It's Charles Schulz's birthday, and at the risk of turning my Twitter into nothing but Peanuts' strips, I want to touch briefly on how extraordinary it was at the time for the main character to talk so openly about depression. 
Charlie Brown began speaking freely about his depression just a few years into the strip, roughly the late 50s and early 60s. It was a theme that ran particularly strong up until the mid 70s.
The other characters recognize it in him, sometimes trying to offer him advice, and sometimes not exactly knowing how to handle his open anguish.
For the most part, Linus is the most empathetic. He doesn't treat Charlie Brown's depression as a joke, but does try to offer him advice on how he might mitigate it.
His sister Lucy, in contrast, is more likely to take a harder stance against the depression, either by telling Charlie Brown to snap out of it or by ignoring his anguish altogether.
Here's Lucy at her least empathetic, which is of course part of the gag--she's the last one of the characters who should be doling out psychiatric advice, yet Charlie Brown keeps coming to her for answers on his depression.
The roots of Charlie Brown's depression started almost as soon as he was born. He's supposed to be eight in the strip, so according to this strip, his depression began at age two.
Usually, Charlie Brown's depression doesn't hinder him from doing things like sports or other activities, but sometimes it renders him inactive for long periods, such as here.
Snoopy is of little help in this area, mainly because he's so self-involved. He calls Charlie Brown that "round-headed kid."
Friendlessness and feelings of extreme loneliness seem to be at the root of Charlie Brown's depression, and characters like Lucy reinforce these feelings often.
And anxiety certainly plays a role as well.
And let's not forget about self-loathing. You get the point.
This sort of character on mid-century comics pages simply didn't exist, nor did ending a strip with the protagonist talking about how much he hated himself. It reshaped the sort of topics that newspaper comics could address.
OK, I'll stop but not before I share one of my all-time favorite strips. This is the essence of Peanuts.
And (shameless plug) anyone who enjoyed this thread might also enjoy this longer piece I wrote on Peanuts a while back. lareviewofbooks.org/article/sellin…
