The best decade in the history of Charles Schulz’s Peanuts was no doubt the 1960s. The comic strip launched in 1950, and for the first decade, Schulz’s work was still evolving. The characters took a little while to develop the personality traits we came to love about them.
Schulz’s artwork also shifted from a somewhat generic cuteness to the more distinct (but still quite cute) characters that became icons. By the 1960s, Schulz hit his sweet spot with well-defined characters and a freshness to the material which would sometimes flag in the decades to come. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of hilarious, heartwarming, and inspired Peanuts comics from the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s, but taken as a whole, nothing tops 1960s Peanuts.
The 1960s are also when the characters became superstars. A Charlie Brown Christmas arrived on TV in 1965, and it was quickly followed by more TV specials. Peanuts also debuted on the big screen in the 1960s with the 1969 film A Boy Named Charlie Brown, even if that film isn’t quite as well-remembered today as some of the perennial TV specials that become appointment viewing on various holidays.
Anyway, the point is, you can’t beat Peanuts during this era. So here are six exceptionally good comic strips from that decade which prove that Charles Schulz truly was a genius who was really cooking in the 1960s. At the beginning of June, 1965, Schulz launched a series of strips in which Charlie Brown goes away to camp for two weeks.
While Charlie Brown is lonely at camp, he eventually meets another lonesome kid named Roy, and the two strike up a friendship that is very sweet. While he ends up having a better time at camp than he anticipated, Charlie Brown is still relieved to be home in this comic from June 19, 1965. Of course, as always, it’s Lucy’s job to burst Charlie Brown’s bubble.
When he says what a joy it is to be home, her only reply is “Have you been away?” A Charlie Brown Christmas is an utterly perfect TV special. It’s funny and endearing in all the right ways, which is why it was an instant hit upon its release and quickly became a classic thereafter. Because of this, Peanuts as a whole has become synonymous with Christmas, which makes Schulz’s Christmastime comics something special, even if they predate the special itself.
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