Jimmy: Hey everybody. Welcome back to the show. It is 1994. So what's the frequency, Snoopy? We are going to be looking at all kinds of great strips here from the mid-90s. And I'm going to be your host for the proceedings. My name is Jimmy Gownley. I'm also a cartoonist. I did things like Amelia Rules. Seven good reasons not to Grow up in the dumbest idea ever.
Harold: I'll vouch for him.
Jimmy: Joining me, as always, are my pals, co host and fellow cartoonists. He's a playwright and a composer, both of the and complicated people as well as for this very podcast. He's the co creator of the original comic book price guide, the original editor for Amelia Rules, and the creator such great strips. Strange Attractors, A Gathering of Spells and Tangled River. It is Michael Cohen.
Michael: Say hey.
Jimmy: And he's the executive producer and writer of Mystery Science Theater 3000, a former vice president of Archie Comics, and the creator of the Instagram sensation Sweetest Beasts, It's Harold Buchholz.
Harold: Hello.
Jimmy: All right, guys, we're starting another year today. 1994. Can you believe it? We just started 2025 and now we're starting 1994. I can't believe it. So, do we have any intro anything to start the people off with? What do we got, Harold?
Harold: I got a little bit. There were, a couple things in our lovely archives of what was going on in this time period. So we've decided to actually concentrate on the first two months. Right. This time we had a lot to talk about. So, in those first two months in Editor and Publisher magazine, there was an article on United Feature Syndicate, which had become United Media by that time, and basically they had hired a new guy and they were saying that licensing was over half of United Media revenues. And I think the lion's share of that licensing was, Peanuts and Garfield.
Jimmy: At this time, that had to be 90% of it, right? Those two strips.
Harold: We have over half is what they're saying. But it seems like it would have been much more than half. But when you think about these two dominant strips that did very well both in the newspapers, been pretty much in every newspaper they could be in, they were in by this point, and that they were selling lots and lots of merchandise. You can see how important, Charles Schulz is to this company. I would guess he's close to half of their revenues. 40% maybe. that's a lot for a single creator's work. And so the choices he makes determine the fate of that company. And so they were extremely reliant on him to, continue to produce and keep Peanuts relevant and interesting to audiences. And in that regard, the Dallas Morning News reader survey. Dallas Morning News was a huge comics paper. They had 70 daily strips, three pages, full pages of comics, which is more than just about any paper I know. And this is in the 90s. And they had their readers poll out of 70 strips. where do you think Peanuts is falling in 1994, guys?
Jimmy: Oh, I bet it's still top five.
Harold: Yeah. Do you think that, Michael, where do you think they.
Michael: I’ll say three, just because, I don't know, Texas.
Harold: Okay, well, number one, was Far Side.
Jimmy: All right.
Harold: Hugely popular in this time. number two is Calvin and Hobbes, also just a blockbuster strip in the 90s. Number three was Garfield. And then tied for fourth were Cathy and Peanuts.
Jimmy: There you go.
Harold: And then the last piece I have is, Schulz was still doing some traveling at this point, at least to La Jolla. They had the Reuben Awards weekend, in La Jolla in 1994. This was the awards that were given out cartoonists for cartoonists. And he was scheduled to discuss cartooning and an answer questions of his fellow cartoonists. So he was still active going around, even though he was not big on traveling. He's still doing a little bit of that in 1994.
Jimmy: That's fantastic. Harold. Thank you so much for, your research. I appreciate that. So we're going to go ahead and start taking a look at the strips now. Now, if you want to follow along with us, there's a couple of ways you can do it. The first thing you need to do though is you’ve got to go over to unpackingpeanuts.com and sign up for the great Peanuts reread. That'll get you one email a month. And, we'll give you a heads up in our little newsletter telling you, what strips we're going to be covering that month. So, you can be all prepared, when the episode arrives. Then if you want to read along with me, you could go right over there to gocomics.com and you can read all these strips for free. And that's what we're gon toa start doing right now,
January 2nd. It's a Sunday page. It's a symbolic panel. It's Charlie Brown as Saturn.
Michael: Look, the pretty wobbly rings there.
Jimmy: Pretty wobbly rings of Saturn.
And then in the next panel, it's Charlie Brown. Hard cut to Charlie Brown at school saying, wow. Now, as we remember, these, Sunday strips really start on the second tier. So on the second tier, we begin with Charlie Brown and Linus in the classroom. And Charlie Brown says to the teacher, yes, ma'am. What you just told us about the stars and the planets is really fascinating. And you know, who's interested in this sort of thing? Charlie Brown concludes, my dog. Yes, he really is. He continues in the next panel. So what I'd like to do right now is run home and tell him all about what you just taught us. The next last panel, Charlie Brown just says, yes, ma'am. Then in the last panel, he sinks down in his seat, dejected, and Linus whispers, from behind, nice try, Charlie Brown.
Michael: I'm a little unclear on his motivation.
Jimmy: Here to get out of school.
Michael: Does he want to get out of school, or does he actually want to get his dog here?
Jimmy: No, he just wants to get out of school.
Michael: But never. We've never really seen him as somebody who hates school.
Harold: I was think he's just falling and more and more in love with his dog. And he wants to be with his dog. That was my take.
Jimmy: now he just wants to get out of school. Come on, people.
Harold: But he's never been like that, has he?
Michael: Yeah, that's.
Harold: I can't remember example where he was just like, I don't want to go to school-- the studious one that Sally's always, like, bugging him about stuff. And he's always rolling his eyes and sinking in his seat when she's trying to get out of school and schoolwork.
Jimmy: everybody needs a mental health day.
Harold: Oh, right.
Jimmy: No, the giveaway here is Linus saying, nice try, Charlie Brown.
