With a series as vastly extensive asPeanuts, it’s difficult to pin just one down as even being among the best ever created by Charles M. Schulz. However, a comic strip that fits that exact criteria is exactly what readers get upon taking a look back at those published in August 1984 - among a slew of othergreatPeanutscomicsfans will be happy they read.
Peanutswas created by Charles Schulzin 1950, and ran until the year 2000. That’s half a century ofPeanutscomics, not to mention the TV shows, feature films, and holiday specials. In other words, the aforementioned point stands:Peanutsis vastly extensive. But even so, there are still some obvious standouts. And as of August 2024, an entire month’s worth ofPeanutscomics has just turned 40, meaning now is the perfect time to look back at the best that month had to offer - including one in particular.
10Peanuts Perfectly Captures 1 Hilariously Relatable Annoyance
Peanuts- June 01, 2025
At 3 in the morning, Marcie hears a knock at her door, only to open it to find Peppermint Patty standing there, wanting to tell Marcie about her vacation to Paris. Utterly flabbergasted, Marcie basically tells Peppermint Patty to go home. After Marcie slams the door in her face,Peppermint Patty asks, “Don’t you want to see my vacation pictures?”.
While this is an extreme example, practically everyone has been in Marcie’s shoes. Someone comes back from vacation, and they just won’t shut up about it. They want to plow their friends with vacation pictures, and it becomes all they can talk about for days on end. It’s as if they’re knocking on one’s door at 3 in the morning, that’s how annoying this hilariously relatable situation can be - andPeanutscaptures it perfectly.
9Peppermint Patty Continues to Make Her Vacation Marcie’s Problem
Peanuts- August 10, 2025
It seems Peppermint Patty didn’t get the hint when Marcie told her to get lost in the previous comic strip. Rather than just going home, Peppermint Patty walks around Marcie’s house to her window, and tries to show Marcie her vacation photos through the glass. Marcie then goes back to the front door to, once again, tell Peppermint Patty to go home, something Peppermint Patty is reluctant to do, given her jet lag-induced energy level.
As far as Peppermint Patty is concerned, 3 am is basically lunchtime, as her jet lag still has her on Parisian time as a result of her vacation. While that’s understandable, what isn’t is howPeppermint Patty is making her vacation Marcie’s problem(even if it is hilarious).
8Charlie Brown & Sally Have 2 Very Different Ways of Dealing with their Existential Crises
Peanuts- July 13, 2025
As Charlie Brown is sitting alone, reading a hotel magazine, he says that looking at pictures of empty hotel lobbies makes him sad and anxious about moving out of the house once he becomes an adult. Sally then walks into the living room and says that she doesn’t feel sad about the possibility of moving out, because she’s refusing to accept that she’ll ever have to.
Both characters are experiencing the same existential crisis in polar opposite ways.Charlie Brown falls into an anxiety-induced depressive state, while Sally seeks to distract herselffrom feeling anything at all. While this is a great example of how people deal with stressful situations differently, it’s also clear that these kids really need to lighten up, which is exactly what makes this comic so funny.
71 Shocking Peanuts Character has Access to Cartoon Logic Powers
Peanuts- July 23, 2025
Peppermint Patty is clearly desperate to show somebody, anybody, her vacation photos, and instead of harassing Marcie again, Peppermint Patty goes to Schroeder. Being the piano prodigy that he is, Schroeder is playing the keys when Peppermint Patty approaches him, and the musical notes he’s playing are depicted visually above his mini piano. When Peppermint Patty understands that Schroeder isn’t interested in looking at her pictures, she says, “Why don’t I just leave them here”, and then proceeds to place them on the musical staff for Schroeder to look at later.
The staff wasn’t literally there, it was merely a visual representation of the music Schroeder was playing. So,when Peppermint Patty put her pictures on the staff, she flexed a power in cartoon logic fans may not have known she had, which is as shocking as it is hilarious.
6Snoopy Teaches His Beagle Scouts How to Defend Themselves (They Don’t Need a Lesson)
Peanuts- June 25, 2025
For many years inPeanutscanon, Snoopy has been the troop leader of the Beagle Scouts, which consists entirely of Woodstock and his family. One day while out in the wild, Snoopy decides that the scouts are going to work on self-defense. They are small birds, after all, and bigger birds may try to eat them. So, Snoopy pretends to be a bird of prey, and tells the scouts to defend themselves against him - and they do just that.
The Beagle Scouts were more than capable of fending off large predators, proven true by how easily they handled Snoopy during this exercise. While Snoopy was just trying to help them, it is still hilarious to see the iconic pup getting beaten up by a group of tiny birds, ones that absolutely do not need a lesson in self-defense.
