Summary

• Peanuts, with its timeless humor, remains just as funny now as it was in the 80s.
• The Peanuts baseball team is abysmal, but Charlie Brown stays optimistic despite their dreadful prospects.
• Peanuts characters hold on to their fantasies even when the real world encroaches, creating relatable and humorous situations.

Having launched in the 1950s, Peanuts had firmly established itself as a cultural touchstone by the '80s - even amid a world that was discovering leg warmers and heavy metal. Garfield and Calvin and Hobbes acted as competitors in the newspaper comic market, but Peanuts held on to its number one crown with the funniest strips on the market.

Part of the appeal of Peanuts is its timeless quality. While these strips may be from over thirty years ago, they are just as humorous now as when they were first released. Here, then, are the 10 funniest Peanuts strips from the '80s, as Charlie Brown, Snoopy and co. deal with the ups and down of childhood in the decade of Indiana Jones, MTV, and Hulkamania.

10 "An Important Letter"

Peanuts' Wordplay Remains on Point

Marcie and Peppermint Patty are the epitome of "opposites attract." Patty loves sports while Marcie could not care less, while Marcie is an excellent student who loves to learn and can even speak fluent French, but Peppermint Patty... not so much. In a relatable strip, Patty struggles with her schooling, always getting abysmal grades as this hilarious comic from February 1984 shows.

When Patty shows that her fortune says that she will receive an important letter, she bemoans the accuracy of the cookie when she reveals that the important letter she got was a D. Ironically, this kind of wordplay would suggest she's capable of doing far better in English class.

9 "Spring Training"

Charlie Brown Has Suffered Decades of Cynicism

The Peanuts baseball team is not the most successful. Despite Lucy's brashness, she is the weakest link of Charlie Brown's team, a contrast to her usual know-it-all attitude. She frequently makes excuses about her lack of baseball skills and can never catch even the easiest ball that lands in her area in the outfield. Undeterred by the team's dreadful prospects, Charlie remains optimistic about the team's success in this March 1989 strip... or so he claims.

Charlie Brown may be good-natured and kind, but he's generally considered a cynic who feels that whatever could go wrong will go wrong. At least when it comes to his baseball team, he doesn't have to work out how - they're abysmal from start to end, offering a rare opportunity to hope things get better rather than waiting for them to get worse.

8 "Doughnuts"

Snoopy Had Developed an Extensive Imaginary Life by the 80s

Snoopy and his World War I flying ace alter ego have had some interesting times, often getting up to trouble. Snoopy spends his days dreaming of taking on the Red Baron - a recurring joke with a surprising historical origin. Indeed, Snoopy is so invested in his fantasy life that even his siblings get in on the 'fun.' Indeed, in this strip from May 1981, Snoopy is elated to see his sister Belle in his pretend version of . Snoopy's always had a sweet tooth, but it goes into overdrive once he's distracted talking to family.

While Charlie Brown and Snoopy are iconic, Peanuts never introduced a character who didn't have some way to reflect real-life back to its readers, often in surprising ways. This may be a comic strip about a dog imagining he's fighting in World War II, but Schulz never loses sight of real life, reflecting on everyday behaviors even when beginning from the weirdest premise. Belle's disappointment at Snoopy scarfing all the pastries is instantly relatable, even amid the hound's wartime fantasies.

7 "No One Picks Us Up"

By the 80s, Snoopy's Family Are Recurring Characters

Snoopy's siblings are some of Peanuts' weirdest characters, as shown by his brother Spike living out in the desert with a cactus as his sole friend. Each of the Peanuts characters exists in their own imaginary world, with humor coming from how their fantasies and assumptions mesh with real-life. In this October 1983 strip, Spike is forced to learn the hard way that his cactus pal is a travel hindrance. The strip perfectly shows how Peanuts characters manage to hold on to their fantasies even when the real world encroaches on the imaginary - Spike its that he can see the driver's perspective, but it never occurs to him to give up on his prickly buddy.

