The Complete Peanuts 1955-1956

With The Complete Peanuts 1955-1956, a half a decade into the strip‘s run, Charles Schulz has definitely hit his stride. It‘s a period of consolidation, as no new characters are introduced (and the ephemeral "Charlotte Braun" is given the hook), but the remaining nine - Lucy, Linus, Schroeder, Patty, Violet, Shermy, "Pig-Pen," Snoopy, and Charlie Brown - are settling comfortably into the roles and personalities they will play for years to come. Linus, security blanket now firmly in hand, learns to talk, and thus no longer has to suffer his sister‘s abuse in silence. Snoopy takes a major leap into his patented lovable eccentricity, launching a long series of impressions, including his fellow cast members, various animals, and . . . Mickey Mouse? "Pig-Pen" develops his philosophy of dirt, Lucy‘s crush on Schroeder becomes unshakable, and Charlie Brown . . . well, Charlie Brown suffers his first strike-out, his first kite lost in a tree, and the first football pulled out from under him by Lucy!