Peanuts- August 06, 2025
As Lucy is relaxing in an inflatable pool on this hot August day, Snoopy decides to join her, though not in a way that Lucy would prefer. Taking a running start, Snoopy goes to dive head-first into the pool, which would have created an annoying splash, hitting Lucy right in the face. Foreseeing this annoyance, Lucy yells at Snoopy, “Oh, no you don’t!”, and Snoopy promptly listens.Snoopy stops in midair before hitting the water, and then turns his entire body completely aroundto avoid landing in the pool.
What Snoopy does in this comic is physically impossible, meaning that he literally had to break the laws of physics to spare himself Lucy’s full wrath. To be fair, shattering the very fabric of the physical plane would be preferable to facing a ticked off Lucy, and Snoopy came to that conclusion in midair.
4Snoopy Quickly Learns to Fly Upon Facing Lucy’s Wrath
Peanuts- June 22, 2025
Even after stopping in midair to avoid splashing Lucy, Snoopy tries yet again to dive into her pool. Just like last time, Lucy tells Snoopy to stop what he’s doing, with a clear undertone of ‘or else’ - and, once again, Snoopy listens. Rather than stopping and turning his body completely around in midair, this timeSnoopy decides to break the laws of physics in a new way: by flying.
As experts and non-experts alike can attest, dogs can’t fly. However, they’ve never met a dog that was in danger of facing Lucy’s wrath (for the second time). Learning to fly on the fly quickly becomes the most reasonable thing for Snoopy to do in this situation, and if not reasonable, then certainly hilarious.
3Charlie Brown is Afraid to be Happy, & He Explains Why
Peanuts- July 17, 2025
In this comic, Linus tells Charlie Brown that he thinks Chuck’s afraid to be happy, to which Charlie Brown replies, “What are the side effects?”. Charlie Brown confirms that heisafraid to be happy - literally. He’s not so much afraid of attaining happiness, only to learn that being happy doesn’t actually make him happy. Charlie Brown’s really afraid of the side effects of being happy, those being the results of true happiness itself.
Charlie Brown doesn’t want anything to do with happiness, as he’s not ready for everything happiness can bring him, andhe’s much more comfortable being his normal cynical self. Even the thought of being happy makes him uncomfortable, confirming that he’s not ready to change who he is, even if it might be beneficial to himself. While this comic isn’t exactly funny, it’s certainly darkly humorous, and pretty revealing about Charlie Brown’s character.
2Franklin Might Be a Bit Too Honest for His Own Good
Peanuts- July 20, 2025
When Franklin approaches Peppermint Patty to tell her that they won’t be in the same class at school this year, he says that he’s going to miss seeing her every day. That’s a pretty solid start to a conversation, though it quickly takes a nose-dive when Franklin says that the real reason he’ll miss Peppermint Patty is, “I remember once I thought I heard a jet flying over our school… I turned around, and it was you snoring…” to which Peppermint Patty replies, “Don’t count on me speaking to you at the high school prom, Franklin!”.
Based on Peppermint Patty’s response, it seems there was a possibility of romance between Franklin and Peppermint Patty. However,Franklin is a little bit too honest about the real reason why he’ll miss having Peppermint Patty in class, hilariously shattering that possibility right then and there.
1One of the Funniest Peanuts Strips Ever is Equal Parts Cute & Surreal
Peanuts- August 09, 2025
Lucy is jumping rope alone one day when she’s approached by Charlie Brown, who starts talking about his shoelaces totally unprompted. Charlie Brown just got new shoelaces, and he’s so proud of them that he wants to show off his new laces to anyone he sees. Lucy is totally unfazed, and tells Charlie Brown that his shoelaces look nice. The two then exchange an awkward goodbye, and the comic strip just ends.
ThisPeanutscomic is like a weird dream, totally surreal and random, but just ‘normal’ enough to feel real during the experience. It’s cute that Lucy shares Charlie Brown’s excitement, especially since not very many things make Charlie Brown feel excited, but the whole thing is undeniably off in a totally absurd and utterly hilarious way. That’s why this is arguably one of the funniestPeanutscomics of all time, and definitely one of the 10 funniest that just turned 40.
Peanuts
Created by Charles M. Schulz, Peanuts is a multimedia franchise that began as a comic strip in the 1950s and eventually expanded to include films and a television series. Peanuts follows the daily adventures of the Peanuts gang, with Charlie Brown and his dog Snoopy at the center of them. Aside from the film released in 2015, the franchise also has several Holiday specials that air regularly on U.S. Television during their appropriate seasons.