Harold: Yeah, well, but that could be nice try trying to get your dog into the school again. Cause he has done that, right?
Jimmy: Yeah, it's. Cause Charlie Brown wants to go home. All right, well, I will accept no other.
Michael: Well, let's have a reader's poll.
Liz: I think my stomach hurts would probably be a better excuse.
Jimmy: All right, so here is the readers poll. Does Charlie Brown want to bring, Snoopy back to school? or, you on my side saying Charlie Brown just wants to go home.
Michael: I think the strip implies that Jimmy's right, but the character of Charlie Brown would determine he'd rather have his dog there than just go out and run around for a few minutes.
Harold: And we'll see what the listeners think. It'd be interesting.
Jimmy: Okay, but remember, if you don't vote for me, you're dead to me.
Harold: Jimmy's very forgiving.
Jimmy: this is the Hill I'm dying on, people. This strip,
January 3rd, still in class, but Linus, now it's Linus and Lydia. So I guess Lydia just sits two behind Charlie Brown, which means that girl that Linus was sending a note to a few years ago was Charlie Brown. So, all right. I guess they switch seats. Anyway, Lydia is still behind Linus, and Linus turns to her and says, did you miss me during Christmas vacation? And Lydia says, did you give me a Christmas present, twitch? Linus says, no. And Lydia just goes right back to working saying, I didn't miss you.
Michael: Well, I'm glad he started off the year with a couple of Lydia strips.
Jimmy: Yeah.
Michael: Because always, I always pick them. This is not the greatest, but I guess she gets the point here. Definitely.
Jimmy: Yeah. For sure.
Michael: Yeah.
Jimmy: And their ongoing, struggle back and forth. I do like this one a lot. It's like, did you get me present? Then I didn't miss you. it's a good zinger from Lydia. She's still one of the great character designs. I love her little sloping nose. It's very different than, what most Peanuts characters look like in profile. The only one that has a nose similar to that that I can think of off the top of my head is Frieda. Know he usually goes for the more bulbous look.
Michael: I never noticed noses.
Jimmy: You never noticed noses?
Michael: Yeah, I never noticed noses.
Michael: Except Snoopy's nose, however.
Jimmy: Yeah.
Harold: Right.
Jimmy: We have a whole segment of just looking at a cartoon dog's nose across 50 years. Speaking of Snoopy, here he is
January 5th. Snoopy and Woodstock are out in a lot somewhere, and they are examining a discarded and dilapidated looking bird cage is part of a sequence. And, Snoopy, is talking to Woodstock and says, look here. There's a tiny little book on the bottom of the birdcage. Oh. Because at this point in the sequence, we have discovered that this is Woodstock's--we. Believe this is Woodstock's grandfather's birdcage. He had been captured and kept as a pet. So anyway, so, look here. There's a tiny little book on the bottom of the birdcage. Snoopy picks out the book and begins to read it. It's a diary. Your grandfather kept a diary while he was in the cage. And then Snoopy reads to Woodstock. I've been in here for six weeks now and my attorney has never called back.
Michael: I think this is one of the best Woodstock sequences. Yeah, it was surprising cause it looked like a real development in his character here. Discovering his deep past. Yeah, it goes on for a week and wraps up nicely.
Jimmy: Yeah.
Michael: So nobody else picked any of these. So basically, his grandfather escaped. Yes, still flying around somewhere.
Jimmy: It is a really good sequence. And yeah, because the grandfather goes on in the diary to say, that every once in a while they leave him out in the porch and just it's only a matter of time before they leave the little door open. And then his diary entry just ends in the middle of a sentence, allowing us to assume that he did in fact escape. Or it's a Moria situation and the, orcs came and destroyed all of them. It's the only two things that could possibly happen.
Michael: It did bring back the traumatic moment when I left my, aunt and uncle's door open and Mr. Peeper flew away. It was totally my fault. I didn't know he was loose in the house.
Jimmy: Did Mr. Peeper ever come back?
Michael: No.
Jimmy: Well, Mr. Peeper had a better life.
Michael: It haunts me to this day.
Jimmy: you freed, Mr. Peeper. I think it's a good thing.
Michael: I still look for him
Jimmy: as Woodstock does. This wraps up with Snoopy telling Woodstock to wave when he sees a bird sitting on a telephone wire. Cause that's what the grandfather said he wanted to do. because it may be Woodstock's grandfather. This last panel, the look on Woodstock's face, he just turns the eyes, slants them inward a little bit and they just, you know, they just evoke so much emotion and so much sadness. Incredible.
Harold: Yeah, there's a little eyebrow on Woodstock there, which you don't always see.
Jimmy: Yeah, just one. Of course. Because that we don't want to overdo it with detail.
Harold: No, Schulz is not going to give you two eyebrows if he only needs one.
Liz: Well, it could be a forehead wrinkle.
Jimmy: That's true.
Harold: Yeah. See, you're a furrowed, bird brow.
Jimmy: I also like the beat up looking birdcage. Yeah, really good.
Harold: Yeah, the wobbly line really works well there.
Jimmy: And what was the bird's name again? Michael Mr. What?
Michael: Mr. Peeper. Wasn't that a Wally Cox character from TV?
Harold: Yes, it was. Yeah, I've seen the complete series. It's fun. Ancient sitcom of.
Jimmy: Wait, the sitcom is called Mr. Peepers
Harold: Unh Huh.
Jimmy: I didn't know it was a sitcom, until right the second.
Michael: This show is so educational for people.
Harold: Who like things 70 years old.
Michael: Maybe we should put it in the educational category rather than--
Harold: On the history category.
