Is this the funniest Peanuts “Great Pumpkin” plot? (That Time Linus Was Declared a “False Prophet,” Explained)

The Great Pumpkin is one of the most beloved aspects of Peanut tradition, with the joke spanning almost the entire history of Charles Schulz’s legendary comic strip – but the 1977 arc where Marcie joined Linus in his pumpkin patch vigil, only to be “deprogrammed” from her belief in the Great Pumpkin latermight be the funniest example of all time.

The Great Pumpkin was first referenced in 1959, almost ten years later Peanut publication time. From then on, it became a staple in Charles Schulz’s fall stories, appearing almost annually on or around Halloween.

In fact, over the next four decades, the Great Pumpkin was only absent seven times, three of those years being in the 1970s. In 1977, however, Charles Schulz wrote a Great Pumpkin storyline that was Peanut at the height of hilarity, a six-day arc that remains at the top of the list when it comes to Schulz’s Halloween Peanut comics.

Linus being declared a “false prophet” was the culmination of Peanuts’ great pumpkin jokes

First published: October 31 to November 5, 1977

“I decided I need something to believe in,” Marcie told Linus on Halloween 1977 Peanut strip, as she joins him in awaiting the arrival of the Great Pumpkin – which, in typical Marcie fashion, she mistakenly calls the “Big Grape.” The next day, Linus goes another year without witnessing the Pumpkin’s appearance, but Charlie Brown is more curious about Marcie’s absence. “Her parents came and picked her up,” Linus explains glumly, adding hilariously: “she is being deprogrammed!“In the next few days, this part would be escalate to the point where Linus gained a reputation as “false prophet.”

Peanut has a certain reputation for light-hearted and even innocuous humor – but the more readers return to the work of Charles Schulz, it becomes clear that the author had a strange, sometimes almost absurd sense of humor. This is a prime example of that; which makes this 1977 arc perhaps the best Great Pumpkin storyline in Peanut the story is how she uses the long-standing joke in a way that was unique up to that point and arguably unrivaled in subsequent years.

That is, in this cartoon sequence, Charles Schulz used the well-known premise of the Great Pumpkin –​​​​​​​ Linus awaits the arrival of the mythical being, only to be perennially lifted – to place two of the Peanut Gang, Linus and Marcie, in a totally unexpected situation. Schulz’s use of terminology such as “deprogramming” and “false prophet” was contrasted with the childlike nature of the characters and their circumstances, and the dissonance between the two is what makes it so ridiculous. Peanut bow.

Marcie’s huge role in the Greatest Pumpkin’s Funniest Joke grew from seeds planted years before

First published: November 1, 1973

One of the most underrated things about Peanut it is his astute sense of continuity; Charles Schulz had a strong memory for past jokes and stories and would often reintroduce concepts or character traits years after their initial introduction and take them in new directions. This was the case with Marcie’s 1977 Great Pumpkin storyline. which was based on her role in the 1973 iteration of the joke – in which Linus furiously corrected her for incorrectly calling her the “Great Pumpkin”. In this way, his 1977 arc begins as a callback, but then Schulz takes it further, with noisy results.

When Marcie reappeared on November 2, 1977 Peanut strip, she explained to her best friend Peppermint Patty how unpleasant it was to be “deprogrammed” – and the next day’s strip was when she matter-of-factly explained to Linus that her parents had called him a “false prophet.” Again, the strip’s humor comes from its mix of gravity and lightheartedness; Marcie’s external parents are obviously treating this as a serious situation, but their tone Peanut the panels remain as light-hearted as ever, which serves to make the language used even more ridiculously funny.

The term “deprogramming” is used to describe individuals who have been rescued from cults, while the idea of ​​the “false prophet” is deeply linked to Western religion. There is immediate humor in the way these concepts are casually thrown around by the Peanut characters; That’s another thing that makes this Great Pumpkin story stand out, because it’s the most direct confrontation of the religious connotations of Linus’ desire for the Pumpkin’s arrival – something implicit in the joke from its beginning, but not always addressed head-on in this way.

The Great Pumpkin May Have Peaked in ’77 – But It Remained a Peanut Accessory Until the End

First published: October 30, 1977

PeanutThe great pumpkin jokes were always fun, but the 1977 plot was the most over the top. It was also the last extended Great Pumpkin arc until the early 1990s and is certainly the strongest example of Schulz using the Pumpkin to place his characters in an unusual context. The way it involves multiple characters, using each of them to tell a satisfying joke, adds to its appeal. Linus, Marcie, and then Sally – as she flips through the Bible, to see if Linus is named a false prophet – all have strong character moments during this short arc.

The Great Pumpkin may never have reached this height again, but continued to be an essential part Peanut at the end of each year, until 1999, the last year of the strip. Even decades later, the Great Pumpkin is one of the things that is most synonymous with the legacy of Peanuts, especially when it comes to Linus as a character. Readers who try it Peanut“Great pumpkin panels over the years will find a lot to love, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find anything that tops this 1977 comic book series.”

The Legacy of the Great Pumpkin is More Closely Associated with Animation Than the Original Comics

It is clear that the impact Peanut about pop culture cannot be fully discussed without mentioning the franchise’s legendary animated specials, which helped take Charles Schulz’s work to the next level in the 1960s and 1970s. Among the most well-received was 1966’s It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown – released eleven years before Schulz produced his best iteration of the joke on the page. This means The “false prophet” arc of 1977 came at the height of Peanut popularity, when a whole generation of new readers had already been raised on the animated version.

In other words, the plot of 1977’s Great Pumpkin was a product of Charles Schulz being creatively adventurous, at a time when he was especially secure in the knowledge that his dedicated legion of fans understood and appreciated his humor. More than just the best of this particular joke, these panels represent the deftness of Schulz’s humor and the surprising places he Peanut It is not always remembered for going, but explored routinely throughout its fifty years of publication.