I recently came across a collection of 1950s Peanuts strips. They’re from from an era predating the collections I read as a kid, and I was struck by how simple and funny the strips are. Schulz hadn’t started doing jokes about Snoopy’s fantasy life, or the football gag, or birds named Woodstock — rather, the strips are just funny little haikus about human behavior. Even Charlie Brown’s face is simpler — a little less careworn, a little more universal. I still love the Peanuts strips I grew up with, but I find these perfect little strips really funny and affecting.