Jimmy: Is there just a question mark category? Speaking of just question marks,
January 9th, Woodstock is looking, it's a Sunday and he's looking at a snowman out in the field and he says something to himself that ends with the question mark. Then he looks at it again, from the next panel and has another question mark above his head. Now he's engaged in a full on discussion with the snowman that's just standing there. And this causes Woodstuck to get upset with the snowman and he kicks it “boot” and knocks the snowman's head clean off. Woodstock is shocked by this and goes running, of course, to his attorney. And now look, I'm not an attorney fan, but boy, I love that. So he runs to his attorney and Woodstock is on top of the doghouse with Snoopy and he's telling him what happened. And Snoopy says, Snoopy, as the attorney says, you did what? Well, it could be a misdemeanor or a felony, which Woodstock passes out. Clunk, falls off the dogouse. Then he's back in position and Snoopy says, but most likely it could be considered mayhem. Woodstock passes out again. Now he's back up again. And Snoopy says, mayhem is depriving a human being of a member of his body. In this case his head. Right now, snowman isn't a human being. So I think we clunk Woodstock falls over again. And in the last panel, Snoopy looks down and his little friend off the side of the dog house and says, how can you talk to a client who keeps fainting all the time?
Harold: This is a really special strip. It's great, these characters, we know them so well. And little Woodstock has quite a conscience, doesn't quite understand the world. And I was wondering, when Woodstock got to Snoopy's doghousee and sat on top of it, if Snoopy had to go down and put on his bow tie in the hat to be the. Or was he just waiting?
Jimmy: Maybe he saw this occurring from a distance and he was like, oh, you know. So what do you think happened? Do you think Woodstuck tries to engage the snowman in conversation and the snowman doesn't say anything. So Woodstuck assumes he's being ignored?
Harold: Yeah, it was really, I think so, yeah'just being rude. Well, I noticed there's no carrot just on the nose of this.
Jimmy: Yeah.
Harold: Was maybe asking about the carrot.
Jimmy: He has done this. This is the Schulz snowman. He will do that line down the middle of his face, which is I guess a stick stuck in there.
Harold: I don't know what it is. You think a stick. He would have put out at an angle or something so we could see some branches or something. I don't know. Yeah, it's very unique. I don't know if that's the kind of snowman you made, up. Didn't have many carrots.
Jimmy: Didn't have carrots. Yeah.
Harold: Up in Minnesota.
Michael: California.
Jimmy: Well, you must have made a snowman when you went elsewhere. Like New Hampshire.
Michael: I've never made a snowman.
Jimmy: You've never made a snowman. It is pretty pointless. It's really one the dumbest activity. But we did it. It was fun. Yeah. I love the fact though that he is conveying this little drama over the first 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 panels, between Woodstock and the snowmen. And so, that's six panels. That's like a Sunday strip. A wordless Sunday strip in and of itself. And then there's like a really wordy, almost like 60s style, Sunday strip on the second half.
Harold: It's the 14-panel Sunday. It's a lot of stuff.
Jimmy: So he liked this idea. I think there's a lot of extra effort in it.
Michael: I think he's on a hot streak at the beginning of this year.
Harold: Yeah's a lot of really interesting stuff this year.
Michael: Yeah. Usually. I mean, I've gotten used to like going on, we're gonna pick anything this year. And, I picked so many in January and February. I just wrote the guys and said, hey, let's just do two months.
Harold: You know, in 1994. Who knew?
Michael: Yeah. And I left a bunch of them for Jimmy to pick. I know he'd pick the Olaf ones.
Harold: It's very strategic how we pick. Yeah.
Jimmy: Yeah. Because you. We could pick every strip every year and talk about it. I’m sure we’d have things to say.
Harold: that's true
Michael: We'd still be in 1953.
Jimmy: Hey, let me ask you this. Of all of the Woodstock drawings in this one, which one do you like it? Which is the best, most iconic?
Michael: Oh, Panel five.
Jimmy: Yeah, probably.
Michael: Yeah.
Harold: Yeah. I'm a sucker for a little happy Woodstock in panel 3. That's pretty classic. You got to admit. That's pretty classic.
Jimmy: I did not notice that he was, smiling until right this second. so then he immediately turns and kicks.
Harold: Yeah. This is a mercurial Woodstock. Well, I guess not, because the first panel, you said he was talking to himself, but it looks like maybe the first panel, the throwaway panel, heing to. He's talking to the snowman. And then he goes around the other side. He's like, whats up with this guy? He's not responding.
Jimmy: Yeah, that's what it is.
Harold: So he's, This builds a little bit for those who have the benefit of the top tiers.
Jimmy: Yeah. Oh, yeah. I don't think it would work nearly as well without the top tiers.
Harold: Yeah. It'd be a little out of character for Woodstock to just instantly. Instantly his knock his head off.
Jimmy: Yeah. really funny. Woodstock is still crushing it.
Harold: Yeah. What a great character. And like you say, you. Those two little eyes that are just tilted a little inward on up top, for this kind of forlorn, clueless look is so classic. Woodstock owns that.
Jimmy: Yeah, absolutely.
January 15th, Snoopy's atop the doghouse, with his typewriter out. And Lucy, is, hanging out by the dogouse, and she's reading her own book. And that book, according to Lucy, as she reads the title aloud, is If You Give A Mouse A Cookie. And Lucy turns to Snoopy and says, you should write a book like that. And then Snoopy types if you give a beagle a brownie.
Michael: I was assuming that's a real book.
Jimmy: It is.
Harold: It is.
Michael: Oh, okay.
Jimmy: And that's what I think is so interesting about this, is this is a relatively new children's book. This came out If You Give A Mouse A Cookie came out in the late 80s.
Harold: 85.
Jimmy: Yeah, 85, mid-80s. Okay. So it's fairly. He wouldn't have been reading it to his own kids is what I'm saying.
