February 17, 2026 • 59 mins
Linus’s original struggle for security is with Lucy… and was it her blanket originally?! Plus Linus learns the difference between tv and reality in language he can understand.
Transcript available at UnpackingPeanuts.com
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Unpacking Peanuts is copyright Jimmy Gownley, Michael Cohen, Harold Buchholz, and Liz Sumner. Produced and edited by Liz Sumner. Music by Michael Cohen. Additional voiceover by Aziza Shukralla Clark.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
VO (00:02):
Welcome to Unpacking Peanuts, the podcast where three cartoonists take an in-depth look at The Greatest Comic Strip of All Time, Peanuts by Charles M.
Schulz.
Jimmy (00:19):
Hey, everybody, welcome back to the show.
This is Unpacking Peanuts, the show where we look at The Greatest Comic Strip of All Time.
And today we're continuing our look at two of the most fascinating characters, Linus and Lucy.
I'll be your host for the proceedings.
My name is Jimmy Gownley.
I'm also a cartoonist who did things like Amelia Ruehl's Seven Graces Not to Rup, The Dumbest Idea Ever.
(00:39):
And I'm now serializing all my new strips, including the new graphic novel In the Real Dark Night on GVIL Comics over there on Substack.
Joining me as always are my pals, co-hosts and fellow cartoonists.
He's a playwright and a composer, both for the band Complicated People as well as for this very podcast.
He's the co-creator of the original Comic Book Prize Guide, the original editor for Amelia Rules, and the creator of such great strips as Strange Attractors, A Gathering of Spells, and Tangled River.
(01:06):
It's Michael Cohen.
Michael (01:07):
Say hey.
Jimmy (01:09):
And he's the executive producer and writer of Mystery Science Theater 3000, a former vice president of Archie Comics, and the creator of the Instagram sensation, Sweetest Beasts, Harold Buchholz.
Harold (01:19):
Hello.
Jimmy (01:20):
And making sure everything runs smoothly and keeping us out of trouble, it's our producer and editor, Liz Sumner.
Liz (01:25):
Howdy.
Jimmy (01:26):
All right, guys, we're back for another episode.
You guys enjoying the Linus and Lucy season so far?
Michael (01:33):
Yeah, I can't get enough of this stuff.
Jimmy (01:35):
This is your favorite stuff, right?
Michael (01:37):
Yeah, this is peak for me.
Jimmy (01:40):
How about you, Harold?
Harold (01:41):
Yeah, it's fun to see them this young again.
Going through 50 years of strips and then bouncing all the way back to the early mid-fifties is pretty cool.
I just got so settled into where they were at the end.
It's a little bit jarring and it's also pretty cool.
Jimmy (02:02):
Yeah, I've really been enjoying it.
I'd also just like to say welcome to all our new listeners.
We've had such great luck getting new listeners over the last month or so, from a bunch of different sources.
Thank you all for hanging out with us.
If you want to really get into it, the one thing you can do to find out what we're going to be covering every week is go over to unpackingpeanuts.com and sign up for the great Peanuts reread.
(02:30):
That will get you one email a month letting you know what we're going to be covering as these episodes roll out.
If you want, you can read along with us.
Also, they can go back, I think, right?
They can go back and see all the old newsletters.
If you want to start from the beginning, because if you weren't following along from the beginning, we read every strip, all 17,897 of them.
(02:54):
You can click on those links to those newsletters and find out what we read in each episode and follow along with us.
Liz (03:02):
That's it, unpackingpeanuts.com.
Jimmy (03:04):
Good old unpackingpeanuts.com, your one-stop shop for everything about this podcast.
All right, well, I don't have anything else to say at the beginning, so how about we just go ahead and start with these new comic strips?
Liz (03:20):
All right.
Let's do it.
Harold (03:21):
Sure.
Jimmy (03:22):
November 5th, 1954.
Linus and Lucy are hanging out probably in the Van Pelt household, but it's really just an enormous void right now.
There's one little block behind Linus, and Lucy says to him, Mommy's going next door for a while, Linus.
We're going to be all alone, but don't worry.
I'll be here to take care of you.
And she squats down next to him, gets really close to him and says, You're going to be my little boy, and I'm going to be your mother.
(03:49):
And Linus screams and turns away, Aagh!
Harold (03:56):
This is actually an AAGH.
Liz (03:58):
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Jimmy (03:59):
AAGH!
Michael (04:00):
Yeah, that's worse now.
Harold (04:01):
No, you.
Well, this was the old famous old, was this the first time?
Liz (04:09):
Yeah.
Harold (04:10):
But yeah, had we ever gotten an AUGH up until now?
This is like proto-AUGH.
Liz (04:14):
Yeah, this is actually the first appearance of AAGH.
Michael (04:18):
Also, yeah, I mean, we stopped last time where he was actually thinking in full sentences.
Yeah.
We haven't gotten back to that in the strip yet.
Happened once, and then he's back to not speaking hardly at all.
We do get there.
Jimmy (04:34):
Most importantly, his head is not dented yet.
Let's see if his head coincides with his becoming verbal.
Harold (04:44):
Well, this is, to me, a cartoonist fun.
You got a little bit singular block behind Linus, and you see the letters A and C at an angle.
But then you move a little bit around, and what should be C is now B on the block.
Then when we cut back to the angle we had more originally, with the A and C, it's A and C.
(05:08):
This is cartoonist fun, keeping yourself occupied by changing the letters on the blocks you draw.
Michael (05:15):
Also, panel one, you can tell where the light source is, because Lucy's shadow goes one way, Linus' and the block goes the other way.
So the light's got to be above them, directly above.
So we can start plotting out the house.
Harold (05:29):
We're going to have this nailed down in a few strips, despite the open white void around them.
Liz (05:36):
Hasn't Lucy called her mother mother before, rather than mommy?
Harold (05:42):
Yeah, she called daddy daddy, but mom, yeah, mother.
So that gives us another clue, right?
Yeah.
If it's a little more formal, usually with mother.
And then, of course, the mother being the psychologist, she says, why do you call daddy daddy and mommy mother?
(06:03):
You should feel free to speak to your mother in the informal.
Liz (06:07):
Or maybe she's just referring to mother as mommy to Linus.
Harold (06:13):
Yeah, right.
She doesn't dare do it to her mom.
Liz (06:18):
Maybe we're going a little too deeply into this.
Harold (06:21):
Maybe.
Maybe this is all conjecture.
Maybe this is just a funny comic strip.
Liz (06:26):
187 episodes.
Harold (06:28):
Yeah.
Oops.
Jimmy (06:32):
November 28th, 1954.
It's a Sunday.
And Linus is crawling around in his Phoebe jammies playing with a balloon.
And he's just batting it around for three panels.
And then Lucy yells, all right, who's got my balloon?
Just wait until I catch the person who took that balloon.
(06:52):
Boy, oh boy.
She storms into the room.
Linus quickly unties the balloon, which is a trick in itself, lets all of the air out and then swallows the balloon, keeps it in his mouth.
And Lucy comes over to good old Linus and says, Linus, did you see who took my balloon?
To which Linus says, And then Lucy takes that as no and walks away with, well, you're just lucky you didn't have anything to do with it.
(07:18):
And then Linus says, and as he exhales, the balloon starts inflating.
Harold (07:27):
Oh man, remember the taste of balloons?
You ever taste a balloon?
Jimmy (07:30):
Oh sure.
Harold (07:31):
So bitter.
Man, poor Linus.
Of course, Lucy doesn't have a balloon.
Feel for her too.
Michael (07:41):
She doesn't strike me as a balloon kind of person.
Harold (07:44):
Who doesn't?
It's crazy how tiny their noses are here.
Yeah.
She's not a balloon person.
Michael (07:50):
I don't think so.
Harold (07:52):
Well, she is here.
Liz (07:54):
Well, are those letters when he is untying the balloon?
It looks like those are letters and could spell something.
Harold (08:02):
Yeah.
Jimmy (08:04):
I think it's supposed to be what Mort Walker would call do-lapse, almost like moisture.
He's worried and it's like sweat.
Harold (08:15):
Surrounded by what are the other things called, those little Vs of concern emanating all around his head.
Jimmy (08:23):
Unless it's a hidden ad for Volvo because that's what the first letter is.
Liz (08:27):
Well, and there's P's in there too.
There's a bunch of P's.
Jimmy (08:31):
I think those are the-
Harold (08:32):
Those are the sweat drops.
Liz (08:33):
Oh, I see.
Harold (08:34):
Okay.
Jimmy (08:36):
Well, guys, we may have hit the end of it.
All right.
Liz (08:41):
And if you want to talk to us on social media.
Jimmy (08:44):
I think that may be the end.
Harold (08:49):
We need to have an extensive conversation about Linus' mmm, he's got a balloon in his mouth.
Liz (08:55):
Which is Sarah Fons.
Harold (08:59):
That's actually an acronym.
Jimmy (09:01):
Yeah.
Harold (09:03):
Mom may be gone.
I think that's what it is.
M-M-B-G, mommy.
Sorry, mommy may be gone.
Jimmy (09:10):
July 20th, 1955, Linus and Lucy are standing outside.
Lucy looks up and says, see Linus, pretty soon the sun will be going down.
And then this day will be all over.
It will be gone forever.
Do you hear me?
Now she's ranting, you'll never see this day again.
It'll be gone.
Do you hear?
Gone, gone.
(09:32):
And which Linus just covers his eyes and yells, oh, I can only see odd this time.
Harold (09:39):
With you, yeah.
Wow.
Is she doing this on purpose?
Michael (09:44):
She wants to teach him, but this is not helping him at all.
Jimmy (09:47):
Well, I think she feels this way.
I don't think she's just trying to scare him.
Yeah, I think she's teaching him a fact of life, and this is just how she sees it and expresses herself, which is intense.
Harold (10:02):
That is intense, I'll tell you.
Start thinking about that for the first time, it's going to get to you.
Jimmy (10:09):
For the 150th time.
Harold (10:11):
Their noses are so tiny at this time.
It's crazy how small they are on their faces.
Jimmy (10:17):
Yeah, and look how we're still in those really weird, short, chubby arms stage.
Like if you look in the last panel, and you would put Lucy's arm next to Linus' arm, Linus' arm would have to be twice as big to be able to bend like that compared to Lucy.
And if he stood up, he would tower over her.
Harold (10:37):
Where are you?
Liz (10:38):
With the final, the last panel, with his knees bent.
Is that what you mean?
Harold (10:43):
Yeah.
Yeah, the cartoon is prerogative.
Jimmy (10:50):
February 5th, 1955, Lucy is tearing the house apart, just looking for something.
And she yells, where's my blanket?
I can't go to bed without my blanket.
She's also in her orange Feeny pajamas.
Now she's stomping around looking really annoyed.
And there's Linus with his thumb in his mouth and holding on to what is Lucy's blanket in this strip.
(11:14):
And then Lucy says, give me that blanket.
She tries to pull it away from him.
But Linus is having none of it.
And she says, give me it, I say.
And then she finally wrestles it away from him.
And Linus is all discombobulated.
And he's annoyed.
And then he goes into Lucy's room, where Lucy is in bed in classic thumb and blanket position.
(11:34):
And then Linus shoots her with his finger gun.
Bang.
Michael (11:38):
This is, I noticed this recurred, I think three times that year, where he resorts to pulling out the old gun and shooting someone.
Jimmy (11:47):
Yeah.
Michael (11:48):
Lucy basically.
I think he shoots the arrow.
Harold (11:51):
And I didn't realize, didn't realize that Linus' blanket was Lucy's blanket.
Jimmy (11:57):
Well, you realized it at one point, cause you did the complete Peanuts reread.
Harold (12:02):
I don't remember realizing that.
Michael (12:04):
This was probably not in color when we read it.
Harold (12:07):
Well, that's why I didn't realize it.
Jimmy (12:09):
I'm looking forward to waiting just another three months with you two, because three months from now, I could call you guys and go, hey, we're going to do a podcast where we're going to read all of Peanuts.
And you'd be like, that's a great idea.
Start over.
Harold (12:26):
Well, okay, you with a great memory, did we discuss this?
Of course, we discussed this.
What?
We did.
Liz (12:33):
No.
Michael (12:34):
Not this trip.
Jimmy (12:35):
In our life, we've discussed it.
Michael (12:37):
No, no, I didn't take the things we talked about before.
Jimmy (12:42):
No, I don't remember it either, actually.
Harold (12:45):
But yeah, Linus is fighting back here and it's crazy.
So he learned how to suck your finger and hold the blanket, maybe from Lucy, from observation.
Liz (12:54):
Thumb.
It's a thumb.
Jimmy (12:55):
It seems to be-
Harold (12:57):
What did I say?
Liz (12:57):
Finger.
It makes a difference.
Jimmy (13:02):
It does make a difference.
Harold (13:05):
I don't know why.
It makes all the difference.
All the difference in the world.
