5 Funniest 'Peanuts' Comics About Snoopy's Forgotten Siblings

To all the dogs Charles Schulz loved before

Charles Schulz's Snoopy is one of the most famous fictional dogs in the world, if not the most famous. His only real competition might be Goofy, who's apparently supposed to be an anthropomorphic dog (which, as ever, raises some real uncomfortable questions about Pluto), or possibly Scooby-Doo.

Snoopy is one of the oldest characters in Peanuts, first appearing in its third-ever strip in 1950. For the first few years of the comic, Snoopy might've been a stray who was broadly adopted by the neighborhood kids, as he seemed to belong to whichever kid he had to in order for the latest joke to work. It wasn't until 1972 that Schulz finally established that Snoopy belonged to Charlie Brown.

That's a useful example of an overall trend with Snoopy, who has the longest character arc in Peanuts. By the time the strip ended in 2000, Snoopy had evolved from a fairly normal beagle to a struggling writer with a number of elaborate fantasy personae, a penchant for walking upright, a doghouse that's basically a TARDIS, an ambiguous ability to communicate directly with humans, and his own extensive supporting cast.

In addition to his bird pal Woodstock, Snoopy has seven brothers and sisters, most of whom were rarely seen in Peanuts. The exception is Spike, Snoopy's desert-dwelling brother, who went from a brief visit in 1975 to a regular fixture in the comic by the '90s.

Snoopy's other siblings include his sister Belle, who lives in Kansas City with her somewhat upsetting son (above); Marbles, who's too smart to really understand Snoopy; the "roly-poly" Olaf; Andy, a fuzzy farm dog who might not actually be a beagle; and Molly and Rover, who only appeared in the 1991 animated special Snoopy's Reunion.

The general theme behind Snoopy's siblings seems to be that every time that Schulz got a new dog, he would eventually include that dog in Peanuts as a member of Snoopy's litter. Andy's fuzzy linework, for example, is because he's based on a wire-haired terrier that Schulz adopted in 1988.

Aside from Spike, Snoopy's siblings are barely a footnote in the Peanuts canon, but they're entertaining to look at as sort of off-model Snoopy clones. Here are some of the best strips featuring the rest of Snoopy's litter.

1 Marbles — October 7, 1982

Marbles only appeared in Peanuts for about three weeks in 1982. He first arrived at Peppermint Patty's house on September 28 before meeting up with Snoopy, at which point things started to get even weirder than usual.

What eventually got Marbles to leave town again was when Snoopy tried to draw him into one of his trademark imaginary scenarios. All that did was confuse Marbles, who reacted to each new element of Snoopy's World War I Flying Ace daydream with the same blank look of confusion.

Some of Snoopy's personae were apparently real enough that the kids around him noticed, like the World Famous Lawyer. The Flying Ace, however, is all dream sequence, but Marbles wasn't quite up to playing along.

2 Olaf — May 14, 1989

Olaf was first introduced in January 1989, in a story where Snoopy entered him as the winning contestant in an "Ugly Dog" competition. Olaf didn't appear for the next four months, until he suddenly took center stage in a Sunday strip that celebrated Mother's Day.

Olaf writes a letter to his and Snoopy's mother, who never appeared on-panel, about what he's been up to. Olaf participated in a fox hunt without snitching on the fox, which is proof of his strong moral character. "It sure is easier writing to you since you got the fax machine," Olaf closes, preparing to send his letter home.

3 Andy — February 17, 1994

Andy's first appearance was in the 1991 animated special Snoopy's Reunion. He subsequently crossed over into the comic in 1994, when he, Spike, and Olaf made the trip to visit Snoopy when a case of pneumonia landed Snoopy in the hospital. It is, notably, not explicitly a veterinary hospital.

Along the way, Spike accidentally breaks some bad news to Olaf.

"I've been thinking," Spike says. "Do dogs go to heaven when they die?"

"I didn't know we die!?" Olaf exclaims, which sets the tone for the next few strips.

4 "We are useful" — May 2, 1994

A few months later, Schulz checked in with Andy and Olaf, who apparently live together as a couple of notably lazy farm dogs.

"If we're a couple of farm dogs, Olaf, don't you think we should be doing something?" Andy asks.

"We are useful," Olaf replies. "If we move, the barn will fall down."

There was probably a window of time in which Olaf could've really taken off as a cartoon avatar of all the fat, lazy dogs we've all known. He could've been Peanuts' fat canine Garfield. While Olaf did appear a few more times after this, including an arc in late 1999 where he and Andy came for a surprise visit, he didn't manage to climb out of relative obscurity before the end of Peanuts.

5 Spike — October 13, 1996

Sometimes Peanuts is simply about non-sequiturs. The jokes aren't about some bizarre situation or turn of phrase, but just rely on their total inexplicability.

As noted above, Spike picked up a lot of extra appearances in the 1990s, usually in strips that revolved around his "relationship" with his questionably sentient cactus buddy.

"Guess where I've been," Spike says to the cactus. "I've been to Hollywood."

While there, Spike ran into his old acquaintance Mickey Mouse, who's gotten famous since the last time Spike saw him. As a gift, Mickey gave Spike a pair of his trademark shoes, which Spike occasionally wore in his subsequent appearances in the comic.

One assumes this must be a semi-autobiographical strip about Schulz having a meeting with Disney at some point in 1996. On its own merits, it's just weird enough to be memorable, particularly within the bizarre reality that Snoopy's family inhabits.