Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Peanuts




Three more today:

Candorville by Darrin Bell
Momma by Mel Lazarus
Peanuts (1960 reprint) by Charles Schulz

That's two in a row from beyond the grave for Charles Schulz. If my calculations are correct, there won't be another one until January 27. I won't always admit it, but I first discovered the SPP phenomenon reading the early volumes of the Complete Peanuts.
Having to use exactly four identically sized panels every day forced Schulz to come up with ways to stretch out gags that might not necessarily need those four panels. His SPP usage seems to have peaked around 1957-1958. After that, it tapers off. Consciously or not, Schulz may have realized that he was repeating the same rhythm a little too often.

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