Jimmy (13:09):
All right.
Now, between February and July, something really exciting happens, which is Linus' head gets dented.
Because you can see it just starting to happen in the second tier.
Let's start with this next strip here.
July 8th, 1955.
(13:30):
Now, Linus has the blanket.
He's sitting there in classic thumb and blanket position, and Lucy comes over saying, Disgraceful, and Linus says, Oh, go away, and Lucy continues, completely disgraceful.
You and that stupid blanket, are you going to carry the thing around the rest of your life?
When are you going to learn to stand on your own two feet?
And then Linus, who is now completely verbal, says, What do you mean?
(13:52):
I've got just as much willpower as anyone else.
See, I don't need this blanket.
I can throw it away anytime I want to, anytime.
And then he does throw that away, about two inches.
And then he completely has the shakes in the next panel, and says, Good grief.
And then he dives and grabs the blanket.
And then Lucy walks away saying, You're a hopeless case, Linus.
(14:14):
And then Linus just says, I thought I could do it.
I actually thought I could do it.
He does get away without writing a joke a lot of times.
Harold (14:27):
Well, and it's so funny that we just read the strip where Lucy's like, Where's my blanket?
I can't go to bed without my blanket.
Michael (14:35):
Well, there was Linus' first real words came in between.
I just didn't pick it because we'd talked about that.
Liz (14:44):
Oh, but maybe it has a dent.
We have to go back to find the dent moment.
Harold (14:50):
Well, there you go.
Jimmy (14:52):
That could be a job for one of our fine listeners.
It happens between those two strips.
Liz (14:58):
All right.
Jimmy (15:01):
January 6th, 1957, Linus is sitting in his living room reading a copy of Furry Tales.
And Lucy sneaks up behind him and snatches the book out from his hands.
And he says, hey, he chases after her.
Give me back that book.
Give it to me or I'll slug you.
(15:21):
And Lucy has it hidden behind her back.
She says, Mom, Linus says he's going to slug me.
And Linus says, oh, good grief.
And then the word balloon comes from off-pan.
Linus, that's no way to talk.
And then Linus says, well, that's the way they talk on TV.
If they talk that way, why can't I?
And the mom's voice says, that's just one of those things I can't explain.
(15:43):
And then Lucy says, listen, dope, if you slug me, I'll slug you right back.
And she's making one of her classic faces and shaking a fist at him.
And she walks away and Linus calls out to his mother.
Never mind, mom, it's just been explained to me in language that I understand.
Harold (16:00):
Look at that middle panel.
We are at peak jaw.
Yeah.
Lucy's jaw is way out from behind her tiny little nose.
That is, that's crazy.
I forgot how pronounced that got on the characters in this era.
(16:21):
It looks kind of strange.
Jimmy (16:24):
It's great.
I love that the greatest cartoonist of all time also does not understand perspective.
That first panel, that's just a tiny little Lucy.
Liz (16:36):
A very large couch.
Jimmy (16:38):
Yeah, gigantic couch.
Liz (16:41):
Are we in full dent now?
Jimmy (16:44):
Yeah, he's dented up.
No, it's not quite.
Actually, no, it looks like, it kind of, you can see it a little bit on the last panel of the second tier.
Not so much, a little bit on the first panel of the third tier.
Michael (16:59):
I don't know.
Jimmy (17:00):
But on this next one, we'll see it get way more pronounced.
Michael (17:04):
So it wasn't one event, it was continual abuse.
Jimmy (17:07):
Yeah, this next one we see might actually, no, you know what?
No, I think we see it.
I think you accidentally found the real moment.
All right, here we go.
This is exciting.
You ready?
June 2nd, 1957, Linus is out playing in a sandbox, which is actually just a random pile of sand laying in the neighborhood somewhere.
(17:28):
He's making a nice, a huge castle actually.
And then suddenly from off panel, he hears, charge.
Then Lucy comes flying in, hitting him with a tricycle and then denting his head a few more.
Michael (17:44):
Definitely.
Jimmy (17:45):
Right?
Those two panels, that's it.
And Linus is shaken up by this, as one would be.
And then he goes, gets some pliers and then comes up to Lucy, who is so smugly sitting on her tricycle.
And then we have an all lettering panel, which we never have, which is awesome.
And the lettering says, hey, what are you doing there?
(18:06):
What are you doing with those pliers?
SPEAKER_2 (18:07):
Hey!
Jimmy (18:09):
And then in the last panel, we see a maniacally grinning Linus walking away, and Lucy standing there amidst the ruins of her now disassembled tricycle.
Liz (18:21):
Yay.
And he has the same grin as she had in the previous strip, all teeth, all mouth.
Harold (18:29):
Yeah.
Michael (18:31):
As for some, I've noticed him doing the kind of silhouetted row of houses.
It looks very nice.
Easy way to fill up the background there.
Harold (18:41):
Yeah, it looks good.
Man, you're right, Jimmy.
I'm looking at this aftermath of the tricycle on Linus.
Remove the hair.
Oh, my goodness.
You know what it looks like?
He has this massive bump on one side.
But I mean, yeah, you remove the hair.
(19:02):
That is the wonkiest looking head.
It's like he tries to make up for it a little bit by adding a ton of hair on the right.
Jimmy (19:09):
A ton of hair on the back and it's all messy.
Harold (19:12):
Because it's this weird, I mean, can you imagine when he was drawing before he got to the hair?
He would have said.
Jimmy (19:19):
No, I can't, no, I can't.
It's really wild.
It looks like a slab of T-bone steak or something.
It's so weird.
I think this is a weird period.
I mean, it's not quite the early stuff and it's not quite the facile late 50s, early 60s stuff.
Harold (19:47):
Yeah, there's less polish to the inclines and this is an interesting period.
They're not the most appealing characters.
It takes me back to that thing where Al Cap was describing the Peanuts characters as little monsters.
We're seeing all these concentrated strips of the sibling problems and it really does stand out.
(20:15):
Yeah, there's a lot of violence and-
Michael (20:17):
Yeah.
Well, speaking of monsters, I'm the one who picked these.
So don't go assuming everyone was like this.
I really go with this, the conflict.
Harold (20:31):
Yeah, I mean, but it's strong.
It really is strong.
And yeah, other strips.
I guess it, again, we were talking about this last time, but I think, I just feel for the characters more because Schulz tends to show you the aftermath of something that would have possibly just been funny.
You know, like in a Bugs Bunny cartoon when somebody gets cut down.
Jimmy (20:55):
That's the pipeline as opposed to he gives you a minute or a beat to sit with it and...
Harold (21:02):
Yeah, which then makes the ending all that much more effective, yeah.
Jimmy (21:08):
I like the way we see the sandbox through the first four panels, and then when we see her coming flying in on the tricycle, we don't see any of the background because it's all focused just on the action and it's just the color of sand as the entire background of the panel and it really works.
Harold (21:28):
Yeah, it's like the centerpiece of this whole strip.
Jimmy (21:30):
Yeah, and I love the all lettering panel.
Harold (21:34):
That looks really cool.
Michael (21:37):
Yeah.
Jimmy (21:39):
January 26th, 1958, Linus and Lucy are outside and it's snowing and they both have their adorable little snow suits on.
Linus in blue and Lucy in red.
And Lucy is making little bunnies out of snow.
And Linus says, what are you making?
And she says, these are snow bunnies.
And Linus says, they look real cute.
(22:01):
And then he says, can I help you, Lucy?
And Lucy says, no, you can't help me.
Get out of here.
Make your own things.
And then she stands up as Linus walks away and she's screaming at him.
And don't bother me anymore.
Do you hear me?
Linus stomps away with a complete look of anger and frustration on his face.
(22:22):
And Lucy goes back to making her little snow bunnies.
And she says, little brothers can sure be a nuisance sometimes.
And then in the next panel, she senses something.
And then turns and sees, and Linus has made a gigantic dinosaur, a snowman that is stalking the little bunnies.
Michael (22:43):
This was definitely one of my faves when I was a kid.
And it didn't bother me.
Now it bothers me a little bit because how did she not see him building this thing?
Liz (22:59):
Well, she doesn't pay any attention to it.
Harold (23:02):
It's a comic strip.
Michael (23:04):
Yeah, I know.
It works great, but there's no other way to do it.
Jimmy (23:08):
It bothers me a little bit.
Harold (23:10):
Yeah.
It's like silent movie logic.
If we can't hear it, they can't hear it.
Michael (23:17):
Yeah.
Jimmy (23:17):
I mean, that is true, and that's all that stuff in every art form.
A Shakespeare play, suddenly someone walks to the stage and talks for two and a half minutes that no one else on stage heard.
Harold (23:31):
Yeah.
This is one where you see, again, Schulz, I think really he takes you on this little tiny journey, where you got this sweet little top tier, where we have peace in the world, and it's snow bunnies, and Linus is saying, they look real cute.
(23:54):
That's where his head is, and then after being berated by his sister, he's in full dinosaur mode at the end.
Liz (24:05):
I love Lucy's position in that last panel.
Harold (24:09):
Yeah, that's a great little take.
We're leaning back with her arms parallel with her shoulders, the little yellow mittens.
It's great stuff.
Again, look at those jaws, and look at the lip on her when she's yelling, don't bother me anymore.
The lip is going out way beyond the nose, and that just makes me also think of BC, which started around this time.
Jimmy (24:35):
I like that panel a lot.
I love the body language on Linus as he skulks away.
Harold (24:41):
Oh my gosh, he looks, man, that is not your typical Linus drawing.
Jimmy (24:50):
January 3rd, 1960, it's another Sunday, and Lucy is lying on her living room floor, writing something on a piece of paper.
And she says, I'm really performing him a great service.
And she walks into another room saying, I sort of wished that someone had done something like this for me when I was young.
Here, Linus, look what I've done for you.
(25:11):
She says as she brings in the piece of paper to Linus, who's just playing with some trucks in his, in the TV room or whatever.
And then Lucy says, I've made up a list of New Year's resolutions that I feel you need desperately to make.
Linus reviews the list as Lucy continues.
Actually, these are reforms which will help you to become a better person.
And Linus says, well, how nice.
(25:33):
And then he says to her, this was very thoughtful of you, Lucy.
I shall try earnestly to improve myself in all these areas.
And Lucy's smiling.
He continues, I'll make good use of this list.
I'll try very hard to improve.
I really will.
Lucy is just so pleased with herself.
And then he smiles smugly and turns to her and says, in fact, I think I'm getting better already.
(26:26):
That's what Truman Capote said, yeah.
Liz (26:28):
And Charlie Brent's reading his book.
Jimmy (26:31):
Yep.
Once again, he sits down and thinks, you know what, finally, I'm going to get through this book.
Harold (26:36):
And then, no.
Michael (26:38):
It's Finnegan's Wake.
He reads it for 50 years.
Jimmy (26:41):
He's in forever.
Michael (26:42):
And he's still on, like, page six.
Harold (26:46):
You know how Schulz used to say, some strips, I'm so excited about them, I can't get through them fast enough?
When I'm looking at the lettering in this, especially, like, in the fourth panel on the second tier, that's the feeling I get here.
He is like, I love this idea.
I can't wait to get it on paper.
Jimmy (27:02):
Yeah, you can see even in the second panel on the first tier, like, it's not centered.
Each line isn't centered how they traditionally would be.
It's just very loose.
SPEAKER_2 (27:12):
Yeah.
Jimmy (27:14):
What do we think about the Sunday colors in general in this era?
They look good?
Michael (27:18):
Yeah.
Harold (27:18):
The ha ha ha's and all different colors are great.
Michael (27:21):
Well, during our reread, everything was in black and white.
So yeah, I didn't even realize that he had a red shirt.
Jimmy (27:31):
You never saw that ever?
Michael (27:34):
Well, obviously when I was reading newspapers, it was a long time ago.
Harold (27:38):
Yeah.
Michael (27:39):
But all the reprints have been in black and white that I've seen.
Jimmy (27:43):
Yeah, they've now done color reprints of the Sunday strips.
Phanagraphics has, and the 75th Anniversary Book that the Peanuts people put out has every strip in color.
And the dailies look really great in color too, even though obviously Schulz didn't do that.
Harold (27:59):
Yeah.
And I think to my eye that we're now hopping a year every time, I feel the characters look a lot more appealing to me.
They're settling into something that I like.
That is a rough era.
Michael (28:15):
Lucy definitely is taller.
Harold (28:17):
Yeah.
Michael (28:18):
I mean, her head, at least in her head, is smaller in proportion.
Harold (28:23):
Yeah.
This is just a little more appealing design than where he was for a while.
But it is fascinating just to see them change and evolve.
And in one ear increments, it really pops.
Jimmy (28:41):
It sure does.
And before I pop, let's take a break.
Liz (28:45):
Alrighty.
Michael (28:46):
He popped.
Liz (28:47):
I guess so.
Did you complete The Great Peanuts reread?
