― c('°c) (Leee), Monday, 2 October 2006 22:28 (seventeen years ago) link
(I guarantee we see this sentiment in print by the end of the week.)
― It's the lazy and immoral way to become super hip. (Austin, Still), Monday, 2 October 2006 23:33 (seventeen years ago) link
― c('°c) (Leee), Thursday, 4 January 2007 19:22 (seventeen years ago) link
― do i have to draw you a diaphragm (Rock Hardy), Friday, 12 January 2007 16:20 (seventeen years ago) link
― A B C (sparklecock), Friday, 12 January 2007 16:28 (seventeen years ago) link
― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 12 January 2007 16:43 (seventeen years ago) link
― do i have to draw you a diaphragm (Rock Hardy), Friday, 12 January 2007 16:51 (seventeen years ago) link
― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Friday, 12 January 2007 17:53 (seventeen years ago) link
This strip has me in tears.
― c('°c) (Leee), Friday, 12 January 2007 18:01 (seventeen years ago) link
BOOOOOO. Just end the strip, for fuck's sake, while you've got Leee in tears!
Actually, if the syndicate owns it and could continue it without her, this is probably the best solution.
― do i have to draw you a diaphragm (Rock Hardy), Friday, 12 January 2007 18:07 (seventeen years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 12 January 2007 18:32 (seventeen years ago) link
― do i have to draw you a diaphragm (Rock Hardy), Friday, 12 January 2007 18:48 (seventeen years ago) link
The strip's creator was referring to Farley, the shaggy canine whose heroic 1995 death (after saving April from drowning) brought Johnston an avalanche of reader mail.
I'm surprised she'd want to fix the characters in teim. Aging is so preferable to the umpteenth time Lucy pulls the ball before Charlie Brown can kick it or Bart's 15th year at Springfield Elementary (to a lesser degree). Farley's death, the Doonesbury characters, Luann, Crankshaft, even Gasoline Alley - all gain greater investments because the characters age.
― lumberingwoodsman (Chris Hill), Friday, 12 January 2007 20:58 (seventeen years ago) link
― Candy: tastes like chicken, if chicken was a candy. (Austin, Still), Friday, 12 January 2007 21:58 (seventeen years ago) link
― c('°c) (Leee), Friday, 12 January 2007 22:24 (seventeen years ago) link
I know too much about this comic considering I don't actually read it.
― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Friday, 12 January 2007 22:46 (seventeen years ago) link
― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Friday, 12 January 2007 23:20 (seventeen years ago) link
― A B C (sparklecock), Saturday, 13 January 2007 01:25 (seventeen years ago) link
Why? It's static. Charlie Brown's a loser with a good heart. He doesn't ask the red-headed girl out (or did he? Seems like he got kissed once). He loses his kite. Lucy pulls the football. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Whereas in Luann (and that was just an example of a strip with the characters aging), the characters are allowed to grow, act on crushes/jobs/whatever, fail or succeed, but they evolve to a degree. Peanuts loops. Don't get me wrong, I like Peanuts, but it's McDonalds - guaranteed the same taste regardless of year - while strips that age at least make it to Burger King or Burgerville taste.
Maybe it's the models of Loser, Brat, Wise, Imaginative, Creative, Chaotic that make Peanuts worthy or resonant, not so much their stories, which is where the aging comes in?
And true, on Crankshaft. The adult characters are more timeless than the grandkids, who seem to be growing and moving on. Lena died, however - the woman who made the coffee. Alas, poor Lena.
― lumberingwoodsman (Chris Hill), Saturday, 13 January 2007 02:16 (seventeen years ago) link
!!!
― Casuistry (Chris P), Saturday, 13 January 2007 10:17 (seventeen years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Saturday, 13 January 2007 10:18 (seventeen years ago) link
But the whole point of some strips is variations and refinements on a set of themes, finding new angles and new approaches, teasing out new aspects of it.
The football strips are sort of obvious in their emotional heft, and are iconic of the strip, but consider the "x days until Beethoven's birthday!" strips, which seem to last for weeks in some years, and which are the true test of a daily stripper -- how many times can you tell the same joke without telling the same joke, while bringing something new to it.
I can't imagine what you'd make of Krazy Kat!
― Casuistry (Chris P), Saturday, 13 January 2007 10:27 (seventeen years ago) link
the tone of 50s Peanuts is MASSIVELY different from 80s Peanuts! and, you know, probably about 300 strips a year were not about topics that Schulz returned to, let alone how his returning to the ones that did become staples let him try and find new nuances or add depth by building on years of playing with the themes.
― nu-mongrel (kit brash), Saturday, 13 January 2007 14:44 (seventeen years ago) link
schulz did acknowledge the passing of time on occasion. there's a few sunday strips from the early '70s where charlie brown is remembering the times he used to sit on the bench at lunchtime (in the early '60s, that is) and pine over the little red-haired girl (who has apparently moved away). i think they're the best strips schulz ever did. (you can find them in "sandlot peanuts," if you're interested)
― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Sunday, 14 January 2007 04:27 (seventeen years ago) link
― c('°c) (Leee), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 21:46 (seventeen years ago) link
― do i have to draw you a diaphragm (Rock Hardy), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 23:36 (seventeen years ago) link
― Candy: tastes like chicken, if chicken was a candy. (Austin, Still), Friday, 19 January 2007 13:25 (seventeen years ago) link
― Leee, Monday, 26 March 2007 18:56 (seventeen years ago) link
― Deric W. Haircare, Monday, 26 March 2007 19:27 (seventeen years ago) link
― A B C, Monday, 26 March 2007 20:04 (seventeen years ago) link
― Oilyrags, Monday, 26 March 2007 20:24 (seventeen years ago) link
― Oilyrags, Monday, 26 March 2007 21:03 (seventeen years ago) link
― chaki, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 03:50 (seventeen years ago) link
― Mordechai Shinefield, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 04:57 (seventeen years ago) link
― Leee, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 19:18 (seventeen years ago) link
― R Baez, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 19:20 (seventeen years ago) link
― Leee, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 19:24 (seventeen years ago) link
― Leee, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 20:21 (seventeen years ago) link
― A B C, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 12:26 (seventeen years ago) link
― Leee, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 16:38 (seventeen years ago) link