Harold: Right. So this is Grandparent Schulz kind of showing his hand, right?
Jimmy: Exactly.
Harold: Either that or he gets Publishers Weekly, and he's very competitive about his.
Jimmy: It could be a little of that, too. But I'll tell you, if you give a mouse a cookie, like, there's a whole series, you know, if you take a mouse to the movies and stuff, they're extremely clever. It's like a slippery slope. Like, if you do this, then you're gonna have to do that, and you're gonna have to do that. And they all are circular. You know, they start back at the beginning if you give a mouse a cookie. And, I just thought it was really, really cool to be able to pinpoint going, oh, he Definitely read that to a grandkid. You know, we were a long way from Albert Payson Terhune, too. If you give a mouse-- I mean, honestly, if you think about just the shift. I mean, he started when. When did Dr. Seuss happen?
Harold: Dr. Seuss first book came out in what, late 30s? The first children's book was it. And to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street.
Jimmy: Oay, forget it. Okay. But anyway, it's a long time he's been doing it. That's my point.
January 19th. we're looking at the school bus, and Sally and Linus are sitting together in the school bus on the way to school. And, Sally is looking out the window, upset about something, and she says, oh, no, I left my lunch on the curb. And then Sally says to Linus, do you think the bus driver would turn around and go back so I could get it? And Linus says, maybe if you asked him nicely. To which Sally shouts, hey, Mac.
Michael: The reason I picked this, I have a Ukrainian student, and I was trying to teach her some idioms. English idioms. And then I thought one method would be. I went and looked for songs that had English idioms as the title. And one of them was Hit the Road, Jack. And then I was thinking, like, Jack. Okay, his name's not Jack.
Michael: There's two names that people use generically.
Harold: Yeah, yeah.
Michael: Jack and Mac. I went, hey, Mac. It was just like a name you'd call a guy you didn't know.
Jimmy: Yeah.
Michael: And my dad's name was Max so people always call Mac, like. He didn't like that.
Harold: I was thinking that this actually might work. you know, Sally calling him Mac, I think might be kind of endearing to this.
Jimmy: Oh, are you kidding? I think he would die laughing and absolutely take that little girl back together.
Harold: She's getting her. She's getting her, no question, lunch back. But Linus would never do that. Yeah, I love the contrast there. He's a little surprised.
Jimmy: Yeah, totally. I grew up in a really weird place. We did not call anybody Mac or Jack. Do you know what the, the euphemism. The term of endearment,
Harold: Bud?
Well, yes, but. Transmuted into butt. Yo butt.
Harold: Wow. Yo.
Jimmy: But. And my dad was always slightly different than everybody else, so he would not say yo, but. So I swear to you, he-- My dad loved my mom. They were together for 60 some years. And he always said ho butt. So he called my mom ho butt for.
Harold: Oh, my.
Jimmy: 60 years.
Harold: Oh, my.
Jimmy: But in Girardville, no one looked askance,
Harold: he was ahead of his time.
Jimmy: So I go to therapy a lot.
Michael:, so I think Mac is a city thing.
Harold: Yeah.
Jimmy: Doesn't it always seem to have to do with drivers, too? Like, you always think of it as a cab drive.
Harold: That's the famous Doonesbury strip. when, the guy gets picked up by a, truck driver hitchhiking, and Mac is on the front of the truck. Mack. And then, well, always reference to the other person is Mac. I think it was also spelled the K. It was just a little throwaway thing that I remember very fondly. And the Truck Driver's like, I think I can keep this guy paying the gas bills up to.
Jimmy: Oh, that's right. Oh, yeah, that's really funny use he's off in search of, like, the soul, America idealism. Right, Right. Yeah.
Harold: Ah, that's like. That's my favorite Doonesbury strip of all time.
Michael: I think now would be dude.
Jimmy: Dudes or bro bros. When it changes then to bruh. You can't even have enough to say the o, the long o sound.
Harold: And I don't know if this is just a New York thing, but it always makes me cringe a little bit. Is there someone in like a bodega or who's a service person working and you're coming and buying something and they call you boss. I hate that.
Jimmy: Oh, I hate boss. I hate boss.
Harold: Oh, it's got this weird dynamic.
Jimmy: Like. It's like.
Harold: It's like I'm servile to you, but not really. I hold you in contempt. You know, it's kind of a mixture that you get mixed with this politeness. It's weird.
Liz: And women always get doll or hon.
Harold: Right.
Liz: At least back in the day.
Harold: Yeah.
Jimmy: Yeah.
Liz: Or ma'am. I hate ma'am.
Harold: You don't like ma'am?
Michael: No.
Liz: Do not call a woman Ma'am. Listeners do not call a woman maam.
Jimmy: You heard it.
Harold: So if you're going to use a term like that, what's the best thing you can use
Jimmy: sweet cheeks?
Michael: Girl?
Liz: Signora.
Liz: Excuse me, madam. I don't know.
Harold: Madam is better than ma'am.
Liz: Oh, hell yes, ma'am is kiss of death. Do not ever.
Harold: Oh, my. Oh, wow. So there. There's. So just don't use any of those is what we're saying. You could fall into a trap.
Michael: Yeah, but waitresses, old waitresses would always say, hon to the customers.
Jimmy: They still do that.
Harold: I love Hon and Central pa. Yeah, that kind of stuff I love. But that's, you know, in our family, that's not. Not universal. But, the thing I love about this strip, visually, there's a lot to actually like. you know, again, we're saying that wobbly line. He's really figured out how to make everything look of a piece, even though he's struggling with things that he can't control. And I really admire him for that. His use of zipatone is unlike what I've ever seen anybody do. The two things I love the most are on the lower left and lower right corner. He has to make space for the date and for his signature. And he doesn't just carve out a circle or whatever. He makes it hard on himself. He jags it out. So you've got this jaggly little space of white because he's cut the dots with this xacto knife in these strange patterns, especially the Schulz. It's. It's just really cool. And I've never really remembered seeing someone else use zipatone the way he's using it.