Then show the world with a T-shirt, a giant 17,897 emblazoned on your chest for all to see.
We also have a Be of Good Cheer pen nib design, along with the four of us crossing Abbey Road, and of course, Michael, Jimmy and Harold at the thinking wall.
(29:12):
Order your T-shirts today at unpackingpeanuts.com/store.
Jimmy (29:21):
And we are back.
So Liz, I'm hanging out in the mailbox.
You got anything?
Liz (29:27):
We do.
We heard from some new listeners, from new sources.
So SpiderStomperG2I commented on YouTube about the first Van Pelt episode, where we talked about the difference in levels of freedom for children nowadays versus when we were young.
(29:48):
And SpiderStomperG2I says, Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes seemed to not go too far from his house because he's six and the only other kid he talked to is Susie.
There are also modern cartoons made in the 2010s that sort of ignore that kids can't really go out by themselves anymore, like Big City Greens.
(30:09):
Cricket and Tilly are like 10 and they can go wherever they want in the town.
In one episode, Cricket had to go home before the streetlights came on.
Harold (30:20):
Yeah, that is interesting that as adults, we're creating stories about kids and you don't see a whole lot of kids telling stories about kids.
And so you get this weird lag in what's changing sometimes, that the adult is remembering their childhood and the child is looking at what the adult created and it's like I don't fully relate to that.
Jimmy (30:44):
Well, that, you know, Schulz kids used to say that to him, saying, Dad, you're writing about your childhood, not today's kids.
I mean, and then he wisely ignored them because.
Harold (30:57):
Oh, okay.
Jimmy (30:58):
Go out and ride your pony.
With your criticisms.
I got an idea.
Go play the three-hole golf course.
Liz (31:14):
We also got a lot of wonderful positive reaction about the Patrick McDonald episode, including from Paul H.
Tubb, also on YouTube, who said, My love of peanuts is well documented on this internet thing we all seem to use, as is my love of mutts.
Therefore, I find this such a fascinating, wonderful conversation and shall of course be sharing it.
(31:39):
Well done.
Harold (31:40):
Thank you.
Jimmy (31:41):
Thank you for that.
Harold (31:42):
Thank you.
It was such an honor to be able to talk to Patrick.
That was a bucket list thing for us, you know.
Just an amazing experience.
And to talk with somebody whose work you love about something we love so much, Peanuts, is just a very special experience.
Jimmy (31:59):
Yeah, absolutely.
I am so excited and happy by all of the cartoonists that we've gotten to interview since we started this thing.
Harold (32:09):
Yes, yeah, it's been an incredible roster of talented people and how else would I have had the opportunity to talk with Judy Slatkey and Jeannie Schultz and Wynne Johnson and Paige and I mean, it's crazy, yeah.
I mean, the list is, and thank you to Todd Webb also, who we've interviewed for making that Patrick MacDonald thing happen.
Jimmy (32:31):
Yep, and you could follow Todd on Substack.
His strip is called The Poet and it's a daily.
You can get it every day.
Harold (32:38):
Yes.
Liz (32:39):
We heard some more compliments from people on Spotify this time.
Zoomer1959 wrote, I was charmed by Patrick's talent in 1994 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where I lived with my two-year-old and husband.
Bad baby cartoon spoke volumes to me.
I instantly was a fan of Mutts and have enlightened many friends to its charms.
(33:02):
I too loved getting a peanuts book in my Christmas stocking.
I was born in 1959 and peanuts influenced me from the beginning.
Love the positive influence of both peanuts and Mutts, especially the friendship, love, and kindness.
Excellent conversation, many thanks to everyone.
Harold (33:21):
Thank you so much for that.
Jimmy (33:22):
It was our pleasure to have the conversation.
Liz (33:24):
And Bennett Juliusque echoed the praise with, Loved listening to this one.
Thank you for sharing.
Mutts and peanuts are definitely something special.
Jimmy (33:34):
Absolutely.
Well, it's great.
I'm so happy so many people have found us with that one.
Yeah, Patrick was just a great guest and he's coming back.
Liz (33:42):
Yep.
So that's it for the comments on social media.
So anything on the hotline?
Jimmy (33:48):
We got something on the hotline.
We heard from our old pal Captain Billy who says, Ray, the Patrick McDonald episode, just a quick message to compliment you on another awesome episode.
I heard on more than a few other podcasts.
Yes, I confess, I listen to other podcasts.
Please forgive me and let me back in your heart.
That podcasting can be a lonely experience because listeners just don't take the time to comment.
(34:12):
So in all caps, great work.
Keep it up.
Liz (34:16):
We will.
Harold (34:17):
Thank you for that.
Liz (34:18):
Thank you, Captain Billy.
We listen to other podcasts too.
Jimmy (34:21):
We do.
Too many, frankly.
All right.
So that is all we got in the mailbox this time.
So if you want to be in touch with us, there's a couple different ways you could do it.
The first thing you got to do, go over to unpackingpeanuts.com and sign up for the old Great Peanuts reread.
Get that one email a month so you know what we're doing.
If you just want to talk to us, you can email us.
(34:42):
We are unpackingpeanuts at gmail.com.
You can follow us on the social medias.
We're at Unpack Peanuts on Instagram and threads and at Unpacking Peanuts on Facebook, Blue Sky and YouTube.
And of course, you can either call or text the hotline at 717-219-4162.
But remember, if you do text, identify yourself like Captain Billy did, so I know who's talking to me.
Liz (35:07):
And also the comments on YouTube and Spotify are pretty great.
Harold (35:11):
They're great, too?
Jimmy (35:12):
Yes.
So anyway, you want to reach out to us, we'd love to hear from you.
Because remember, when I don't hear, I worry.
No one wants that.
No.
All right.
So I'm excited.
This is only our second time doing this brand new segment, which is called Unpacking Peanuts Recommends, where we go through and we're each going to recommend something that we're into right now.
(35:36):
Doesn't have to be a comic strip.
It could be anything, but it's just got to be something that we're digging in the moment.
Who wants to go first?
Michael (35:43):
Oh, I will.
Jimmy (35:44):
All right, Michael, hit me.
Michael (35:46):
All right.
I'm going to do a segue off of something that Jimmy said.
Harold (35:51):
I love a segue.
Michael (35:52):
This has nothing to do with his comment, but this is something that I've been obsessed with maybe the last six months.
It's a TV show.
It's a great TV show.
It came out years ago.
I didn't see it.
I started watching it.
The segue is this.
Jimmy mentioned, oh, in Shakespeare, people do these.
Liz (36:14):
Soliloquies.
Michael (36:14):
Soliloquies.
Harold (36:15):
Oh, yeah.
Michael (36:16):
Where all of a sudden they're talking to no one.
I haven't started watching the show called Deadwood.
Harold (36:23):
Oh, yeah.
Michael (36:24):
Which is, by the way, this is not a recommendation because it's the vilest thing you've ever seen in your life.
Liz (36:30):
I won't watch it.
Michael (36:31):
No.
The language unbelievable.
They get away with this.
Liz (36:36):
This is not for those of you who like us because we're peaceful.
Jimmy (36:39):
Yeah.
Michael (36:41):
But anyway, it does appeal to my darker side.
But it's not really a Western, but it's set in that period in a mining town.
Yeah.
People are having conversation.
They speak very flowery, but every now and then, the characters do a soliloquy.
(37:04):
Wow.
Which is stunning at first.
You're going, can't the camera pan around, and you see who he's talking to?
Harold (37:11):
There's no one there.
Michael (37:12):
They're doing exactly Shakespearean soliloquies.
Harold (37:16):
Wow.
Michael (37:17):
It totally works.
Once you get used to it, it's kind of jarring at first.
But anyway, Deadwood is so great that I'm afraid of just binging it and it being over, so I kind of like dole it out in pieces.
Farce them out very carefully.
(37:38):
Yeah.
Anyway, so that's my recommendation.
If you don't mind, absolutely the vilest language in the world and just total squalor.
It's a great show.
Jimmy (37:47):
There you go.
For fans of Squalor, you got it, Deadwood.
How about you, Harold?
Harold (37:56):
Well, when you just talked about that soliloquy thing, it reminds me of a phrase we use in our household when someone breaks the fourth wall and they address you directly.
We call it looking into the tomato can, which is a reference to a Green Acres episode when they think Jimmy Stewart is coming to town and so, of course, Mr.
(38:17):
Haney creates the shyster salesman, creates this acting school and he's made a thing out.
I think it's out of like a cereal box and the tomato can is the lens, and so he's reminding them not to look into the tomato can, so that's for nothing.
But that's not my recommendation.
I love my Green Acres.
(38:39):
I was also watching TV but going a little further back to 1961, I don't know if anybody has ever seen the old series Route 66 which ran from like 1960 to 1964.
One thing I've started to do, if there's a series I never really saw and I really don't know much about it, what I'll do is I'll go to IMDb and I will look it up and then I'll look up the episodes and they'll show you top rated episodes and I'll pick the top rated episode and I'll watch it.
(39:09):
I'm so glad I did because I stumbled on season two, episode three of Route 66.
It's called Good Night Sweet Blues.
It has a 9.0 IMDb rating.
People love this episode.
Ethel Waters, the amazing singer, is featured in this one.
It's an anthology, so it's basically Martin Milner and usually George Meharas going around the country, driving around on the road, Jack Kerouac style kind of thing.
(39:37):
And they just run into people one time.
And what's so cool about the show is the writer and creator of the show, Sterling Sillifant, who also did like, he wrote like Towering Inferno and Poseidon Adventure.
And he has, in Naked City, which was the series before this, you know, the city has eight million stories.
Yeah.
I don't know if you've ever seen that.
(39:58):
But what he would do, apparently, is he would go around the country ahead of the show.
And they'd be in a different place and they would shoot on location.
And so, he would go to a city, try to find a story there, and then he would write the story off, and he'd write so many of these.
And then the crew would catch up with them, and they would shoot the story based on whatever inspired him.
(40:20):
So, you're actually seeing real places.
It's not like the fake bar or the...
So, anyway, they're not using paid actors, in most cases, for the small things.
They're just people they found in that community.
And so, it's like this little documentary of the early 60s America that is fascinating.
So, that's my recommendation.
Jimmy (40:42):
All right, cool.
Hey, do you got anything, Liz?
Liz (40:44):
I do, I do.
I've been reading the latest Mick Heron novel Clown Town.
He's the author of the series, Slow Horses series, that's been a wonderful series on Apple, and I highly recommend both the books and the TV show, which is really true to the books.
(41:04):
But this is his latest, and I'm just, I just started it in the beginning of the week, so we'll see where it goes.
Jimmy (41:12):
All right, I got something.
Now, this goes back to long-time listeners of the show, might remember our good pal, Will Hines.
Liz (41:20):
Mm, yeah.
Jimmy (41:21):
I am recommending Will Hines' Instagram, Willie B.
Hines.
Now, this will be over by the time this is recorded, so you'll have to go back, scroll back a little bit.
But it's the funniest thing that's on the Internet right now.
And our buddy, Will, has gone viral for it.
Liz (41:40):
Congratulations.
Jimmy (41:41):
He was on a comedy podcast.
And the podcast is all improv, but it's supposed to be about their interviewing authors who wrote movie novelizations.
But the authors are just comedians.
So, Will plays the guy who wrote the Dark Knight novelization, the Heath Ledger.
(42:07):
But the character he's playing is playing, he was the makeup artist on The Dark Knight.
And they gave him this gig to make him feel better because he was very upset because Heath Ledger kept smearing the Joker makeup.
This is his bit, right?
He's like, I wanted it very neat.
(42:27):
And then right before we go on, Heath would smear it.
And then Christopher Nolan would go, well, we have no time, we have to do it.
Okay, so segments of this have been clipped out and on Instagram and stuff, people have lost their minds because they don't know it's a joke.
(42:48):
And it keeps getting more absurd.
And Heath so deadpan, they can't figure it.
They finally now, there's a critical mass where people are figuring out that it's just a bit.
But it got to the point where he was saying, yeah, people would come up and say, oh, Heath, good luck, kissy kissy.
And then they'd kiss him and it would smear his makeup.
(43:09):
People are like screaming through the internet at Will, you sir are a hack.
It's great.
It's so fun.
Anyway, so Willie B.
Hines on Instagram.
Liz (43:24):
That's great.
I'm going to check it out.
Jimmy (43:26):
All right.
So let's get back to the other thing we recommend, which is Peanuts by Charles M.
Schulz.
Michael (43:33):
Good strip.
I've heard of it.
Jimmy (43:36):
February 6th, 1962.
This is a daily and we see Linus sporting a new look.
As Charlie Brown notices and says, I'm sorry that you have to wear glasses, Linus.
And then Linus says, don't feel sorry for me, Charlie Brown.
Why, I can see things now that I never knew even existed before.
And he walks to Lucy and says, take Lucy for instance.
(43:57):
For the first time, I realize what a gorgeous creature she really is.