6 "War and Peace"

Peanuts Gets Childhood Like Nothing Else

War and Peace, the famous literary behemoth from Tolstoy, has appeared quite a few times in Peanuts. Snoopy reads the 19th century work at a word a day and - in this January 1987 strip - Peppermint Patty has been asked to do a report for school on it.

While it's unusual for a 1980s schoolkid to be asked to read this gargantuan of the Napoleonic Wars, that's certainly how book reports can feel when you're a kid - the broader truth Schulz tends to focus on in his comics. Patty makes the best of a bad situation, itting that there's no way she's going to get through the gigantic tome, but doing her best to complete her schoolwork regardless. Of course, this will only make it feel more unfair when her teacher isn't happy with the result.

5 "Chocolate Chip Cookies"

Charlie Brown's Catchprase Surprisingly DOESN'T Appear

Snoopy loves chocolate chip cookies. He loves them so much that he can track them down from far distances away and, as this 1985 strip points out, he even thinks chocolate chip cookies call to him. His obsession with the sweet treat is strong enough to wake him up in the middle of the night and wake poor Charlie Brown up just to see if the cookies are in fact calling him. It's surprising this late night errand didn't inspire Charlie to say his trademark "Good grief!" In an example of Schulz's smart use of bonus art, the strip starts with an image of a cookie dreaming of Snoopy, looping back as the answer to the beloved hound's final question.

4 "A Question For You"

Peanuts Never Loses Sight of Childhood Imagination

As much as he loves cookies, Snoopy loves thinking up alter egos. In this 1986 strip, Snoopy adopts his World Famous Attorney persona - the identity under which he has defended such luminary clients as Peter Rabbit and a scarecrow. Snoopy was even Peppermint Patty's lawyer when she fought against her school's dress code and was Linus' layer when he wanted to sue Sally Brown for hitting him with a lunchbox. Again, Peanuts demonstrates the abiding nature of imagination - Snoopy may not have a good answer to Linus' question, but he still manages to respond in character.

3 "Too Crabby"

80s Peanuts Fans Are Aware of Lucy's Fatal Flaw

Lucy is at her funniest when she's letting her bossy, crabby side out to play. It is a joke among all the Peanuts kids - and even with Snoopy - how grouchy Lucy can be. However, Peanuts never treats Lucy as just her worst attributes, and like the other kids, she has deep, relatable emotions under the surface. In this January 1980 strip, Charlie Brown shows his abiding kindness as he gives Lucy the excuse she needs to feel okay about not having been invited to any New Years parties. Snoopy may not approve, but caring about the person who keeps snatching the football out of his reach is what makes Charlie Brown special.

2 "Letters Home"

By the 80s, Peanuts' Running Gags Are Established

As well as an attorney and pilot, Snoopy is an aspiring writer with big dreams to be the next great American novelist. Unfortunately for him, Snoopy's rejection letters far outweigh any compliments his writing gets - even Woodstock isn't that ive of his dream. In this 1982 strip, Peanuts returns to the idea of Snoopy's rejection letter, with the punchline revealing even the poor dog's mom isn't much interested in his writing. By the 1980s, Peanuts' running gags were firmly established, allowing the comic to wrongfoot readers with fun reversals like this.

1 "You Need A Dog"

Even Snoopy Has Issues with Lucy's "Psychiatry"

Charlie Brown is frequently down in the dumps, necessitating the so-called expertise of psychologist-in-the-making Lucy. Her advice isn't typically very helpful and in this 1988 strip, it downright offends her client's dog. Snoopy's response is perfectly sassy, as Lucy has apparently forgotten that as well as being part of the gang, Snoopy is also a beloved pet. This strip shows just how bad Lucy's advice can be: not only did she forget that Charlie Brown already has a dog, but the fix clearly doesn't work anyway.

Running until 2000, Peanuts managed to keep up with the sensibilities of the decade while also remaining a timeless of childhood, with all its oversized worries and limitless ambitions - these 1980s strips show why the decade saw Charles Schulz's masterpiece continue to grow in acclaim.