Jimmy: Yeah, no, I agree. You've also very rarely seen two characters not occupying the same part of the picture plane as these are. You know, l is being slightly, or, you know, not slightly, but being from our point of view, behind Sally. And then he adjusts him forward so we could see them both. And it works really well.
Harold: Yeah, there's so much he's doing. He has the rough cut so that the zipatone to doesn't go to the edge of the lines on the metal of the bus. And so you get the sense of a little bit of machine in the glass that you're looking through. And Linus' cap in the second and third panels, he actually will slash out a piece of white so, like, there's a reflection in the glass. He's doing lots of stuff here, and I like it. It looks really nice.
Jimmy: It does.
January 22nd, Charlie Brown's hanging out in the beanbag chair, and Sally comes up behind him and says, oh, no, I've developed a new, improved philosophy.
Harold: Here we go.
Who cares? How should I know? Do you think I'm out of my mind? Sally then continues explaining to your brother, a good philosophy helps you endure all of the troubles we have in life. And then she repeats, who cares? How should I know? Do you think I'm out of my mind? And then Charlie Brown sinks down into the old beanbag chair with his feet straight up in the air.
Michael: I'm glad she's building on her past work.
Jimmy: That's right. Yes.
Harold: She's not one to rest on her laurels.
Jimmy: No. Interesting zipatone work. Working panel, too.
Harold: Yeah.
Jimmy: Doing the wavy like. I think he's getting a kick out of it.
Harold: I do. Yeah, he's enjoying. He's enjoying it. You can tell he's willing to put in this extra work.
Jimmy: I've really feel like it looks like the lettering is huge this year, or just, like, these years in general, I guess.
Harold: Yeah. I should go back and look, the way I used to count this stuff, because when I was making my own comics and strips, I would look at other people's work. I just like the composition, and I would count them. If you had text top to bottom, how many lines could you have? Schulz is around 9 or 10 in this point, of his career. And, I mean, if you go back to 1950, I'd like to know, you probably get, like, 20 such tiny lettering in the originals compared to this. It's night and day.
Jimmy: Yeah.
Harold: And also, he used to have equal panel widths, but in the shrinking world of comics being printed so small in the newspapers, he's now taken up creating a wider panel width so he can slip that United Feature Syndicate copyright in there, and then he'll make narrower ones because he needs every bit of space he can get.
Jimmy: Absolutely. Yep.
February 3rd, Peppermint Pattty's at the front of the classroom, giving him a report. And she says, and then Alexander Graham Bell goes, oh, no. And then he goes, Mr. Watson, come here. And Mr. Watson goes, that's it, Peppermint Patty responds to panel, ma'am. And then she's back in her seat, and, Marcie says to her. And the teacher goes, d minus. Peppermint Patty says, don't bug me, Marcie.
Michael: So do kids still, talk like this?
Jimmy: Oh, yeah, everybody.
Harold: Yeah, they go that way and, like, that way.
Michael: So this is now proper English.
Harold: Like, yes, it's now accepted again. Schulz is not cut off from the world. You know, he's hearing people, probably younger people in their language, whether it's on tv, the ice skating rink, around, as a grandparent, all that stuff. He's in the mix, and he's reading the Time, as we know, as well as watching a lot of, television. And so he seems to kind of know when something is a big enough thing in the culture that's new that he can introduce it and add a joke about it. Like the. Goes.
Jimmy: Yeah. And it's interesting because he's not like. I mean, yeah, she gets a D minus. By the way, the teacher here, again, to Harold's point that maybe this isn't the best teacher in the world, like the teacher would say, it says it's not goes. And then you gently correct her and let her finish her report instead of just giving her a D minus.
Harold: And it seems like this teacher just follows Peppermint Patty every while. She goes to. It's like they hold her back. And then this teacher's like, no, I want to torture. Bring her back. Bring her back up.
Liz: Maybe if she were more beautiful.
Jimmy: She’s cute. Right. That's her other theory. Right?
Liz: Yeah.
Jimmy: I'll tell you what. I think Peppermint Patty's beautiful. So, yeah, love. I love her character design.
Michael: She looks better in the mud, though.
Harold: Oh yeah.
Jimmy: I love those strips.
Harold: She's in her element. She and Pigpen should do a sequence together.
Jimmy: Oh, there you go. That's a great idea. Hey, so while you guys contemplate that out there, we're going to take a break and, come back and, get into some more strips. So we'll see you in a few.
Liz: All right
BREAK
VO: Hi, everyone. I just want to take a moment to remind you that all three hosts are cartoonists themselves and their work is available for sale. You can find links to purchase books by Jimmy, Harold and Michael on our website. You can also support the show on Patreon or buy us some mud pie. Check out the store link on unpackingpeanuts.com.
Jimmy: And we're back. we don't have anything in the mailbox, this week. So,
Harold: So you're worrying.
Jimmy: I'm gonna be worried for an entire week. I hope you people out there are happy and pleased with yourself. This.
Michael: We don't have any love letters.
Jimmy: Isn't that awful? Well, speaking of love letters,
February 4th, we're back in the old classroom and with, Linus and Lydia. And Lydia says to Linus, I've decided to tie a pink ribbon around all my love letters. And then she holds up the ribbon and says, see, I already have the ribbon. And then the last panel, she concludes, but I don't have any love letters.
Michael: poor Linus, he's, like, stunned. he needs.