Then he walks away with a smile on his face as Lucy says, glasses haven't improved only his sight.
They've also improved his sarcasm.
Liz (44:14):
At least she knows.
Harold (44:15):
Yeah, right.
Yeah, she didn't fall for that, the way Charlie Brown might.
Jimmy (44:20):
Charlie Brown totally would have.
Linus in glasses, we've said it before, great, great little design.
Michael (44:27):
Yeah, so sad.
Liz (44:28):
Why did he stop wearing them?
Michael (44:29):
Laser surgery.
Harold (44:31):
Well, once John Lennon was doing it, I thought, this is over.
Jimmy (44:35):
Yeah.
You know, the other thing is, it's actually a pain to draw glasses on characters.
Harold (44:41):
Yeah.
Liz (44:43):
So, it just sort of faded away and nobody...
Jimmy (44:46):
I think eventually, there is a strip where he says he got a contact lens.
Liz (44:50):
That's weird.
Harold (44:53):
Yeah.
I mean, you look at the profile and you got the line of the...
If you want to be true to where the line on the glasses would go, you're covering the eye.
And the eye, even if it's a little dot, is expressive, especially in the Schulz world.
So, to lose that, it's great for the joke here, but I could see, on an on-going basis, maybe you don't want to do that.
Jimmy (45:14):
Now, I do think, though, like, the way he draws Marcy's glasses later...
Oh, by the way, I was interviewed on the Deconstructing Comics podcast.
Yeah.
Liz (45:25):
Yeah.
Jimmy (45:26):
Well, I was talking to him about what we might be doing coming up, and he had a suggestion for a title for one of our...
And we can leave this for our listeners out there.
We're thinking about doing two possible things for the next season.
Which is either Mean Girls, which is Patti and Violet, or, and this was Tim's suggestion for the title, Don't Call Me Sir, of Marcy and Peppermint Patti.
Liz (45:52):
Yeah.
Harold (45:53):
Those are both great.
Jimmy (45:54):
So, if you guys want to vote, it's not necessarily what we're going to do, but if you want to make your voices heard, it's going to be either Mean Girls or Don't Call Me Sir.
Liz (46:05):
You previously said the many moods of Marcy.
And I like the idea of Marcy by herself.
I mean, Peppermint Patti is such a powerful influence.
Jimmy (46:20):
This is fine.
Yeah.
All right.
Harold (46:21):
Or we could just do the many moods of Marcy.
Liz (46:24):
I think because she changes.
She has many arcs.
Jimmy (46:28):
All right, Tim, you're out.
We're doing either Mean Girls.
Liz (46:31):
Well, you could still call it Don't Call Me Sir.
Jimmy (46:34):
I thought it was just a great title.
Liz (46:36):
Yeah.
It's a wonderful title.
So people should go to Deconstructing Comics to listen to your interview with Tim.
Jimmy (46:44):
If you can't get enough of me talking.
January 6th, 1964.
Linus is standing there in classic thumb and blanket position, his head fully dented.
And Lucy says to him, If you only knew how nauseated I get every time I see you holding that stupid blanket.
And then Linus says, why don't you take a pill?
(47:06):
Then he leans in very sarcastically and says, Why don't you take a pill for relief of nausea caused by sight of little brother clutching blanket?
And then we see Lucy has wrapped Linus' blanket around his mouth to shut him up.
Michael (47:23):
Yeah, maybe that's why he's my favorite character.
Just that sarcasm is so good.
Liz (47:29):
But they are fighting fairly equally now.
I mean, she used to just scare him to death, but now he's holding up his own side.
Harold (47:40):
He sure is, yeah.
He's learned it from a master.
But a pill for relief of nausea caused by sight, a little brother clutching blanket.
Sounds like, is that from the side of a box?
Jimmy (47:58):
Well, why don't you take a pill sounds like something that would have been a stock phrase, maybe not among the whole net, you know what I mean?
Like, I'm frustrated.
Oh, I take a pill for it.
Harold (48:08):
Yeah, right.
That was a big thing in the 60s.
Yeah.
This was before people got a little more cynical about, you know, big pharma, big pharma, yeah, or over-the-counter meds and all that.
I like that it's got that clipped descriptor thing where it's not conversational, relief of nausea caused by sight of little brother-clutching blanket.
Jimmy (48:33):
Yeah.
Liz (48:35):
Possibly more information about their parents being doctors.
Harold (48:40):
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Jimmy (48:41):
That's true.
January 8th, 1967, it's a snowy day and Lucy's outside.
She says, because often this is she see Linus is basically finishing up snowman.
She comes over and says, what would you do if I pushed your snowman over?
Linus says, nothing.
What could I do?
(49:03):
You're bigger and stronger than I am.
You're older.
You can run faster.
I really couldn't do anything to stop you.
He continues, as Lucy just looks out at us with a blank expression.
I realize full well that I am at your mercy where things of this sort are concerned.
All I can do is simply hope that you will choose not to do so.
(49:23):
Then Lucy just walks away.
And then Linus goes back to working on the snowman.
And he says, little by little, I'm becoming an expert at the soft answer.
Michael (49:33):
Linus is definitely a Democrat.
Jimmy (49:46):
I love that middle panel with the tiny little figures in the snowman.
Harold (49:51):
It's really cute.
Yeah.
And why is Lucy missing one of her little saucer ellipses on the first panel around her eye?
So weird.
But yeah, this is great, Linus.
And just to see him grow up a year at a time on the strip, it's pretty incredible.
(50:14):
And the subtleties and the nuances of the characters are remarkable at this point.
Michael (50:21):
Yeah.
Liz (50:21):
This really feels like the Linus that we come to know.
Harold (50:27):
Yeah.
It's even an oblique biblical reference, which is something he was famous for.
The soft answer turneth away wrath or whatever.
And it sure did.
Jimmy (50:37):
Yeah, totally flummoxed her.
Harold (50:40):
Because, well, there's no satisfaction here.
It's all diffused.
Jimmy (50:46):
January 8th, 1967.
Lucy is making some toast.
And then she brings it into a different room with her, just looking at the blank toast.
Like it's something she's very proud of.
And she brings it into Linus, who's watching TV.
And she says, here, I brought you a piece of toast.
And Linus says, well, thank you.
And then Lucy holds it back and says, thank you, dear sister.
(51:09):
And then Linus with a shaky little smile says, thank you, dear sister.
And Lucy continues, thank you, dear sister, greatest of all sisters.
To which Linus replies, thank you, dear sister, greatest of all sisters.
And then Lucy says, thank you, dear sister, greatest of all sisters, without whom I'd never survive.
And Linus, thank you, dear sister, greatest of all sisters, without whom I'd never survive.
(51:32):
And Lucy gives him the toast and says, you're very welcome.
And then Linus alone in front of the TV says, how can I eat when I feel nauseated?
Michael (51:42):
Yes, he's changing.
Jimmy (51:44):
And that's a classic Linus and Lucy.
Michael (51:47):
He's wimping out.
Harold (51:50):
I remember this one as a kid.
I related to this one and just the dynamics, goofy dynamics between siblings and love this strip.
These characters are so rich at this point.
Just going back eight years or whatever, it's great there, but now we've got layer after layer after layer of these characters that we're relating to these characters through the lens of everything that's happened up until now.
(52:22):
And even if you didn't, if you've never seen this strip before in your life, I mean, this really feels different, unique.
Jimmy (52:31):
Yes.
Harold (52:32):
You don't see this in comics.
Jimmy (52:35):
I mean, another thing that's unique is just like those first two panels, like the abstractness of the backgrounds.
If you look at the way he uses the cabinets in the first panel to carve out the negative space for the logo, so that really like the only the drawing is everything to the right.
And then it's just negative space of the cabinets to the left that includes the peanuts featuring good old Charlie Brown then.
Harold (52:58):
The Van Pelt have a lot of storage space in there.
Yeah, it's got a huge storage space.
Jimmy (53:03):
You know, but it's just, it works perfectly well.
I mean, there's no logic to how the door and the wall and everything works together.
It's just rectangles.
But you know, she's walking from one room to the other.
Harold (53:15):
That's great.
Jimmy (53:16):
Looks beautiful.
Okay.
So guys, this is bringing us towards the end of another episode here.
But let's sum things up for our listeners.
What are you guys seeing?
How are you feeling about the Van Pelt at this point?
Have you had any insights this time around that you didn't have last time?
Michael (53:31):
Well, I want to tell you, I noticed something.
Because basically, the way I was finding these strips is, I was going month by month, and we can see them all, and kind of zipping down looking for Linus and Lucy strips.
And there were so many.
Probably, every month in the 50s would have like four.
(53:56):
First half of the 60s, pretty much the same.
Sometime around 1968, Snoopy started dominating the strip.
It was after the Red Baron thing, and that was at the expense of these Linus and Lucy strips.
By 1968, it was getting harder to find any, and in 1969, because I picked a few more after that, I think it wasn't until September that I found them.
(54:29):
Then when we get into the 70s, Linus starts fading out a little bit.
So this whole, I think he might have felt he kind of run the gamut what these two characters can do.
Harold (54:43):
Well, it's interesting looking again at the ages of the kids.
This is also probably around the time where the least, the little kid interactions are not in his day-to-day experiences.
He's got older kids in the family now, and Mike Monti would be, at the time of the strip, be 15.
Jimmy (55:03):
Right.
Harold (55:04):
So those observational things that feel really authentic in the 50s are now abstracted out, I think, to aspects of Schulz's personality.
Liz (55:17):
I think Meredith got married quite young.
Didn't she get married in like 19?
Jimmy (55:23):
I don't know.
Yeah, maybe.
Liz (55:24):
I'm pretty sure she was out of the house younger than 20.
Harold (55:32):
So that can change where you're pulling from.
And it's interesting that this kind of fantasy Snoopy pops up around that time.
Yes, Meredith was married to Gary Fredrickson in 1969.
So yeah, you're right.
This is growing up.
Kids are growing up.
(55:53):
Yeah.
Jimmy (55:53):
It goes by fast when that happens.
Harold (55:56):
Yeah.
Jimmy (55:57):
It's so fun for me to see.
Because any kind of thing with siblings, brothers and sisters, or if they're, oh God, if there's a large family like the Brady Bunch, I loved anything like that as an only child.
So I like seeing the Linus and Lucy thing.
I don't know that I necessarily ever felt like I missed out on anything because of them, but it was fun to get a good insight into what it would be like to have an older sister.
(56:22):
I did all my cousins, and I lived in a small town, I had cousins everywhere.
They were all older than me, and they were all more sophisticated and rougher than me too.
So I do understand that aspect of it.
Harold (56:38):
I know I learned from this trip, those little moments where learning the soft answer, that stuff would make an impact, because that was my situation.
I was almost two years younger than an older sister, and stuff I hadn't thought about until I read a peanut strip.
(56:59):
It's like, oh, maybe that's a good way to handle that.
It really did help.
Yeah.
Jimmy (57:08):
No, I feel that way too, about this strip in particular.
Yeah, that, Peanuts and Harriet the Spy, when I was a kid, were the two things that I read that felt like, oh, this is telling me something true, that maybe it's a true thing, adults don't want kids to know, if I could help myself.
You know, and that, it felt, it felt special because of that.
Harold (57:29):
You know what else feels special though?
Jimmy (57:30):
Can hang out with you guys every week and talk about our favorite comic strip.
So if you want to keep this conversation going, there's a couple different ways you can do it.
First, go over, sign up for that great Peanuts reread on our good old website, unpackingpeanuts.com.
You can also email us, unpackingpeanuts.gmail.com.
You can follow us on social media where we are at Unpack Peanuts on Instagram and Threads and at Unpacking Peanuts on Facebook, Blue Sky and YouTube.
(57:59):
And of course, you can always call or text our hotline at 717-219-4162.
We would love to hear from you.
And remember, all three of your hosts here for this show are cartoonists ourselves, so you can buy our books at unpackingpeanuts.com.
And there's gonna be a link to the store right in the description of this very episode to make it easy for you.
Harold (58:19):
And if you're an early listener to the podcast and are in the Philadelphia area on the 21st and 22nd of February, I will be at the Philadelphia Punk Rock Flea Market.
Jimmy (58:30):
All right, Philadelphia Punk Rock Flea Market.
And hey, since Peanuts is set, as we all know, in Hennepin, Minnesota, thinking of everybody in Minnesota out there, hope you're all well.
Liz (58:41):
Yeah, take care.
Jimmy (58:42):
We love you and we'll see you in two weeks.
Be of good cheer.
SPEAKER_2 (58:46):
Yes, be of good cheer.
Liz (58:48):
Unpacking Peanuts is copyrighted by Jimmy Gownley, Michael Cohen, Harold Buchholz, and Liz Sumner.
Produced and edited by Liz Sumner.
Music by Michael Cohen.
Additional voiceover by Aziza Shukralla Clark.
For more from the show, follow Unpack Peanuts on Instagram and threads.
