Peanuts Begins by Charles Schulz for March 21, 2015

Not old enough for the gendered norm of a cake yet?

How lucky for you, CB.

I wonder when the other kids turned on him?

At this point they are still nice to his face. Behind his back not so much.

I remember making mud pies.

At this point, there are only four people in the strip (if you count Snoopy as “people”). Patty likes Charlie Brown, though it may be because she is a little older than him (CB is 4, and we are not sure of Patty’s age).

Shermy does not like Charlie Brown (see the first comic), and he has an interest in Patty which is not always returned.

Snoopy seems to be everybody’s dog. Lucy has not been born yet (or is an infant; her first appearance in this strip will be in a baby bed), and of course Linus and Sally haven’t been born yet.

Though I don’t think the comic has yet found itself, it is fun to watch it develop. I like seeing each of the “firsts” as they appear in the comic.

I am grateful to the newspapers who didn’t give up on this comic, and gave it a couple of years to develop into the greatest of all of them.

I notice the pants were longer in the early days.

These early strips were a bit syrupy..I kinda like syrupy…

Charlotte Braun was the LEAST memorable character ever to make more than one appearance in the strip. Which explains why he quickly tossed her overboard. When Violet pops up, Charlie Brown and Shermy will be rivals for her for awhile. (Back then, of course, Violet was worth liking, but that wouldn’t last long…….)

Aww. They seriously remind me of The Little Rascals.

I don’t we’re far off from Charlie Brown’s signature shirt…

That should be “I don’t think we’re far off…”