Harold: Ah.
Michael: When he needs a come back and he can't think of any.
Liz: but he's staring into his computer monitor.
Michael: That's a book.
Harold: Yeah. It's better to say nothing at that point, I guess. But that does lean into the idea that, she just got her first music box from Linus a couple months ago. She doesn't have a bunch of them, Right?
Jimmy: That's right. That's right.
Harold: She's showing her hand
Michael: point to Linus.
Jimmy: Yeah. Michael was saying before we started recording, the rare front version of Lydia in panel one.
Harold: Yeah.
Jimmy: It's a cuter design in profile.
Harold: I think that Schulz is definitely drawing the old school desks. You can really see it here because these are the wood slats.
Liz: Yeah.
Harold: With the built in. And it's a two person one that is really common in the old schoolrooms and country. Country schoolrooms and stuff. So it's interesting to see that because when you look at it from the side, it looks much more modern.
Jimmy: Yeah. Boy, I'm glad I never had to sit at a two person desk. That would not have been a pleasant way to spend the day I don't think
Jimmy: February 5th. This is my 22nd birthday.
Harold: Happy 22nd birthday.
Jimmy: We had a party at, number 10D Brookwood Court Apartments, Millersville University. It was a heck of a night.
Harold: You have a great memory.
Michael: So did you read Peanuts every day?
Jimmy: No. Cause in college I didn't have access to a daily newspaper. I had.
Harold: It's called the library.
Jimmy: I'm not gonna walk to the library to read a one comic strip every day.
Harold: It's Peanuts.
Jimmy: No, but I will say you this one of the great that when I went to college and had access to a university library, like the first two months, I did go there constantly. And I went through all the microfilm and microfiche and got any article about comics that I could find because I had no access to any of that stuff like, you know, from the Atlantic and Rolling Stone and places that, you know, odd places that we're doing, especially in the 80s, you know, the hey, comics are cool again kind of.
Harold: Did you guys memorize the Dewey decimal system system numbers for comics?
Jimmy: No. I would have - 7…
Michael 741.5.
Harold: 741.5. That was the bee line for me as a kid. I knew exactly where to go. Forget the kids section. You're not gonna get anything that's funny.
Jimmy: Oh, yes
So it's February 5th. That's what we're talking about. Anyway, so Snoopy is out in the rain and he's thinking to himself, there's nothing more pathetic than a little dog sitting in the rain. And then Lucy walks by carrying an umbrella and she goes, she goes, there's nothing more pathetic than a Dog too stupid to get in out of the rain. And then Snoopy even soggier looking in the last panel things to himself. Either way, I'm pathetic.
Michael: So you think this is Snoopy, huh?
Jimmy: Yes.
Michael: I thought it was Krypto.
Jimmy: Oh, I am sworn off all of the pop culture brand entertainments. No more new Star Wars, no more marvel things, any of that stuff. But the only one I will allow myself hope and excitement for is the new Superman movie. And it'ly based on Krypto.
Michael: Yeah, except is that Krypto or is that Snoopy? Yeah, I think the changing breeds is one step too far.
Jimmy: What with Krypto?
Michael: Yeah, they.
Jimmy: Well, they've. It's not always the same dog in the comics either.
Michael: Yes, it is. Well, certainly not a fuzzy dog.
Jimmy: Well, anyway, he's adorable. That's my. Don't take my one joy away from me. I like Krypto though. It's all I have to live for.
Harold: Well, I liked, how you described the panel with Lucy walking by is in honor of Peppermint patty’s Goes
Jimmy: She goes, yeah, right.
February 6th, creeping up on Valentine's day. And here's a, Sunday page. So we start off with the old symbolic panel of Charlie Brown sitting next to an inverted heart heart in like a Valentine's style heart. And then in the next panel we cut to Lucy, who is decorating, her psychiatry booth, for a new job, a new gig. so she has it all decorated with hearts. And we see in the next panel that in fact she has turned her booth into a homemade Valentine's store. Homemade Valentine's for the love in your life. And Charlie Brown is sitting out as if he would, when he's a psychiatric patient. And he says to her, I need a valentine that will impress this girl I like. Lucy holds up a valentine and says, then you'll want this super potent valentine. Charlie Brown says, potent? Lucy says it'll sweep her off her feet. It'll knock her socks off. Charlie Brown says, all right, I'll take it. And then Lucy says, good, if you come around next Friday, you can pick it up. Charlie Brown says, Friday? Why can't I have it now? Lucy says it's too potent. There's a five day waiting period.
Jimmy: Very cute.
Michael: yeah, she's really quite the entrepreneur. but there's no price, so we don't know how much she her.
Liz: They probably vary.
Harold: See, maybe she's learned you don't put a price on there. The suggested donation gets you more than an actual.
Jimmy: Yeah. it's nice to see her branching out into different areas. you need to diversify your revenue streams. So it's good that she can do this.
February 13th. It's another Sunday, because my pals keep wanting me to read extra long strips. So, Linus is climbing to the top of a giant mound of snow. Or a giant hill covered in snow. I assume it's a mound of plowed snow. And he climbs up to the top of it and. And he stands there with his arms open wide and says, I am the king. I am the king of the hill. And then Lucy comes up and shoves him off it and says, no, you're not. And then she yells, I am the king of the hill. And then Snoopy comes up behind her, shoves her off. And Snoopy thinks to himself, I am the king of the hill. And then behind him comes Woodstock, who shoves him off. And then Woodstock watches into a long monologue of whatever he's saying atop of the hill. And then Snoopy looks up and says, the smaller the king, the more the talk.
Liz: Bravo Woodstock
Harold: Kind of violent in the 1994.