Unpacking Peanuts on Facebook, Blue Sky, and YouTube.
(59:11):
For more about Jimmy, Michael, and Harold, visit unpackingpeanuts.com.
Have a wonderful day and thanks for listening.
Welcome to Unpacking Peanuts, the podcast where three cartoonists take an in-depth look at The Greatest Comic Strip of All Time, Peanuts by Charles M.
Schulz.
Jimmy (00:19):
Hey, everybody, welcome back to the show.
This is Unpacking Peanuts, the show where we look at The Greatest Comic Strip of All Time.
And today we're continuing our look at two of the most fascinating characters, Linus and Lucy.
I'll be your host for the proceedings.
My name is Jimmy Gownley.
I'm also a cartoonist who did things like Amelia Ruehl's Seven Graces Not to Rup, The Dumbest Idea Ever.
(00:39):
And I'm now serializing all my new strips, including the new graphic novel In the Real Dark Night on GVIL Comics over there on Substack.
Joining me as always are my pals, co-hosts and fellow cartoonists.
He's a playwright and a composer, both for the band Complicated People as well as for this very podcast.
He's the co-creator of the original Comic Book Prize Guide, the original editor for Amelia Rules, and the creator of such great strips as Strange Attractors, A Gathering of Spells, and Tangled River.
(01:06):
It's Michael Cohen.
Michael (01:07):
Say hey.
Jimmy (01:09):
And he's the executive producer and writer of Mystery Science Theater 3000, a former vice president of Archie Comics, and the creator of the Instagram sensation, Sweetest Beasts, Harold Buchholz.
Harold (01:19):
Hello.
Jimmy (01:20):
And making sure everything runs smoothly and keeping us out of trouble, it's our producer and editor, Liz Sumner.
Liz (01:25):
Howdy.
Jimmy (01:26):
All right, guys, we're back for another episode.
You guys enjoying the Linus and Lucy season so far?
Michael (01:33):
Yeah, I can't get enough of this stuff.
Jimmy (01:35):
This is your favorite stuff, right?
Michael (01:37):
Yeah, this is peak for me.
Jimmy (01:40):
How about you, Harold?
Harold (01:41):
Yeah, it's fun to see them this young again.
Going through 50 years of strips and then bouncing all the way back to the early mid-fifties is pretty cool.
I just got so settled into where they were at the end.
It's a little bit jarring and it's also pretty cool.
Jimmy (02:02):
Yeah, I've really been enjoying it.
I'd also just like to say welcome to all our new listeners.
We've had such great luck getting new listeners over the last month or so, from a bunch of different sources.
Thank you all for hanging out with us.
If you want to really get into it, the one thing you can do to find out what we're going to be covering every week is go over to unpackingpeanuts.com and sign up for the great Peanuts reread.
(02:30):
That will get you one email a month letting you know what we're going to be covering as these episodes roll out.
If you want, you can read along with us.
Also, they can go back, I think, right?
They can go back and see all the old newsletters.
If you want to start from the beginning, because if you weren't following along from the beginning, we read every strip, all 17,897 of them.
(02:54):
You can click on those links to those newsletters and find out what we read in each episode and follow along with us.
Liz (03:02):
That's it, unpackingpeanuts.com.
Jimmy (03:04):
Good old unpackingpeanuts.com, your one-stop shop for everything about this podcast.
All right, well, I don't have anything else to say at the beginning, so how about we just go ahead and start with these new comic strips?
Liz (03:20):
All right.
Let's do it.
Harold (03:21):
Sure.
Jimmy (03:22):
November 5th, 1954.
Linus and Lucy are hanging out probably in the Van Pelt household, but it's really just an enormous void right now.
There's one little block behind Linus, and Lucy says to him, Mommy's going next door for a while, Linus.
We're going to be all alone, but don't worry.
I'll be here to take care of you.
And she squats down next to him, gets really close to him and says, You're going to be my little boy, and I'm going to be your mother.
(03:49):
And Linus screams and turns away, Aagh!
Harold (03:56):
This is actually an AAGH.
Liz (03:58):
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Jimmy (03:59):
AAGH!
Michael (04:00):
Yeah, that's worse now.
Harold (04:01):
No, you.
Well, this was the old famous old, was this the first time?
Liz (04:09):
Yeah.
Harold (04:10):
But yeah, had we ever gotten an AUGH up until now?
This is like proto-AUGH.
Liz (04:14):
Yeah, this is actually the first appearance of AAGH.
Michael (04:18):
Also, yeah, I mean, we stopped last time where he was actually thinking in full sentences.
Yeah.
We haven't gotten back to that in the strip yet.
Happened once, and then he's back to not speaking hardly at all.
We do get there.
Jimmy (04:34):
Most importantly, his head is not dented yet.
Let's see if his head coincides with his becoming verbal.
Harold (04:44):
Well, this is, to me, a cartoonist fun.
You got a little bit singular block behind Linus, and you see the letters A and C at an angle.
But then you move a little bit around, and what should be C is now B on the block.
Then when we cut back to the angle we had more originally, with the A and C, it's A and C.
(05:08):
This is cartoonist fun, keeping yourself occupied by changing the letters on the blocks you draw.
Michael (05:15):
Also, panel one, you can tell where the light source is, because Lucy's shadow goes one way, Linus' and the block goes the other way.
So the light's got to be above them, directly above.
So we can start plotting out the house.
Harold (05:29):
We're going to have this nailed down in a few strips, despite the open white void around them.
Liz (05:36):
Hasn't Lucy called her mother mother before, rather than mommy?
Harold (05:42):
Yeah, she called daddy daddy, but mom, yeah, mother.
So that gives us another clue, right?
Yeah.
If it's a little more formal, usually with mother.
And then, of course, the mother being the psychologist, she says, why do you call daddy daddy and mommy mother?
(06:03):
You should feel free to speak to your mother in the informal.
Liz (06:07):
Or maybe she's just referring to mother as mommy to Linus.
Harold (06:13):
Yeah, right.
She doesn't dare do it to her mom.
Liz (06:18):
Maybe we're going a little too deeply into this.
Harold (06:21):
Maybe.
Maybe this is all conjecture.
Maybe this is just a funny comic strip.
Liz (06:26):
187 episodes.
Harold (06:28):
Yeah.
Oops.
Jimmy (06:32):
November 28th, 1954.
It's a Sunday.
And Linus is crawling around in his Phoebe jammies playing with a balloon.
And he's just batting it around for three panels.
And then Lucy yells, all right, who's got my balloon?
Just wait until I catch the person who took that balloon.
(06:52):
Boy, oh boy.
She storms into the room.
Linus quickly unties the balloon, which is a trick in itself, lets all of the air out and then swallows the balloon, keeps it in his mouth.
And Lucy comes over to good old Linus and says, Linus, did you see who took my balloon?
To which Linus says, And then Lucy takes that as no and walks away with, well, you're just lucky you didn't have anything to do with it.
(07:18):
And then Linus says, and as he exhales, the balloon starts inflating.
Harold (07:27):
Oh man, remember the taste of balloons?
You ever taste a balloon?
Jimmy (07:30):
Oh sure.
Harold (07:31):
So bitter.
Man, poor Linus.
Of course, Lucy doesn't have a balloon.
Feel for her too.
Michael (07:41):
She doesn't strike me as a balloon kind of person.
Harold (07:44):
Who doesn't?
It's crazy how tiny their noses are here.
Yeah.
She's not a balloon person.
Michael (07:50):
I don't think so.
Harold (07:52):
Well, she is here.
Liz (07:54):
Well, are those letters when he is untying the balloon?
It looks like those are letters and could spell something.
Harold (08:02):
Yeah.
Jimmy (08:04):
I think it's supposed to be what Mort Walker would call do-lapse, almost like moisture.
He's worried and it's like sweat.
Harold (08:15):
Surrounded by what are the other things called, those little Vs of concern emanating all around his head.
Jimmy (08:23):
Unless it's a hidden ad for Volvo because that's what the first letter is.
Liz (08:27):
Well, and there's P's in there too.
There's a bunch of P's.
Jimmy (08:31):
I think those are the-
Harold (08:32):
Those are the sweat drops.
Liz (08:33):
Oh, I see.
Harold (08:34):
Okay.
Jimmy (08:36):
Well, guys, we may have hit the end of it.
All right.
Liz (08:41):
And if you want to talk to us on social media.
Jimmy (08:44):
I think that may be the end.
Harold (08:49):
We need to have an extensive conversation about Linus' mmm, he's got a balloon in his mouth.
Liz (08:55):
Which is Sarah Fons.
Harold (08:59):
That's actually an acronym.
Jimmy (09:01):
Yeah.
Harold (09:03):
Mom may be gone.
I think that's what it is.
M-M-B-G, mommy.
Sorry, mommy may be gone.
Jimmy (09:10):
July 20th, 1955, Linus and Lucy are standing outside.
Lucy looks up and says, see Linus, pretty soon the sun will be going down.
And then this day will be all over.
It will be gone forever.
Do you hear me?
Now she's ranting, you'll never see this day again.
It'll be gone.
Do you hear?
Gone, gone.
(09:32):
And which Linus just covers his eyes and yells, oh, I can only see odd this time.
Harold (09:39):
With you, yeah.
Wow.
Is she doing this on purpose?
Michael (09:44):
She wants to teach him, but this is not helping him at all.
Jimmy (09:47):
Well, I think she feels this way.
I don't think she's just trying to scare him.
Yeah, I think she's teaching him a fact of life, and this is just how she sees it and expresses herself, which is intense.
Harold (10:02):
That is intense, I'll tell you.
Start thinking about that for the first time, it's going to get to you.
Jimmy (10:09):
For the 150th time.
Harold (10:11):
Their noses are so tiny at this time.
It's crazy how small they are on their faces.
Jimmy (10:17):
Yeah, and look how we're still in those really weird, short, chubby arms stage.
Like if you look in the last panel, and you would put Lucy's arm next to Linus' arm, Linus' arm would have to be twice as big to be able to bend like that compared to Lucy.
And if he stood up, he would tower over her.
Harold (10:37):
Where are you?
Liz (10:38):
With the final, the last panel, with his knees bent.
Is that what you mean?
Harold (10:43):
Yeah.
Yeah, the cartoon is prerogative.
Jimmy (10:50):
February 5th, 1955, Lucy is tearing the house apart, just looking for something.
And she yells, where's my blanket?
I can't go to bed without my blanket.
She's also in her orange Feeny pajamas.
Now she's stomping around looking really annoyed.
And there's Linus with his thumb in his mouth and holding on to what is Lucy's blanket in this strip.
(11:14):
And then Lucy says, give me that blanket.
She tries to pull it away from him.
But Linus is having none of it.
And she says, give me it, I say.
And then she finally wrestles it away from him.
And Linus is all discombobulated.
And he's annoyed.
And then he goes into Lucy's room, where Lucy is in bed in classic thumb and blanket position.
(11:34):
And then Linus shoots her with his finger gun.
Bang.
Michael (11:38):
This is, I noticed this recurred, I think three times that year, where he resorts to pulling out the old gun and shooting someone.
Jimmy (11:47):
Yeah.
Michael (11:48):
Lucy basically.
I think he shoots the arrow.
Harold (11:51):
And I didn't realize, didn't realize that Linus' blanket was Lucy's blanket.
Jimmy (11:57):
Well, you realized it at one point, cause you did the complete Peanuts reread.
Harold (12:02):
I don't remember realizing that.
Michael (12:04):
This was probably not in color when we read it.
Harold (12:07):
Well, that's why I didn't realize it.
Jimmy (12:09):
I'm looking forward to waiting just another three months with you two, because three months from now, I could call you guys and go, hey, we're going to do a podcast where we're going to read all of Peanuts.
And you'd be like, that's a great idea.
Start over.
Harold (12:26):
Well, okay, you with a great memory, did we discuss this?
Of course, we discussed this.
What?
We did.
Liz (12:33):
No.
Michael (12:34):
Not this trip.
Jimmy (12:35):
In our life, we've discussed it.
Michael (12:37):
No, no, I didn't take the things we talked about before.
Jimmy (12:42):
No, I don't remember it either, actually.
Harold (12:45):
But yeah, Linus is fighting back here and it's crazy.
So he learned how to suck your finger and hold the blanket, maybe from Lucy, from observation.
Liz (12:54):
Thumb.
It's a thumb.
Jimmy (12:55):
It seems to be-
Harold (12:57):
What did I say?
Liz (12:57):
Finger.
It makes a difference.
Jimmy (13:02):
It does make a difference.
Harold (13:05):
I don't know why.
It makes all the difference.
All the difference in the world.
Jimmy (13:09):
All right.
Now, between February and July, something really exciting happens, which is Linus' head gets dented.
Because you can see it just starting to happen in the second tier.
Let's start with this next strip here.
July 8th, 1955.
(13:30):
Now, Linus has the blanket.
