Don’t try to tell me you don’t love Devil Dinosaur, because we’ll both know you’re lying.

§ October 21st, 2013 § Filed under peanuts § 15 Comments

So it appears that with Fantagraphics’ The Complete Peanuts: 1989 to 1990, we are fully into the “Snoopy likes cookies” jokes phase of the strip:


I remember picking up a couple of the softcover strip collections way back when, while Peanuts was still being produced, and noticing the proliferation of cookie-related punchlines. I wasn’t particularly fond of these strips then, as many of the jokes seemed to me at the time really only technically “punchlines,” where the humor of any particular installment seemed to be, as noted, “Snoopy likes cookies.”

I think my stance on this pressing issue is a bit more forgiving now, since I find myself enjoying the strips not so much as, you know, any kind of deep insight into the human (or beagle) condition, or as a laugh-out-loud gag, but as just a…I don’t know, a soft smile or a quiet sense of gentle bemusement as a familiar character repeatedly expressed his quirk. Also, I think I’ve since come to appreciate Schulz’s commitment to the cookie joke repetition…he decided that Snoopy liked cookies, that he thought it was funny, and by God he was going to use his comic strip to explore every freakin’ facet of that comedy gem. Plus, the dude did work on this strip for fifty years. If anyone deserved being cut a little slack, it’s him.

There may also be a small element of reappreciating someone’s work in the light of “well, there ain’t gonna be no more, so enjoy what you have.” I’ve mentioned this before in relation to Jack Kirby’s 1970s output, which was mocked in some quarters at the time, but now try to find someone who doesn’t love Devil Dinosaur.

Also in this book is this reference to Siskel and Ebert, as Sally and Charlie Brown discuss a movie they’re about to see:


Well, to be fair, that could be a reference to Jeffrey Lyons and Michael Medved, who were also hosting a movie review TV show at the time.

And here’s yet another terrifying example of Snoopy just straight-up speaking:


Or Schulz just merged the thought balloon and the “woof woof woof” speech balloon together, but that possibility is not nearly as fun.

15 Responses to “Don’t try to tell me you don’t love Devil Dinosaur, because we’ll both know you’re lying.”

  • Snark Shark says:

    “Devil Dinosaur. ”

    MY FAVE KIRBY COMIC AS A KID!!!! Now Kamandi is first, and D Dino is 2nd!

  • The only people who have no love for DEVIL DINOSAUR, either in the 70’s or now, would be unenlightened neanderthals, prime for a Devil Dino stomping.

    Now, MOON BOY, on the other hand…

  • “Moon-Boy hated me. Moon-boy had to die. Moon-boy tasted bad and gave me considerable rectal distress.”

  • ExistentialMan says:

    I weep jurassic-sized tears for the Kamandi/Devil Dinosaur crossover that never was.

  • Acelister says:

    You need to check your rhyming thesaurus for ‘plus’. It’s always more obvious in print than ‘and’, for some reason. That, or you’ve found a comic niche in using the word ‘plus’.

  • Mikester says:

    Acelister – In my defense, it was after midnight when I wrote this. Plus, I was pretty tired.

  • Mikester says:

    However, point taken. I performed a little clean-up on the excess plussing.

  • Rob S. says:

    Maybe Schulz just saw Jim Davis killing it with lasagna jokes, and decided he wanted a piece of the action?

  • Crowded House says:

    There were people who didn’t like Devil Dinosaur? What crazy world were these people living in? One where there were so many comics about ur-humans traveling early Earth with their dinosaur pals that Kirby’s was just one more to throw on the pile? Cause that’s the only plausible excuse I can think of.

  • caleb says:

    Devil Dinosaur liked cookies. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

  • steve says:

    The cookie strips are just another reason why I’m glad I stopped collecting the Peanuts anthologies with the 1973-74 edition. It was bad enough with Sally talking to her school building, and the building answering back. When the mighty fall, they fall hard.

  • Snark Shark says:

    ““Moon-Boy hated me. Moon-boy had to die. Moon-boy tasted bad and gave me considerable rectal distress.””

    Man, NEXTWAVE should have lasted longer!

  • carol says:

    But the best Rerun strips start in 1995. If you stop collecting with ’75, you’ll miss out on the awesomeness that is Rerun.

  • Nat Gertler says:

    Also, in judging Schulz and repeated jokes, it should be remembered that they were designed to be read one strip a day; the effect of referencing the same thing a few times over the course of a month is different from seeing it several times in a few minutes of reading. Which is not to say that we’re not in a weaker period of Schulz here, but weak Schulz is still better than most of the other stuff out there… and as carol notes, we’re coming up on a real upswing in the last half of the decade, particularly as it concerns Rerun.

  • Mars says:

    I’m just waiting until we hit that Peanuts strip that references the Macarena.