Jimmy: Yeah, Woodstock has issues here at the beginning. Well, it looks very cold. He's a tiny little bird. He probably should have migrated.
Harold: Yeah, yeah, boy. King of the Hill. there's no more fun than King of the Hill.
Jimmy: I was never a fan of King of the Hill, especially in Girardville. He got really violent.
Harold: Oh man.
February 17th. All right, so this is a sequence where, Snoopy is in the hospital. I can't remember. Oh, no, it's in this one where we find out what he has. Sorry. and his brothers have come to visit him, which is very exciting, because we. We see not only, Spike and Olaf, but we see Spike, Olaf, and now Andy. Based on Schulz's real dog. So they're sitting out. The three of them are sitting out in the waiting room. And Spike--
Jimmy: How are we when they're talking to each other? I guess we just say whatever. You know how.
Harold: You know how they go?
Jimmy: Just say they go, go. I think we solved this. This has been bothering me for decades. Solved.
Spike goes, I heard a nurse say our brother Snoopy has pneumonia. And then Andy goes, he was always the lively one in our family, wasn't he in World War I? And Spike goes, I think he just thought he was. And he says, you know what? I always wondered. And then Olaf answers, where do he get the helmet and goggles?
Jimmy: That's just funny. That made me laugh out loud. And because, I mean, it is the pedantic question about the World War I flying ace to begin with. Right.
Harold: Where’d he get, the helmet. Schulz is taking a risk here because he's got this delicately balanced fantasy world. And now he's added these other brothers into the mix and we see their perspective on the World War I flying ace. And I think it works.
Jimmy: Yeah. I, too.
Harold: You might be taking some of the magic out of it, but it actually is a very funny sequence.
Jimmy: Right.
Jimmy: You will be here. and here's almost why that it doesn't that I think it works rather, is that Spike also, we know, has his own fantasy world. Right. So I think. So it's funny that he's looking at Snoopy going, that guy's nuts. But he himself, is just as you out there talking to a cactus and everything, you know? So, I think that allows a little porousness to creep through and, let everybody's fantasies be equally. And it'equally real, equally fake.
Harold: It's Spike who's saying, wasn't he in World War I? I think he just thought he was.
Jimmy: Yeah. Yeah. That s. That's really interesting move.
Harold: Yeah. I'm not crazy.
Jimmy: Yeah, exactly. Right? Yeah. I love the drawing of Andy. I love fluffy. And it's hard to draw a fluffy dog. if you think about the great cartoon dogs or cartoon animals anyway, they're very rarely fluffy.
Harold: Yeah. Snowy in, Tintin.
Jimmy: Yep. Yeah. Yeah.
Harold: Love that. Love that design.
Jimmy: A bit of Sandy. You could sort of say, yah. That has a texture to. But not many.
Harold: Yeah.
Jimmy: Sandy from little Orphan Annie. I mean, but. Yep. So here we go. And I love Olaf, as we know, because
February 18th, they're still sitting and waiting and talking about their brother. And Andy says, if we're all brothers, how come I'm so fuzzy? You're so skinny. And Olaf is so fat. And Spike says, I'm not skinny. I'm trim. Olaf says, and, I'm not fat. Andy says, you're not fat. And Olaf says, I'm roly poly.
Jimmy: And he is. He's completely roly poly. That look. If Woodstock is the greatest cartoon design. Character design of all time. Olaf is the dumbest, and I love it.
Harold: Olaf is plush. He's a genuine push.
Jimmy: Yeah. He has no snout whatsoever. His tongue's always out.
Michael: Does he have eyeballs?
Jimmy: Yeah, they're sort of all. Yeah, they're like looking up into his own head in the middle. Right. Is that kind of what's going on there?
Michael: I don't think he has eyeballs. He looks sleepy.
Jimmy: Yeah, he definitely look sleepy. It's just so dumb. Only a master could do something so dumb and make it work so well. Love it.
Liz: And is Roly Poly spelled with only one L in each?
Jimmy: It is in his strip. No one's changing it.
Harold: Alrighty. How would you spell it?
Jimmy: I think it would be two L's right?
Liz: I would think so.
Harold: No, that'd be Raleigh Poly Ralely Polly.
Liz: No, it would be Roly Polly.
Harold: Roly Polly to me. Yeah, I didn't question that.
Jimmy: No, I think it might be. I think. Yeah, it would be Raleigh. Right? Like Raleigh Fingers, the great baseball pitcher. Really you have to be a baseball player if your name is Raleigh Fingers. That or a pickpocket. Right. Those would be the only two things.
February 20th, Linus, has his blanket and he stretched out and heons a big stretch and covers Snoopy's head in the blanket while he's doing this. And then they both fall asleep with Snoopy leaning up against Linus in the blanket. And then this is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, panels of Snoopy. So yeah, this is gonna be wild. So Snoopy, lays down on the blanket and then he sort of positions himself so his back of his neck is resting on Linus his lap. But then he tosses and turns and rolls over on his stomach. Then we see him like rolling around, fidgeting like crazy, trying to get comfortable. And this continues for the next couple panels. The Linus is still asleep, but Snoopy just cannot get comfortable. And it finally ends up then with Snoopy holding Linus's blanket in thumb and blanket position. And Charlie Brown outside sees Linus asleep atop Snoopy's doghouse. And Charlie Brown is perplexed.
Michael: I'm going to nominate this for the weird strips. No, tier three, panel one, there's two Linuses.
Jimmy: No, it's supposed to be multi, you know, the DeLuca effect it's called, where you see multiple versions of the same figure in one panel. But it's not generally done for stuff that's like slow. Yeah, usually, you know, it's usually like a superhero bounding through a panel.
Harold: Ah, yeah, you got four Snoopies on his lap. And the second tier last panel.
