The Complete Peanuts, Vol. 1: 1950-1952

The Complete Peanuts, Vol. 1: 1950-1952 by Charles M. Schulz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Complete Peanuts Volume 1 collects all the Peanuts strips from the beginning in October 1950 through the end of 1952.

I'm a child of the 1980s so my opinion of the strip is low due to using the characters to hock MetLife insurance. Bill Watterson lists Peanuts as one of his primary influences so I decided to go back to the beginning. I was not disappointed.

This strip is surprisingly dark in its beginnings. Charlie Brown isn't a tremendous doormat like he would later become for several decades, rather acting like Calvin from C&H minus the rich fantasy life.. Shermie, Violet, and Patty (not to be confused with Peppermint Patty) are his friends.Snoopy acts like a real dog. Schroeder and Lucy are toddlers and Linus is an infant.

There are lots of landmarks in this tome. The football gag is introduced but with Violet being the asshole rather than Lucy. Lucy, Linus, and Schroeder are introduced and Shermie and Patty are already on their way out the door. Charlie Brown is already the butt of jokes and bad at sports but still has some life life left in him.

The art style isn't as polished and is a lot more varied than what the strip would become later. The characters all have more than two poses and a lot more black ink is used. For my money, the strip had a lot more life in it in the early days. Schultz was still developing his art style rather than just coasting for forty years.

While I never paid much attention to its later years, Peanuts in its embryonic form is right in my wheelhouse. Four out of five stars.

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