Peanuts by Charles Schulz for July 31, 1968

Franklin appears!

This is the first appearance of Franklin. He was always a quiet, kind kid. He was one of the few Peanuts kids who was not rude towards Charlie Brown. It was later revealed that Franklin lived in Peppermint Patty’s neighborhood. He went to school and played sports with her, but he was sometimes annoyed by her numerous D minuses and dumb answers.

Franklin was never in enough.

Here is a list of the Peanuts kids and pets introduced so far, in the order of their appearance, along with the dates.1. Shermy – 10-02-502. Patti – 10-02-503. Charlie Brown – 10-02-504. Snoopy – 10-04-505. Violet Gray – 02-07-516. Schroeder – 05-30-517. Lucy Van Pelt – 03-03-528. Linus Van Pelt – 09-19-529. Pigpen – 07-13-5410. Charlotte Braun – 11-30-5411. Sally Brown – 08-23-5912. Frieda – 03-06-6113. Faron – 05-23-6114. Little Red Haired Girl – 11-19-6115. 555 95472 – 09-30-6316. 3 95472 – 10-17-6317. 4 95472 – 10-17-6318. Roy – 06-11-6519. Peppermint Patty – 08-22-6620. Jose Peterson – 03-30-6721. Woodstock – 04-04-6722. Franklin – 07-31-68

Actually, the reason Franklin appeared was because when Martin Luther King Jr. got assassinated, lots of fans for Peanuts brought up the idea about including a black character.Source: http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,2022745,00.html

franklin’s first appearence

A few days late, but happy 50th anniversary to one of the seminal moments in comics history.

Welcome to the strip, Franklin!

This was exactly 40 years before the day I was born! And important too!

FlRST APPEARANCE OF FRANKLIN

Cool. I seem to remember him coming in later.

Franklin!

Schulz had to endure a few waa-waa-waa responses from sniveling bigots after he introduced Franklin. What business did those mooks have reading Peanuts in the first place?