Michael: This is a real problem for Schulz. He's trying to do this time distortion Thing. Yeah, I'm not sure.
Harold: It's pretty cool. I like it.
Jimmy: I agree with both of you.
Harold: Wow, you were so diplomatic, Jimmy.
Jimmy: I like it. I think it looks really cool and I don't think it's working, but I love the, Look, man, if I'm 44 years into a career and I'm thinking I'm going to do something I've never done before today, that's a win. Right. Whether it comes out, as a masterpiece or not. He's now adding something to his toolkit 44 years in.
Harold: Yeah, he's being surreal about it. Because I love that last panel in the second tier because Snoopy is resting on himself.
Jimmy: Yeah.
Harold: From a previous pose. You know, it's impossible, but it's. Well, you could only do this in comics and I love that.
Jimmy: Yeah. Yeah. And also, like, we ignore the baseline weirdness of the strip because we're so familiar with it. The last panel, though, is. Right. And that's an insane drawing. Outside of. If this was. Could you imagine, you know, again, if this was the first time you ever saw Peanut?
Harold: Right. Linuse is sleeping on the top of.
Jimmy: A shed or whatever it is. No, you wouldn't even know it. You certainly wouldn't know it's a dog house.
Harold: Right. yeah. Which comes to a point. Yeah. Just like, what on earth is going on here? So, listeners, if you look up one strip from this discussion Today, I recommend February 20, 1994 to see what Schulz did. Here it is. There's a lot of weird stuff in here. If you haven't seen this before, it's worth seeing. Even in the second panel of the throwaway, they're both sleeping and they both have a little, pointer from the Z balloon for their common sleep. Although it looks like Linus’s might have been an afterthought somehow, because there's not an opening like you normally would have into the cloud.
Jimmy: Yeah, well, it's funny because I'm, working on this book in the Real Dark Night that's going to be serialized on my substack, gvillecomics,.substack.com starting in February. And one of the scenes, that's from later in the book that I've been kind of contemplating is showing someone tossing and turning all night. And, in all my samples, I've done it over the course of like 12 panels, you know. But doing it all in one panel, that could be interesting, right?
Michael: Yeah. Well, getting back to that book I recommended, that Kevin Huizenga thing.
Harold: Yeah.
Michael: Yeah, The River at Night. But he's tossing and turning all night. That's what it is. He's lying in bed thinking and sort of half dreaming. And there's a long sequence where he starts seeing multiples of himself. Great cartoonist, but it's hard to read.
Jimmy: Yeah. you sent, a link to share that with me. Looks great.
Liz: And I'm talking to you, Stephen Antonelli, that, this is a strip you should look at.
Jimmy: All right, you got it, Stephen. You got called out.
February 27th. Man, did we pick a lot of Sundays. It's another Sunday strip. Woodstock is in the spotlight in the symbolic first panel. And then we cut, to Snoopy watching Woodstock do a little performance on, Snoopy's supper dish. And he says to Woodstock, that's perfect. Then Snoopy looks behind him and says, we'll stand by the door. See? And then you go into your act. Maybe we'll get a little midday snack. And then Snoopy carries the supper dish in his mouth with Woodstock in it back to Charlie Brown's door. And then they arrive, and Snoopy says, okay, go to it. And then Wooduck does his little dance on Snoopy, the edge of Snoopy's dog dish. And that goes on for three panels. And it doesn't seem to, impress anyone. And then Snoopy just lies down despondent with the dog dish on top of his head and Woodstock in the dog dish. And Snoopy, goes, don't feel bad. Lots of shows close after one performance.
Michael: I'd give a cookie if I saw this.
Liz: Why didn't he kick the door?
Harold: I'm assuming someone was at the door.
Jimmy: Yeah, I was.
Harold: I don't know. We don't know for sure, but I would assume that cut. That was a panel cut out.
Jimmy: I don't know.
Michael: I should try again. I mean, this could be a way to make some, snacks.
Harold: Well, yeah, it's interesting to see Snoopy’s at this point in his life where he has a surrogate, happy dancer.
Jimmy: I will say, Woodstock doing the happy dance is cute, but not as cute as Snoopy doing the happy dance.
Liz: I'm not sure I agree.
Harold: I love the opening drawing of Woodstock in the spotlight, just with wings out to the.
Liz: [sings] You’d be swell.
Jimmy: Absolutely.
Harold: Yeah. Woodstock Merman.
Jimmy: Well, if you want to get more, Ethel Merman references, come back next week for Unpacking Peanuts 1994, part two. we have reached the end of this episode, but we didn't hear from you this week. So I'm going to be sitting here worried. if you want to fix that, you can reach out to us and keep this conversation going and the ways you can do that. First off, you can write us an email at unpackingpeanuts@gmail.com. we, always love to hear from you. you can reach out to us on our hotline where you can call or leave a text message. That number is 717 219 4162. Or you can follow us on social media. We're UnpackPeanuts on Instagram and Threads and Unpacking Peanuts on Facebook, Blue Sky and YouTube. And we would absolutely love to hear from you. So that's it for this week. come back next week for more fun strips for Michael, Harold and Liz. This is Jimmy saying, be of good cheer.
MH&L: Yes, yes. Be of good cheer.
Liz: Unpacking Peanuts is copyright Jimmy Gownley, Michael Cohen, Harold Buchholz and Liz Sumner. Produced and edited by Liz Sumner. Music by Michael Cohen. Additional voiceover by Aziza Shukralla Clark. For more from the show, follow Unpacked Peanuts on Instagram and threads. Unpacking Peanuts on Facebook, Blue sky and YouTube. For more about Jimmy, Michael and Harold, visit unpackingpeanuts.com. have a wonderful day and thanks for listening,
Ho Butt