Charles Schulz's beloved Peanuts comic strip ran for 50 years, producing 17,897 strips. While many are memorable, pinpointing the single best is a daunting task. The inaugural strip and the final one, though historically significant, do not fully represent the strip's enduring appeal.
When Peanuts debuted on October 2, 1950, the characters were still developing. Early strips featured characters like Shermy and Patty more prominently, with a less distinct Charlie Brown. This lack of fully formed characters makes the first strip ineligible as the best.
Similarly, the final strip, published on February 13, 2000, served as Schulz's farewell, but it did not offer a definitive character conclusion in the way Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes did. Schulz's declining health necessitated the strip's end, making the final entry more of a goodbye letter than a narrative resolution.
To identify the best strip, a set of criteria was established: it must feature both Charlie Brown and Snoopy, showcase their individual personalities, and originate from the 1960s, widely considered the golden age of Peanuts. This decade saw the strip's popularity surge, its transition to television, and the solid establishment of its characters, while retaining a sense of freshness.
While numerous strips from the 1960s pair Charlie Brown and Snoopy, some examples, like Charlie Brown bringing Snoopy food in the rain or Snoopy getting caught in a snowball, do not fully highlight their distinct traits. Another contender, the famous 1960 strip where Lucy tells Snoopy, "Happiness is a warm puppy," is a classic but lacks Charlie Brown's central presence.
The chosen strip, a Sunday feature from February 26, 1961, perfectly embodies these criteria. It depicts Charlie Brown and Snoopy sharing a bed, only for Charlie Brown's snoring to lead to Snoopy being kicked outside. Charlie Brown's subsequent guilt and decision to let Snoopy back in, only for the cycle to repeat with Snoopy snoring, culminates in Charlie Brown sighing outside on the doghouse. This strip captures Schulz's talent for slice-of-life moments, features iconic imagery like Snoopy on his doghouse, and illustrates the tender, yet humorous, dynamic between the two characters.
Snoopy is portrayed as an adorable scamp, capable of displacing his owner from his own bed, while Charlie Brown embodies his typical role as the good-natured recipient of life's little ironies, culminating in his signature sigh. This strip, with its blend of humor, tenderness, and character definition, is a strong contender for the greatest Peanuts comic ever created, though the "Happiness is a warm puppy" strip remains a close second.