Peanuts Begins by Charles Schulz for January 08, 2017

Think positive, Charlie Brown, think positive.

And third is the lowest class, to everyone

Question for group discussion: Charlie Brown often seems (to me, anyway) unlikable in these early strips. IF Snoopy hadn’t taken off and become such a hit (let’s say there was no Snoopy, or Snoopy equivalent)… would “Peanuts” have been a success?

This is Lucy’s revenge from yesterday strip

There’s the Lucy we know and love.

Whatever you need to tell yourself, Charlie Brown!

@Steve_Zodiac

Well, the first “Peanuts” strip of all did have Shermy saying: “Charlie Brown, how I hate him!” More to the point, the early strips were pretty generic little-kid strips, sometimes funny, true, but nothing out of the ordinary. Snoopy was obviously a huge factor (he is the best comic strip character in history, after all), but Linus becoming what amounted to a philosopher and theologian (at an age when most children would be watching “Sesame Street”) also was a major factor. And of course the complete change in Charlie Brown’s personality added a ton or two of pathos.

And coming in last means Schroeder nicely let the others win for a change. But he does have to sit in the loser’s chair.

You know, the more of these Peanuts Begin strips I read, the more sympathetic I am for Lucy and everyone else for giving Charlie Brown so much grief.

Sticking the dart board to the wall with a thrown dart shows a hard throw. Skill is being able to regularly hit a particular spot you aim for on the dart board from three times the distance of the throwing line. Well, maybe a little of being able to hit the dart board 9 times out of ten from three times the distance of the throwing line is a little skill, but real skill is hitting where you aim regularly from that distance.