He's sitting there in classic thumb and blanket position, and Lucy comes over saying, Disgraceful, and Linus says, Oh, go away, and Lucy continues, completely disgraceful.
You and that stupid blanket, are you going to carry the thing around the rest of your life?
When are you going to learn to stand on your own two feet?
And then Linus, who is now completely verbal, says, What do you mean?
(13:52):
I've got just as much willpower as anyone else.
See, I don't need this blanket.
I can throw it away anytime I want to, anytime.
And then he does throw that away, about two inches.
And then he completely has the shakes in the next panel, and says, Good grief.
And then he dives and grabs the blanket.
And then Lucy walks away saying, You're a hopeless case, Linus.
(14:14):
And then Linus just says, I thought I could do it.
I actually thought I could do it.
He does get away without writing a joke a lot of times.
Harold (14:27):
Well, and it's so funny that we just read the strip where Lucy's like, Where's my blanket?
I can't go to bed without my blanket.
Michael (14:35):
Well, there was Linus' first real words came in between.
I just didn't pick it because we'd talked about that.
Liz (14:44):
Oh, but maybe it has a dent.
We have to go back to find the dent moment.
Harold (14:50):
Well, there you go.
Jimmy (14:52):
That could be a job for one of our fine listeners.
It happens between those two strips.
Liz (14:58):
All right.
Jimmy (15:01):
January 6th, 1957, Linus is sitting in his living room reading a copy of Furry Tales.
And Lucy sneaks up behind him and snatches the book out from his hands.
And he says, hey, he chases after her.
Give me back that book.
Give it to me or I'll slug you.
(15:21):
And Lucy has it hidden behind her back.
She says, Mom, Linus says he's going to slug me.
And Linus says, oh, good grief.
And then the word balloon comes from off-pan.
Linus, that's no way to talk.
And then Linus says, well, that's the way they talk on TV.
If they talk that way, why can't I?
And the mom's voice says, that's just one of those things I can't explain.
(15:43):
And then Lucy says, listen, dope, if you slug me, I'll slug you right back.
And she's making one of her classic faces and shaking a fist at him.
And she walks away and Linus calls out to his mother.
Never mind, mom, it's just been explained to me in language that I understand.
Harold (16:00):
Look at that middle panel.
We are at peak jaw.
Yeah.
Lucy's jaw is way out from behind her tiny little nose.
That is, that's crazy.
I forgot how pronounced that got on the characters in this era.
(16:21):
It looks kind of strange.
Jimmy (16:24):
It's great.
I love that the greatest cartoonist of all time also does not understand perspective.
That first panel, that's just a tiny little Lucy.
Liz (16:36):
A very large couch.
Jimmy (16:38):
Yeah, gigantic couch.
Liz (16:41):
Are we in full dent now?
Jimmy (16:44):
Yeah, he's dented up.
No, it's not quite.
Actually, no, it looks like, it kind of, you can see it a little bit on the last panel of the second tier.
Not so much, a little bit on the first panel of the third tier.
Michael (16:59):
I don't know.
Jimmy (17:00):
But on this next one, we'll see it get way more pronounced.
Michael (17:04):
So it wasn't one event, it was continual abuse.
Jimmy (17:07):
Yeah, this next one we see might actually, no, you know what?
No, I think we see it.
I think you accidentally found the real moment.
All right, here we go.
This is exciting.
You ready?
June 2nd, 1957, Linus is out playing in a sandbox, which is actually just a random pile of sand laying in the neighborhood somewhere.
(17:28):
He's making a nice, a huge castle actually.
And then suddenly from off panel, he hears, charge.
Then Lucy comes flying in, hitting him with a tricycle and then denting his head a few more.
Michael (17:44):
Definitely.
Jimmy (17:45):
Right?
Those two panels, that's it.
And Linus is shaken up by this, as one would be.
And then he goes, gets some pliers and then comes up to Lucy, who is so smugly sitting on her tricycle.
And then we have an all lettering panel, which we never have, which is awesome.
And the lettering says, hey, what are you doing there?
(18:06):
What are you doing with those pliers?
SPEAKER_2 (18:07):
Hey!
Jimmy (18:09):
And then in the last panel, we see a maniacally grinning Linus walking away, and Lucy standing there amidst the ruins of her now disassembled tricycle.
Liz (18:21):
Yay.
And he has the same grin as she had in the previous strip, all teeth, all mouth.
Harold (18:29):
Yeah.
Michael (18:31):
As for some, I've noticed him doing the kind of silhouetted row of houses.
It looks very nice.
Easy way to fill up the background there.
Harold (18:41):
Yeah, it looks good.
Man, you're right, Jimmy.
I'm looking at this aftermath of the tricycle on Linus.
Remove the hair.
Oh, my goodness.
You know what it looks like?
He has this massive bump on one side.
But I mean, yeah, you remove the hair.
(19:02):
That is the wonkiest looking head.
It's like he tries to make up for it a little bit by adding a ton of hair on the right.
Jimmy (19:09):
A ton of hair on the back and it's all messy.
Harold (19:12):
Because it's this weird, I mean, can you imagine when he was drawing before he got to the hair?
He would have said.
Jimmy (19:19):
No, I can't, no, I can't.
It's really wild.
It looks like a slab of T-bone steak or something.
It's so weird.
I think this is a weird period.
I mean, it's not quite the early stuff and it's not quite the facile late 50s, early 60s stuff.
Harold (19:47):
Yeah, there's less polish to the inclines and this is an interesting period.
They're not the most appealing characters.
It takes me back to that thing where Al Cap was describing the Peanuts characters as little monsters.
We're seeing all these concentrated strips of the sibling problems and it really does stand out.
(20:15):
Yeah, there's a lot of violence and-
Michael (20:17):
Yeah.
Well, speaking of monsters, I'm the one who picked these.
So don't go assuming everyone was like this.
I really go with this, the conflict.
Harold (20:31):
Yeah, I mean, but it's strong.
It really is strong.
And yeah, other strips.
I guess it, again, we were talking about this last time, but I think, I just feel for the characters more because Schulz tends to show you the aftermath of something that would have possibly just been funny.
You know, like in a Bugs Bunny cartoon when somebody gets cut down.
Jimmy (20:55):
That's the pipeline as opposed to he gives you a minute or a beat to sit with it and...
Harold (21:02):
Yeah, which then makes the ending all that much more effective, yeah.
Jimmy (21:08):
I like the way we see the sandbox through the first four panels, and then when we see her coming flying in on the tricycle, we don't see any of the background because it's all focused just on the action and it's just the color of sand as the entire background of the panel and it really works.
Harold (21:28):
Yeah, it's like the centerpiece of this whole strip.
Jimmy (21:30):
Yeah, and I love the all lettering panel.
Harold (21:34):
That looks really cool.
Michael (21:37):
Yeah.
Jimmy (21:39):
January 26th, 1958, Linus and Lucy are outside and it's snowing and they both have their adorable little snow suits on.
Linus in blue and Lucy in red.
And Lucy is making little bunnies out of snow.
And Linus says, what are you making?
And she says, these are snow bunnies.
And Linus says, they look real cute.
(22:01):
And then he says, can I help you, Lucy?
And Lucy says, no, you can't help me.
Get out of here.
Make your own things.
And then she stands up as Linus walks away and she's screaming at him.
And don't bother me anymore.
Do you hear me?
Linus stomps away with a complete look of anger and frustration on his face.
(22:22):
And Lucy goes back to making her little snow bunnies.
And she says, little brothers can sure be a nuisance sometimes.
And then in the next panel, she senses something.
And then turns and sees, and Linus has made a gigantic dinosaur, a snowman that is stalking the little bunnies.
Michael (22:43):
This was definitely one of my faves when I was a kid.
And it didn't bother me.
Now it bothers me a little bit because how did she not see him building this thing?
Liz (22:59):
Well, she doesn't pay any attention to it.
Harold (23:02):
It's a comic strip.
Michael (23:04):
Yeah, I know.
It works great, but there's no other way to do it.
Jimmy (23:08):
It bothers me a little bit.
Harold (23:10):
Yeah.
It's like silent movie logic.
If we can't hear it, they can't hear it.
Michael (23:17):
Yeah.
Jimmy (23:17):
I mean, that is true, and that's all that stuff in every art form.
A Shakespeare play, suddenly someone walks to the stage and talks for two and a half minutes that no one else on stage heard.
Harold (23:31):
Yeah.
This is one where you see, again, Schulz, I think really he takes you on this little tiny journey, where you got this sweet little top tier, where we have peace in the world, and it's snow bunnies, and Linus is saying, they look real cute.
(23:54):
That's where his head is, and then after being berated by his sister, he's in full dinosaur mode at the end.
Liz (24:05):
I love Lucy's position in that last panel.
Harold (24:09):
Yeah, that's a great little take.
We're leaning back with her arms parallel with her shoulders, the little yellow mittens.
It's great stuff.
Again, look at those jaws, and look at the lip on her when she's yelling, don't bother me anymore.
The lip is going out way beyond the nose, and that just makes me also think of BC, which started around this time.
Jimmy (24:35):
I like that panel a lot.
I love the body language on Linus as he skulks away.
Harold (24:41):
Oh my gosh, he looks, man, that is not your typical Linus drawing.
Jimmy (24:50):
January 3rd, 1960, it's another Sunday, and Lucy is lying on her living room floor, writing something on a piece of paper.
And she says, I'm really performing him a great service.
And she walks into another room saying, I sort of wished that someone had done something like this for me when I was young.
Here, Linus, look what I've done for you.
(25:11):
She says as she brings in the piece of paper to Linus, who's just playing with some trucks in his, in the TV room or whatever.
And then Lucy says, I've made up a list of New Year's resolutions that I feel you need desperately to make.
Linus reviews the list as Lucy continues.
Actually, these are reforms which will help you to become a better person.
And Linus says, well, how nice.
(25:33):
And then he says to her, this was very thoughtful of you, Lucy.
I shall try earnestly to improve myself in all these areas.
And Lucy's smiling.
He continues, I'll make good use of this list.
I'll try very hard to improve.
I really will.
Lucy is just so pleased with herself.
And then he smiles smugly and turns to her and says, in fact, I think I'm getting better already.
(26:26):
That's what Truman Capote said, yeah.
Liz (26:28):
And Charlie Brent's reading his book.
Jimmy (26:31):
Yep.
Once again, he sits down and thinks, you know what, finally, I'm going to get through this book.
Harold (26:36):
And then, no.
Michael (26:38):
It's Finnegan's Wake.
He reads it for 50 years.
Jimmy (26:41):
He's in forever.
Michael (26:42):
And he's still on, like, page six.
Harold (26:46):
You know how Schulz used to say, some strips, I'm so excited about them, I can't get through them fast enough?
When I'm looking at the lettering in this, especially, like, in the fourth panel on the second tier, that's the feeling I get here.
He is like, I love this idea.
I can't wait to get it on paper.
Jimmy (27:02):
Yeah, you can see even in the second panel on the first tier, like, it's not centered.
Each line isn't centered how they traditionally would be.
It's just very loose.
SPEAKER_2 (27:12):
Yeah.
Jimmy (27:14):
What do we think about the Sunday colors in general in this era?
They look good?
Michael (27:18):
Yeah.
Harold (27:18):
The ha ha ha's and all different colors are great.
Michael (27:21):
Well, during our reread, everything was in black and white.
So yeah, I didn't even realize that he had a red shirt.
Jimmy (27:31):
You never saw that ever?
Michael (27:34):
Well, obviously when I was reading newspapers, it was a long time ago.
Harold (27:38):
Yeah.
Michael (27:39):
But all the reprints have been in black and white that I've seen.
Jimmy (27:43):
Yeah, they've now done color reprints of the Sunday strips.
Phanagraphics has, and the 75th Anniversary Book that the Peanuts people put out has every strip in color.
And the dailies look really great in color too, even though obviously Schulz didn't do that.
Harold (27:59):
Yeah.
And I think to my eye that we're now hopping a year every time, I feel the characters look a lot more appealing to me.
They're settling into something that I like.
That is a rough era.
Michael (28:15):
Lucy definitely is taller.
Harold (28:17):
Yeah.
Michael (28:18):
I mean, her head, at least in her head, is smaller in proportion.
Harold (28:23):
Yeah.
This is just a little more appealing design than where he was for a while.
But it is fascinating just to see them change and evolve.
And in one ear increments, it really pops.
Jimmy (28:41):
It sure does.
And before I pop, let's take a break.
Liz (28:45):
Alrighty.
Michael (28:46):
He popped.
Liz (28:47):
I guess so.
Did you complete The Great Peanuts reread?
Then show the world with a T-shirt, a giant 17,897 emblazoned on your chest for all to see.
We also have a Be of Good Cheer pen nib design, along with the four of us crossing Abbey Road, and of course, Michael, Jimmy and Harold at the thinking wall.
