Snoopy's siblings - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Comic strip

A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....

, Peanuts
Peanuts
Peanuts is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz, which ran from October 2, 1950, to February 13, 2000, continuing in reruns afterward...

by Charles M. Schulz

Charles M. Schulz

Charles Monroe "Sparky" Schulz was an American cartoonist, whose comic strip Peanuts proved one of the most popular and influential in the history of the medium, and is still widely reprinted on a daily basis.-Early life and education:Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Schulz grew up in Saint Paul...

, Snoopy

Snoopy

Snoopy is an fictional character in the long-running comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz. He is Charlie Brown's pet beagle. Snoopy began his life in the strip as a fairly conventional dog, but eventually evolved into perhaps the strip's most dynamic character—and among the most recognizable...

was often stated to have seven siblings. Five appeared at various times in the strip: four brothers, Andy, Marbles, Olaf, and Spike; and one sister, Belle. The two others were never mentioned by name in the comic strip. According to the TV special

Television special

A television special is a television program which interrupts or temporarily replaces programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Sometimes, however, the term is given to a telecast of a theatrical film, such as The Wizard of Oz or The Ten Commandments, which is not part of a regular...

Snoopy's Reunion
Snoopy's Reunion
Snoopy's Reunion is the 34th prime-time animated TV special based upon the popular comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz. It originally aired on the CBS network on May 1, 1991 as part of the animated anthology series Toon Nite.-Plot:...

, their names are Molly and Rover; however, their appearance is not considered canon

Canon (fiction)

In the context of a work of fiction, the term canon denotes the material accepted as "official" in a fictional universe's fan base. It is often contrasted with, or used as the basis for, works of fan fiction, which are not considered canonical...

ical in the comic strip. In the June 6, 1959 comic strip, following the birth of Charlie Brown

Charlie Brown

Charles "Charlie" Brown is the protagonist in the comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz.Charlie Brown and his creator have a common connection in that they are both the sons of barbers, but whereas Schulz's work is described as the "most shining example of the American success story", Charlie...

's sister Sally

Sally Brown

Sally Brown is the younger sister of Charlie Brown in the comic strip Peanuts by Charles Schulz. She was first mentioned in early 1959 and throughout a long series of strips before her first appearance in August 1959.-Appearance:...

, Snoopy remarks that he has no brothers or sisters, and is an "only dog." This was later retcon

Retcon

Retroactive continuity is the alteration of previously established facts in a fictional work. Retcons are done for many reasons, including the accommodation of sequels or further derivative works in a series, wherein newer authors or creators want to revise the in-story history to allow a course...

ned to him being born in a litter of eight puppies. However, in a March 18, 1971 strip, Snoopy writes in his autobiography: "I was born one bright Spring morning at the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm. I was one of eight puppies." Their mother is called Missy, but has appeared only once in Peanuts, on July 26, 1996. A t-shirt

T-shirt

A T-shirt is a style of shirt. A T-shirt is buttonless and collarless, with short sleeves and frequently a round neck line....

that was sold for several years at Target

Target Corporation

Target Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...

and other stores shows Spike, Andy, Snoopy, Marbles and Olaf in a parody

Parody

A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...

of the famous dogs playing poker

Dogs Playing Poker

Dogs Playing Poker refers collectively to a series of sixteen oil paintings by C. M. Coolidge, commissioned in 1903 by Brown & Bigelow to advertise cigars...

print, despite much advertising copy which misidentified the characters.

Spike

Spike appeared most frequently in the strip. His appearance is similar to that of Snoopy, but he is substantially thinner, has a perpetually sleepy look, and sports a long, droopy mustache and a fedora. He sometimes wears Mickey Mouse

Mickey Mouse

Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...

shoes which were a gift from Mickey Mouse

Mickey Mouse

. He is called Snoopy

Snoopy

's older brother during the first story in which he appears. Spike lives alone in the desert

Desert

A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...

near Needles, California

Needles, California

Needles is a city located in the Mojave Desert on the western banks of the Colorado River in San Bernardino County, California. It is located in the Mohave Valley, which straddles the California–Arizona border. The city is accessible via Interstate 40 and U.S. Route 95...

, only occasionally interacting with the principal characters in the strip, generally in visiting Snoopy. His friends are mostly inanimate saguaro

Saguaro

The saguaro is a large, tree-sized cactus species in the monotypic genus Carnegiea. It is native to the Sonoran Desert in the U.S. state of Arizona, the Mexican state of Sonora, a small part of Baja California in the San Felipe Desert and an extremely small area of California, U.S...

cacti

Cactus

A cactus is a member of the plant family Cactaceae. Their distinctive appearance is a result of adaptations to conserve water in dry and/or hot environments. In most species, the stem has evolved to become photosynthetic and succulent, while the leaves have evolved into spines...

