Missed It: Franklin's First Appearance In Peanuts Was 45 Years Ago Yesterday

This tweet someone forwarded to me indicates that the character of Franklin was introduced into Peanuts 45 years ago yesterday. I always liked Franklin when I was a kid; he seemed nice, mellow and accepting of his surroundings -- which Schulz mined for a bit of humor on at least one occasion. Certainly he came into the strip at a time Schulz was still on that glorious, mature-cartoonist run to end all glorious, mature-cartoonist runs. You can read that first run here. It's actually more jarring now to see him mention his dad is in Vietnam, but certainly it was the character's race that alarmed southern newspaper editors.

Franklin only stays in three days that first time, and comes back on October 15, for a short run of really funny strips. I think that's the first time Schulz poked fun at the weirdness of his characters within the strip, something he returned to in the last few years of the run.