(29:12):
Order your T-shirts today at unpackingpeanuts.com/store.
Jimmy (29:21):
And we are back.
So Liz, I'm hanging out in the mailbox.
You got anything?
Liz (29:27):
We do.
We heard from some new listeners, from new sources.
So SpiderStomperG2I commented on YouTube about the first Van Pelt episode, where we talked about the difference in levels of freedom for children nowadays versus when we were young.
(29:48):
And SpiderStomperG2I says, Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes seemed to not go too far from his house because he's six and the only other kid he talked to is Susie.
There are also modern cartoons made in the 2010s that sort of ignore that kids can't really go out by themselves anymore, like Big City Greens.
(30:09):
Cricket and Tilly are like 10 and they can go wherever they want in the town.
In one episode, Cricket had to go home before the streetlights came on.
Harold (30:20):
Yeah, that is interesting that as adults, we're creating stories about kids and you don't see a whole lot of kids telling stories about kids.
And so you get this weird lag in what's changing sometimes, that the adult is remembering their childhood and the child is looking at what the adult created and it's like I don't fully relate to that.
Jimmy (30:44):
Well, that, you know, Schulz kids used to say that to him, saying, Dad, you're writing about your childhood, not today's kids.
I mean, and then he wisely ignored them because.
Harold (30:57):
Oh, okay.
Jimmy (30:58):
Go out and ride your pony.
With your criticisms.
I got an idea.
Go play the three-hole golf course.
Liz (31:14):
We also got a lot of wonderful positive reaction about the Patrick McDonald episode, including from Paul H.
Tubb, also on YouTube, who said, My love of peanuts is well documented on this internet thing we all seem to use, as is my love of mutts.
Therefore, I find this such a fascinating, wonderful conversation and shall of course be sharing it.
(31:39):
Well done.
Harold (31:40):
Thank you.
Jimmy (31:41):
Thank you for that.
Harold (31:42):
Thank you.
It was such an honor to be able to talk to Patrick.
That was a bucket list thing for us, you know.
Just an amazing experience.
And to talk with somebody whose work you love about something we love so much, Peanuts, is just a very special experience.
Jimmy (31:59):
Yeah, absolutely.
I am so excited and happy by all of the cartoonists that we've gotten to interview since we started this thing.
Harold (32:09):
Yes, yeah, it's been an incredible roster of talented people and how else would I have had the opportunity to talk with Judy Slatkey and Jeannie Schultz and Wynne Johnson and Paige and I mean, it's crazy, yeah.
I mean, the list is, and thank you to Todd Webb also, who we've interviewed for making that Patrick MacDonald thing happen.
Jimmy (32:31):
Yep, and you could follow Todd on Substack.
His strip is called The Poet and it's a daily.
You can get it every day.
Harold (32:38):
Yes.
Liz (32:39):
We heard some more compliments from people on Spotify this time.
Zoomer1959 wrote, I was charmed by Patrick's talent in 1994 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where I lived with my two-year-old and husband.
Bad baby cartoon spoke volumes to me.
I instantly was a fan of Mutts and have enlightened many friends to its charms.
(33:02):
I too loved getting a peanuts book in my Christmas stocking.
I was born in 1959 and peanuts influenced me from the beginning.
Love the positive influence of both peanuts and Mutts, especially the friendship, love, and kindness.
Excellent conversation, many thanks to everyone.
Harold (33:21):
Thank you so much for that.
Jimmy (33:22):
It was our pleasure to have the conversation.
Liz (33:24):
And Bennett Juliusque echoed the praise with, Loved listening to this one.
Thank you for sharing.
Mutts and peanuts are definitely something special.
Jimmy (33:34):
Absolutely.
Well, it's great.
I'm so happy so many people have found us with that one.
Yeah, Patrick was just a great guest and he's coming back.
Liz (33:42):
Yep.
So that's it for the comments on social media.
So anything on the hotline?
Jimmy (33:48):
We got something on the hotline.
We heard from our old pal Captain Billy who says, Ray, the Patrick McDonald episode, just a quick message to compliment you on another awesome episode.
I heard on more than a few other podcasts.
Yes, I confess, I listen to other podcasts.
Please forgive me and let me back in your heart.
That podcasting can be a lonely experience because listeners just don't take the time to comment.
(34:12):
So in all caps, great work.
Keep it up.
Liz (34:16):
We will.
Harold (34:17):
Thank you for that.
Liz (34:18):
Thank you, Captain Billy.
We listen to other podcasts too.
Jimmy (34:21):
We do.
Too many, frankly.
All right.
So that is all we got in the mailbox this time.
So if you want to be in touch with us, there's a couple different ways you could do it.
The first thing you got to do, go over to unpackingpeanuts.com and sign up for the old Great Peanuts reread.
Get that one email a month so you know what we're doing.
If you just want to talk to us, you can email us.
(34:42):
We are unpackingpeanuts at gmail.com.
You can follow us on the social medias.
We're at Unpack Peanuts on Instagram and threads and at Unpacking Peanuts on Facebook, Blue Sky and YouTube.
And of course, you can either call or text the hotline at 717-219-4162.
But remember, if you do text, identify yourself like Captain Billy did, so I know who's talking to me.
Liz (35:07):
And also the comments on YouTube and Spotify are pretty great.
Harold (35:11):
They're great, too?
Jimmy (35:12):
Yes.
So anyway, you want to reach out to us, we'd love to hear from you.
Because remember, when I don't hear, I worry.
No one wants that.
No.
All right.
So I'm excited.
This is only our second time doing this brand new segment, which is called Unpacking Peanuts Recommends, where we go through and we're each going to recommend something that we're into right now.
(35:36):
Doesn't have to be a comic strip.
It could be anything, but it's just got to be something that we're digging in the moment.
Who wants to go first?
Michael (35:43):
Oh, I will.
Jimmy (35:44):
All right, Michael, hit me.
Michael (35:46):
All right.
I'm going to do a segue off of something that Jimmy said.
Harold (35:51):
I love a segue.
Michael (35:52):
This has nothing to do with his comment, but this is something that I've been obsessed with maybe the last six months.
It's a TV show.
It's a great TV show.
It came out years ago.
I didn't see it.
I started watching it.
The segue is this.
Jimmy mentioned, oh, in Shakespeare, people do these.
Liz (36:14):
Soliloquies.
Michael (36:14):
Soliloquies.
Harold (36:15):
Oh, yeah.
Michael (36:16):
Where all of a sudden they're talking to no one.
I haven't started watching the show called Deadwood.
Harold (36:23):
Oh, yeah.
Michael (36:24):
Which is, by the way, this is not a recommendation because it's the vilest thing you've ever seen in your life.
Liz (36:30):
I won't watch it.
Michael (36:31):
No.
The language unbelievable.
They get away with this.
Liz (36:36):
This is not for those of you who like us because we're peaceful.
Jimmy (36:39):
Yeah.
Michael (36:41):
But anyway, it does appeal to my darker side.
But it's not really a Western, but it's set in that period in a mining town.
Yeah.
People are having conversation.
They speak very flowery, but every now and then, the characters do a soliloquy.
(37:04):
Wow.
Which is stunning at first.
You're going, can't the camera pan around, and you see who he's talking to?
Harold (37:11):
There's no one there.
Michael (37:12):
They're doing exactly Shakespearean soliloquies.
Harold (37:16):
Wow.
Michael (37:17):
It totally works.
Once you get used to it, it's kind of jarring at first.
But anyway, Deadwood is so great that I'm afraid of just binging it and it being over, so I kind of like dole it out in pieces.
Farce them out very carefully.
(37:38):
Yeah.
Anyway, so that's my recommendation.
If you don't mind, absolutely the vilest language in the world and just total squalor.
It's a great show.
Jimmy (37:47):
There you go.
For fans of Squalor, you got it, Deadwood.
How about you, Harold?
Harold (37:56):
Well, when you just talked about that soliloquy thing, it reminds me of a phrase we use in our household when someone breaks the fourth wall and they address you directly.
We call it looking into the tomato can, which is a reference to a Green Acres episode when they think Jimmy Stewart is coming to town and so, of course, Mr.
(38:17):
Haney creates the shyster salesman, creates this acting school and he's made a thing out.
I think it's out of like a cereal box and the tomato can is the lens, and so he's reminding them not to look into the tomato can, so that's for nothing.
But that's not my recommendation.
I love my Green Acres.
(38:39):
I was also watching TV but going a little further back to 1961, I don't know if anybody has ever seen the old series Route 66 which ran from like 1960 to 1964.
One thing I've started to do, if there's a series I never really saw and I really don't know much about it, what I'll do is I'll go to IMDb and I will look it up and then I'll look up the episodes and they'll show you top rated episodes and I'll pick the top rated episode and I'll watch it.
(39:09):
I'm so glad I did because I stumbled on season two, episode three of Route 66.
It's called Good Night Sweet Blues.
It has a 9.0 IMDb rating.
People love this episode.
Ethel Waters, the amazing singer, is featured in this one.
It's an anthology, so it's basically Martin Milner and usually George Meharas going around the country, driving around on the road, Jack Kerouac style kind of thing.
(39:37):
And they just run into people one time.
And what's so cool about the show is the writer and creator of the show, Sterling Sillifant, who also did like, he wrote like Towering Inferno and Poseidon Adventure.
And he has, in Naked City, which was the series before this, you know, the city has eight million stories.
Yeah.
I don't know if you've ever seen that.
(39:58):
But what he would do, apparently, is he would go around the country ahead of the show.
And they'd be in a different place and they would shoot on location.
And so, he would go to a city, try to find a story there, and then he would write the story off, and he'd write so many of these.
And then the crew would catch up with them, and they would shoot the story based on whatever inspired him.
(40:20):
So, you're actually seeing real places.
It's not like the fake bar or the...
So, anyway, they're not using paid actors, in most cases, for the small things.
They're just people they found in that community.
And so, it's like this little documentary of the early 60s America that is fascinating.
So, that's my recommendation.
Jimmy (40:42):
All right, cool.
Hey, do you got anything, Liz?
Liz (40:44):
I do, I do.
I've been reading the latest Mick Heron novel Clown Town.
He's the author of the series, Slow Horses series, that's been a wonderful series on Apple, and I highly recommend both the books and the TV show, which is really true to the books.
(41:04):
But this is his latest, and I'm just, I just started it in the beginning of the week, so we'll see where it goes.
Jimmy (41:12):
All right, I got something.
Now, this goes back to long-time listeners of the show, might remember our good pal, Will Hines.
Liz (41:20):
Mm, yeah.
Jimmy (41:21):
I am recommending Will Hines' Instagram, Willie B.
Hines.
Now, this will be over by the time this is recorded, so you'll have to go back, scroll back a little bit.
But it's the funniest thing that's on the Internet right now.
And our buddy, Will, has gone viral for it.
Liz (41:40):
Congratulations.
Jimmy (41:41):
He was on a comedy podcast.
And the podcast is all improv, but it's supposed to be about their interviewing authors who wrote movie novelizations.
But the authors are just comedians.
So, Will plays the guy who wrote the Dark Knight novelization, the Heath Ledger.
(42:07):
But the character he's playing is playing, he was the makeup artist on The Dark Knight.
And they gave him this gig to make him feel better because he was very upset because Heath Ledger kept smearing the Joker makeup.
This is his bit, right?
He's like, I wanted it very neat.
(42:27):
And then right before we go on, Heath would smear it.
And then Christopher Nolan would go, well, we have no time, we have to do it.
Okay, so segments of this have been clipped out and on Instagram and stuff, people have lost their minds because they don't know it's a joke.
(42:48):
And it keeps getting more absurd.
And Heath so deadpan, they can't figure it.
They finally now, there's a critical mass where people are figuring out that it's just a bit.
But it got to the point where he was saying, yeah, people would come up and say, oh, Heath, good luck, kissy kissy.
And then they'd kiss him and it would smear his makeup.
(43:09):
People are like screaming through the internet at Will, you sir are a hack.
It's great.
It's so fun.
Anyway, so Willie B.
Hines on Instagram.
Liz (43:24):
That's great.
I'm going to check it out.
Jimmy (43:26):
All right.
So let's get back to the other thing we recommend, which is Peanuts by Charles M.
Schulz.
Michael (43:33):
Good strip.
I've heard of it.
Jimmy (43:36):
February 6th, 1962.
This is a daily and we see Linus sporting a new look.
As Charlie Brown notices and says, I'm sorry that you have to wear glasses, Linus.
And then Linus says, don't feel sorry for me, Charlie Brown.
Why, I can see things now that I never knew even existed before.
And he walks to Lucy and says, take Lucy for instance.
(43:57):
For the first time, I realize what a gorgeous creature she really is.
Then he walks away with a smile on his face as Lucy says, glasses haven't improved only his sight.
They've also improved his sarcasm.
Liz (44:14):
At least she knows.
Harold (44:15):
Yeah, right.
Yeah, she didn't fall for that, the way Charlie Brown might.
