Week 3: The Comic Strip

For this week's comic strip reading I decided to focus on Peanuts by Charles Schulz. I was mostly drawn to these for nostalgic purposes but was also interested to see how I'd react to them as an adult.

Most noticeable about the selection that I read through was that there's not exactly a punchline in each strip. That's not to say they aren't funny, but the humor seems to come more so from the individual traits of each character in the strip. That is probably, in part, why the strip has long stood the test of time. It is very character-driven, and each character has a distinct personality that's easy for audiences to identify with. For example, Lucy is the "bossy one", Charlie Brown is the lovable kid down on his luck, and we can always rely on Snoopy for some comedic relief. Because of these specific traits, it's enjoyable to read through each strip and recognize them, and think, "there's Lucy just being Lucy."

Thematically speaking, Peanuts is also very appealing from a nostalgia standpoint. It focuses on a simpler time of youth and childhood shenanigans, which has made it popular over the years for kids and adults alike.

Aside from its characters, Peanuts is very simple in its design and layout. There are clean lines, simple backgrounds, and evenly spaced panels. While some strips have a moderate amount of dialogue, there are some with no dialogue at all, in which the drawings speak for themselves.

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