Reflecting on the Enduring Legacy of the Greatest Peanuts Comic Strip Ever

Seventeen thousand, eight hundred and ninety-seven. That is how many Peanuts comics Charles Schulz created over the 50 years that he wrote and drew his comic strip. Peanuts debuted on Oct. 2, 1950, began publishing Sunday strips on Jan. 6, 1952, and concluded its run on Feb. 13, 2000. That is a large number of comics, which makes determining the very best one a daunting task.

At first, going for the first comic strip or the last one seemed logical. Both of those comics are important to the history of Peanuts, but neither represents the best the strip has to offer.

Peanuts did not arrive fully formed. It took Charles Schulz a time to develop its characters and find their iconic look. That is clear in the first comic strip, which features the characters Shermy and Patty in a starring role and Charlie Brown in a supporting one. Charlie Brown also does not look like himself yet. For these reasons, the first strip cannot be the best one.

The last one is not perfect either because, unlike Calvin and Hobbes, Peanuts did not end because its artist was ready to conclude the story. Bill Watterson’s readiness to end Calvin and Hobbes motivated him to craft a beautiful ending for the characters. Peanuts ended because Charles Schulz fell ill and was no longer able to carry on. While the last strip is Schulz’s goodbye letter to fans, it does not function as a satisfying ending for the characters.

That leaves 17,895 other comics to evaluate.

With an immense number of candidates, breaking the problem down mathematically helped set parameters around what the best strip ever required, narrowing the options down.

The best Peanuts comic strip needed to feature both Charlie Brown and Snoopy. It should illustrate who each of them is, rather than serving as a Snoopy joke featuring Charlie Brown or vice versa.

It also needed to come from the 1960s, which is widely considered the peak period of Peanuts. During the first decade of the comic, Schulz experimented with the characters and found their footing. The 1960s marked the explosion of popularity and the transition of the characters to television. The comic was firmly established yet still fresh. Later decades produced classic strips, but they relied on a predictable routine compared to the 1960s work.

Searching through 1960s Peanuts comics yielded strong contenders, such as the strip where Charlie Brown brings Snoopy food in the rain.

Another candidate showed Charlie Brown trying to make a snowman before Snoopy gets caught up in the big snowball.

Both strips are sweet and funny, but they did not highlight the core personalities of the characters enough.

A famous Lucy and Snoopy comic from 1960 features Lucy hugging Snoopy and saying “Happiness is a warm puppy.” It remains one of the greatest Peanuts strips ever, but the best-ever comic needed to feature Charlie Brown.

A Sunday strip from Feb. 26, 1961, features Charlie Brown and Snoopy in bed together. After Charlie Brown says “Good night, Snoopy,” Snoopy falls asleep, snores loudly, and wakes up Charlie Brown. Charlie Brown kicks Snoopy outside, where the dog returns to the top of his doghouse. Feeling guilty, Charlie Brown goes back outside and lets Snoopy try again. Back in bed, the two sleep peacefully until Charlie Brown lets out a loud snore that awakens Snoopy. In the final panel, Charlie Brown lies outside on Snoopy’s doghouse and lets out a characteristic “Sigh.”

This comic strip captures the small, slice-of-life storytelling that Schulz mastered. It includes signature Peanuts imagery like Snoopy on his doghouse. The strip displays tenderness between the characters while defining their traits. Snoopy is an adorable scamp who manages to kick his owner out of bed. Charlie Brown is the butt of the joke, acting precisely like a kid who would get evicted from his own bed by a dog. The final “Sigh” is simple yet thoroughly characteristic of Charlie Brown.

Other readers might argue for a strip featuring Lucy and Charlie Brown with the Football gag, or a Christmas-themed strip. Mathematically speaking, however, the snoring comic from February 1961 stands as the best Peanuts comic ever.

Or perhaps it is the “Happiness is a warm puppy” one. That remains uncertain.

Source: Polygon