Jimmy (44:20):
Charlie Brown totally would have.
Linus in glasses, we've said it before, great, great little design.
Michael (44:27):
Yeah, so sad.
Liz (44:28):
Why did he stop wearing them?
Michael (44:29):
Laser surgery.
Harold (44:31):
Well, once John Lennon was doing it, I thought, this is over.
Jimmy (44:35):
Yeah.
You know, the other thing is, it's actually a pain to draw glasses on characters.
Harold (44:41):
Yeah.
Liz (44:43):
So, it just sort of faded away and nobody...
Jimmy (44:46):
I think eventually, there is a strip where he says he got a contact lens.
Liz (44:50):
That's weird.
Harold (44:53):
Yeah.
I mean, you look at the profile and you got the line of the...
If you want to be true to where the line on the glasses would go, you're covering the eye.
And the eye, even if it's a little dot, is expressive, especially in the Schulz world.
So, to lose that, it's great for the joke here, but I could see, on an on-going basis, maybe you don't want to do that.
Jimmy (45:14):
Now, I do think, though, like, the way he draws Marcy's glasses later...
Oh, by the way, I was interviewed on the Deconstructing Comics podcast.
Yeah.
Liz (45:25):
Yeah.
Jimmy (45:26):
Well, I was talking to him about what we might be doing coming up, and he had a suggestion for a title for one of our...
And we can leave this for our listeners out there.
We're thinking about doing two possible things for the next season.
Which is either Mean Girls, which is Patti and Violet, or, and this was Tim's suggestion for the title, Don't Call Me Sir, of Marcy and Peppermint Patti.
Liz (45:52):
Yeah.
Harold (45:53):
Those are both great.
Jimmy (45:54):
So, if you guys want to vote, it's not necessarily what we're going to do, but if you want to make your voices heard, it's going to be either Mean Girls or Don't Call Me Sir.
Liz (46:05):
You previously said the many moods of Marcy.
And I like the idea of Marcy by herself.
I mean, Peppermint Patti is such a powerful influence.
Jimmy (46:20):
This is fine.
Yeah.
All right.
Harold (46:21):
Or we could just do the many moods of Marcy.
Liz (46:24):
I think because she changes.
She has many arcs.
Jimmy (46:28):
All right, Tim, you're out.
We're doing either Mean Girls.
Liz (46:31):
Well, you could still call it Don't Call Me Sir.
Jimmy (46:34):
I thought it was just a great title.
Liz (46:36):
Yeah.
It's a wonderful title.
So people should go to Deconstructing Comics to listen to your interview with Tim.
Jimmy (46:44):
If you can't get enough of me talking.
January 6th, 1964.
Linus is standing there in classic thumb and blanket position, his head fully dented.
And Lucy says to him, If you only knew how nauseated I get every time I see you holding that stupid blanket.
And then Linus says, why don't you take a pill?
(47:06):
Then he leans in very sarcastically and says, Why don't you take a pill for relief of nausea caused by sight of little brother clutching blanket?
And then we see Lucy has wrapped Linus' blanket around his mouth to shut him up.
Michael (47:23):
Yeah, maybe that's why he's my favorite character.
Just that sarcasm is so good.
Liz (47:29):
But they are fighting fairly equally now.
I mean, she used to just scare him to death, but now he's holding up his own side.
Harold (47:40):
He sure is, yeah.
He's learned it from a master.
But a pill for relief of nausea caused by sight, a little brother clutching blanket.
Sounds like, is that from the side of a box?
Jimmy (47:58):
Well, why don't you take a pill sounds like something that would have been a stock phrase, maybe not among the whole net, you know what I mean?
Like, I'm frustrated.
Oh, I take a pill for it.
Harold (48:08):
Yeah, right.
That was a big thing in the 60s.
Yeah.
This was before people got a little more cynical about, you know, big pharma, big pharma, yeah, or over-the-counter meds and all that.
I like that it's got that clipped descriptor thing where it's not conversational, relief of nausea caused by sight of little brother-clutching blanket.
Jimmy (48:33):
Yeah.
Liz (48:35):
Possibly more information about their parents being doctors.
Harold (48:40):
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Jimmy (48:41):
That's true.
January 8th, 1967, it's a snowy day and Lucy's outside.
She says, because often this is she see Linus is basically finishing up snowman.
She comes over and says, what would you do if I pushed your snowman over?
Linus says, nothing.
What could I do?
(49:03):
You're bigger and stronger than I am.
You're older.
You can run faster.
I really couldn't do anything to stop you.
He continues, as Lucy just looks out at us with a blank expression.
I realize full well that I am at your mercy where things of this sort are concerned.
All I can do is simply hope that you will choose not to do so.
(49:23):
Then Lucy just walks away.
And then Linus goes back to working on the snowman.
And he says, little by little, I'm becoming an expert at the soft answer.
Michael (49:33):
Linus is definitely a Democrat.
Jimmy (49:46):
I love that middle panel with the tiny little figures in the snowman.
Harold (49:51):
It's really cute.
Yeah.
And why is Lucy missing one of her little saucer ellipses on the first panel around her eye?
So weird.
But yeah, this is great, Linus.
And just to see him grow up a year at a time on the strip, it's pretty incredible.
(50:14):
And the subtleties and the nuances of the characters are remarkable at this point.
Michael (50:21):
Yeah.
Liz (50:21):
This really feels like the Linus that we come to know.
Harold (50:27):
Yeah.
It's even an oblique biblical reference, which is something he was famous for.
The soft answer turneth away wrath or whatever.
And it sure did.
Jimmy (50:37):
Yeah, totally flummoxed her.
Harold (50:40):
Because, well, there's no satisfaction here.
It's all diffused.
Jimmy (50:46):
January 8th, 1967.
Lucy is making some toast.
And then she brings it into a different room with her, just looking at the blank toast.
Like it's something she's very proud of.
And she brings it into Linus, who's watching TV.
And she says, here, I brought you a piece of toast.
And Linus says, well, thank you.
And then Lucy holds it back and says, thank you, dear sister.
(51:09):
And then Linus with a shaky little smile says, thank you, dear sister.
And Lucy continues, thank you, dear sister, greatest of all sisters.
To which Linus replies, thank you, dear sister, greatest of all sisters.
And then Lucy says, thank you, dear sister, greatest of all sisters, without whom I'd never survive.
And Linus, thank you, dear sister, greatest of all sisters, without whom I'd never survive.
(51:32):
And Lucy gives him the toast and says, you're very welcome.
And then Linus alone in front of the TV says, how can I eat when I feel nauseated?
Michael (51:42):
Yes, he's changing.
Jimmy (51:44):
And that's a classic Linus and Lucy.
Michael (51:47):
He's wimping out.
Harold (51:50):
I remember this one as a kid.
I related to this one and just the dynamics, goofy dynamics between siblings and love this strip.
These characters are so rich at this point.
Just going back eight years or whatever, it's great there, but now we've got layer after layer after layer of these characters that we're relating to these characters through the lens of everything that's happened up until now.
(52:22):
And even if you didn't, if you've never seen this strip before in your life, I mean, this really feels different, unique.
Jimmy (52:31):
Yes.
Harold (52:32):
You don't see this in comics.
Jimmy (52:35):
I mean, another thing that's unique is just like those first two panels, like the abstractness of the backgrounds.
If you look at the way he uses the cabinets in the first panel to carve out the negative space for the logo, so that really like the only the drawing is everything to the right.
And then it's just negative space of the cabinets to the left that includes the peanuts featuring good old Charlie Brown then.
Harold (52:58):
The Van Pelt have a lot of storage space in there.
Yeah, it's got a huge storage space.
Jimmy (53:03):
You know, but it's just, it works perfectly well.
I mean, there's no logic to how the door and the wall and everything works together.
It's just rectangles.
But you know, she's walking from one room to the other.
Harold (53:15):
That's great.
Jimmy (53:16):
Looks beautiful.
Okay.
So guys, this is bringing us towards the end of another episode here.
But let's sum things up for our listeners.
What are you guys seeing?
How are you feeling about the Van Pelt at this point?
Have you had any insights this time around that you didn't have last time?
Michael (53:31):
Well, I want to tell you, I noticed something.
Because basically, the way I was finding these strips is, I was going month by month, and we can see them all, and kind of zipping down looking for Linus and Lucy strips.
And there were so many.
Probably, every month in the 50s would have like four.
(53:56):
First half of the 60s, pretty much the same.
Sometime around 1968, Snoopy started dominating the strip.
It was after the Red Baron thing, and that was at the expense of these Linus and Lucy strips.
By 1968, it was getting harder to find any, and in 1969, because I picked a few more after that, I think it wasn't until September that I found them.
(54:29):
Then when we get into the 70s, Linus starts fading out a little bit.
So this whole, I think he might have felt he kind of run the gamut what these two characters can do.
Harold (54:43):
Well, it's interesting looking again at the ages of the kids.
This is also probably around the time where the least, the little kid interactions are not in his day-to-day experiences.
He's got older kids in the family now, and Mike Monti would be, at the time of the strip, be 15.
Jimmy (55:03):
Right.
Harold (55:04):
So those observational things that feel really authentic in the 50s are now abstracted out, I think, to aspects of Schulz's personality.
Liz (55:17):
I think Meredith got married quite young.
Didn't she get married in like 19?
Jimmy (55:23):
I don't know.
Yeah, maybe.
Liz (55:24):
I'm pretty sure she was out of the house younger than 20.
Harold (55:32):
So that can change where you're pulling from.
And it's interesting that this kind of fantasy Snoopy pops up around that time.
Yes, Meredith was married to Gary Fredrickson in 1969.
So yeah, you're right.
This is growing up.
Kids are growing up.
(55:53):
Yeah.
Jimmy (55:53):
It goes by fast when that happens.
Harold (55:56):
Yeah.
Jimmy (55:57):
It's so fun for me to see.
Because any kind of thing with siblings, brothers and sisters, or if they're, oh God, if there's a large family like the Brady Bunch, I loved anything like that as an only child.
So I like seeing the Linus and Lucy thing.
I don't know that I necessarily ever felt like I missed out on anything because of them, but it was fun to get a good insight into what it would be like to have an older sister.
(56:22):
I did all my cousins, and I lived in a small town, I had cousins everywhere.
They were all older than me, and they were all more sophisticated and rougher than me too.
So I do understand that aspect of it.
Harold (56:38):
I know I learned from this trip, those little moments where learning the soft answer, that stuff would make an impact, because that was my situation.
I was almost two years younger than an older sister, and stuff I hadn't thought about until I read a peanut strip.
(56:59):
It's like, oh, maybe that's a good way to handle that.
It really did help.
Yeah.
Jimmy (57:08):
No, I feel that way too, about this strip in particular.
Yeah, that, Peanuts and Harriet the Spy, when I was a kid, were the two things that I read that felt like, oh, this is telling me something true, that maybe it's a true thing, adults don't want kids to know, if I could help myself.
You know, and that, it felt, it felt special because of that.
Harold (57:29):
You know what else feels special though?
Jimmy (57:30):
Can hang out with you guys every week and talk about our favorite comic strip.
So if you want to keep this conversation going, there's a couple different ways you can do it.
First, go over, sign up for that great Peanuts reread on our good old website, unpackingpeanuts.com.
You can also email us, unpackingpeanuts.gmail.com.
You can follow us on social media where we are at Unpack Peanuts on Instagram and Threads and at Unpacking Peanuts on Facebook, Blue Sky and YouTube.
(57:59):
And of course, you can always call or text our hotline at 717-219-4162.
We would love to hear from you.
And remember, all three of your hosts here for this show are cartoonists ourselves, so you can buy our books at unpackingpeanuts.com.
And there's gonna be a link to the store right in the description of this very episode to make it easy for you.
Harold (58:19):
And if you're an early listener to the podcast and are in the Philadelphia area on the 21st and 22nd of February, I will be at the Philadelphia Punk Rock Flea Market.
Jimmy (58:30):
All right, Philadelphia Punk Rock Flea Market.
And hey, since Peanuts is set, as we all know, in Hennepin, Minnesota, thinking of everybody in Minnesota out there, hope you're all well.
Liz (58:41):
Yeah, take care.
Jimmy (58:42):
We love you and we'll see you in two weeks.
Be of good cheer.
SPEAKER_2 (58:46):
Yes, be of good cheer.
Liz (58:48):
Unpacking Peanuts is copyrighted by Jimmy Gownley, Michael Cohen, Harold Buchholz, and Liz Sumner.
Produced and edited by Liz Sumner.
Music by Michael Cohen.
Additional voiceover by Aziza Shukralla Clark.
For more from the show, follow Unpack Peanuts on Instagram and threads.
Unpacking Peanuts on Facebook, Blue Sky, and YouTube.
(59:11):
For more about Jimmy, Michael, and Harold, visit unpackingpeanuts.com.
Have a wonderful day and thanks for listening.
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