It just keeps getting worse.

With friends like that, who needs enemies?

“Good night, Mr. Shlabotnik, wherever you are!”

Wondering how he found a phone at 3 in the morning!

How fitting that Mr. Shlabotnik got lost.

Just like Joe S. missed a sports banquet Charlie Brown, Linus, and Snoopy went to in late 1969?

Boy, the adults are total blockheads! No wonder Sparky never shows them.

What happened to all the food?

Although Mr. Shlabotnik was known for his prowess on the baseball field he never learned to tell time.

Poor Charlie Brown

Linus answered the call at 3AM. LINUS FOR PRESIDENT OF USA !!!!!

In fairness, we don’t see/hear the phone ringing and Linus answering it. The first panel could mean that off-panel parent had answered it and told Linus it was for him.

Honestly, this was really a week with a dark streak. Uncomfortably darker than the usual “Charlie Brown can’t ever quite win” or the usual scorn from Lucy.This was Peppermint Patty and Marcie being out of character (and Marcie quite darkly). Lucy would be in-character being scornful of the notion of a testimonial for CB. Peppermint Patty would have been in-character if she declined because she liked Chuck but couldn’t get behind a testimonial because he never topped her on the playing field. Marcie would have had no delusions about Charles’ (not “Chuck”) achievements but would have supported the testimonial on grounds of his sportsmanship. She wouldn’t have felt hypocritical.The only way it would have made any sense is if Marcie pointed outto the others they were being hypocrites and they gave up in remorse – sort’a like the time when the team abandoned CB on the field because they realized it was Mother’s Day and they were out playing and hadn’t done anything for their Moms and were terrible children (except for CB, who got a break-the-fourth-wall last word, remarking that he had gotten his mom a nice card and a box of candy)

I always answer my phone at 3 am. But, I don’t know why.

Maybe it’s their form of Simple Phone Call Screening/Filtering Out Tele-Marketers,Scams and Such. “Son could you Please answer the phone if you hear it and if it’s Family or such and Important, wake us up,if not,just hang up. Thanks ! We’ll give you a little extra on your Allowance Too.” ( I know,dumping the Responsibility and Judgement on a Child.) It is a Comic though, not Reality. You-All Have a Great Day ! :-)

Seriously? Charlie Brown was sooooo close…

I felt sorry about Charlie Brown on the way he was treated by his friends. I did not like how the strip end-up. Well, if I were the creator of this strip (and I know you are glad that I was not), I would have made Joe Schlabotnik showed up after the gang except CB had left. It would have made CB very happy. But Schlabotnik told CB that he could only stay for a few minutes because of other appointments near the area. CB then ask Schlabotnik to sign a baseball card that was so precious to him. But they could not find a pen to sign it. (Good Grief!)

How much do you think a Barry Zito baseball card is worth now? (Don’t get me wrong, I was a fan and I know it’s incoherent with the storyline.)

Say it ain’t so, Joe!

Did you even show up long enough to find out he didn’t show, Linus? Or did you prove hypocrite and leave before Charlie Brown showed up? I accept everyone else backing out as being hypocrites if they stayed, but it was YOUR idea to throw him the testimonial and YOU’RE the one who pushed everyone to make it happen. You should have stayed and seen it through.

That sound you just heard was my heart breaking.

CB’s favorite ball player

This whole arc is sad, but this comic is probably the saddest of them all. If the dinner had gone on, CB would have had the great disappointment of waiting for Joe Shlabotnik who would never show. That would have been just too sad. I think this really dives deep in Charles Schulz’s psyche.

Does Joe Shlabotnik expect his payment of 50 cents?