Some of my favorite strips -- the Peppermint Patty skating strips are some of the all time best (watching the Winter Olympics, it was amazing how little skating coaches have changed; Snoopy dressed up as Peppermint Patty's coach might as well be Johnny Weir's Russian coach-in-fur). I think Peanuts never gets any better than these strips in the years to come -- and the best strips are within the previous five years. I can't let 1973-1974 go without at least mentioning Mr. Sack. I never realized how poignant the scene with Charlie Brown in the dark telling himself: "Life sure is strange... and they say we only come this way once." That's pretty deep stuff for a comic strip, and certainly was above my fifth grade head 30-some years ago. I think maybe it was at this time that Charles Schulz's marriage was falling apart (or right before these strips): there is quite a few strips about love and relationships.
9/24/20 Is it possible that the years 1973 - 1074 are the pinnacle of Peanuts, that the strips weren't ever better than this, and won't ever be better than this? These are golden years for Peanuts. Every character is perfectly developed, including Woodstock; there aren't really any new characters (I can stomach Rerun, but Eudora never seemed to fit in to the Peanuts world). Marcy and Peppermint Patty's relationship is at it's sharpest and funniest. Snoopy is surreal without being the selfish dick he later becomes. There is just so much good stuff here: "speak softly and carry a beagle;" "Bust, Marcie!! It's a perfectly legitimate sewing term!" "Sack! You've just been elected camp president!" "That was one word! POW!" "It's not a guest cottage, Sir, it's a dog house!" "Improper mittens?" "Marcie, has anyone ever told that when you're mad, you look just like Billie Jean King?" I could go on and on and on...