; as the only saguaros in California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

are in the Whipple Mountains

Whipple Mountains

The Whipple Mountains, 'Avii Kur'utat in the Mojave language, are located in eastern San Bernardino County, California. They are directly west of the Colorado River, Parker Dam, and Lake Havasu; south of Needles, California; north of Parker, Arizona and Vidal, California; and northeast of Vidal...

Wilderness, fifty miles south of Needles, Spike must live somewhere in this wilderness area. In the TV special Snoopy's Reunion

Snoopy's Reunion

Snoopy's Reunion is the 34th prime-time animated TV special based upon the popular comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz. It originally aired on the CBS network on May 1, 1991 as part of the animated anthology series Toon Nite.-Plot:...

, Spike's home was a huge hollow saguaro

Saguaro

in which he kept books and his violin

Violin

The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

. Spike is named after Charles Schulz's childhood dog.

When he was introduced to the strip, it was revealed that Spike's exceptionally low weight was because he had been living with coyotes, and his job was to clean out their den, which apparently causes him to burn off a lot of body fat. Although he got a better-fed appearance after his first visit to the Brown household, he apparently had to go "back to business" soon after returning home, for he soon became as thin as before.

He temporarily became Rerun

Rerun van Pelt

Rerun van Pelt is Linus and Lucy's younger brother in Charles M. Schulz's comic strip Peanuts.-Introduction:Rerun started as a minor character in the Peanuts universe, only becoming a main character in the last decade of the comic strip...

's dog in I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown
I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown
I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown is one of the Peanuts made-for-television specials. The hour-long special first aired on ABC on December 9, 2003...

, and also had a TV special, It's the Girl in the Red Truck, Charlie Brown
It's the Girl in the Red Truck, Charlie Brown
It's the Girl in the Red Truck, Charlie Brown is the 32nd prime-time animated TV special based upon the popular comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz. The special is a hybrid of animation and live action footage, and features Spike instead of the core Peanuts characters...

, in which he was the primary character. He was also a main character in Snoopy's Getting Married, Charlie Brown
Snoopy's Getting Married, Charlie Brown
Snoopy's Getting Married, Charlie Brown is the 28th prime-time animated TV specials based upon the popular comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz...

, where he is shown traveling from Needles to visit Snoopy to be the best beagle (best man) at his wedding. Spike competes in a dog race to earn money for a bus ticket. He wins the race, but then gets disqualified for not being a greyhound

Greyhound

The Greyhound is a breed of sighthound that has been primarily bred for coursing game and racing, and the breed has also recently seen a resurgence in its popularity as a pedigree show dog and family pet. It is a gentle and intelligent breed...

. At the end of the special, the final scene shows Spike returning home to Needles, where his private residence is a hollowed-out saguaro

Saguaro

cactus with modern amenities inside, where he is rewarding himself for his long travels by eating cake from Snoopy's wedding.

During a story Spike is rescued by Snoopy and a group of Woodstock

Woodstock (Peanuts)

Woodstock is a fictional character in Charles M. Schulz's comic strip Peanuts. He is Snoopy's closest friend and, after Snoopy, the most recognized non-human in the strip.-History:...

's friends, from a group of coyotes. The coyotes were apparently furious after Spike tried to sell them "Oceanfront Condos" in the desert of Needles. In August 1977, Spike was to be Snoopy's best man at his wedding, only to end up eloping with Snoopy's fiancee and then being dumped himself for a coyote. In 1988, Snoopy is convinced in a letter from Spike that the Summer Olympics

1984 Summer Olympics

The 1984 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Los Angeles, California, United States in 1984...

were being moved from Los Angeles to Needles. Snoopy, of course, comes to realize that the claim was false, after Spike admitted that his "friend", a cactus, had told him the rumor. On February 15, 1987, Spike attempts to bury his fedora in a time capsule

Time capsule

A time capsule is an historic cache of goods or information, usually intended as a method of communication with future people and to help future archaeologists, anthropologists, or historians...

for a future civilization to study "Do not open until 6987!", but abandons this idea when he cannot survive the cold desert nights without the warmth his hat provides.

Another story arc from the 80s featured Spike as the hero; Charlie Brown's baseball team is at loggerheads when the owner of the vacant lot they play in was told to not allow them to use the field anymore due to possible liabilities. Spike pulls off a real estate coup in which the coyotes (still living in Needles) bought the vacant lot so the kids can once again play.

In the mid 80s Spike made a club with him and his cactus.

Spike was used in on-off appearances sporadically through the rest of Peanuts history but he was main between the years of 1984-1988. Another storyline was in 1994, when he and his brothers Olaf and Andy visit Snoopy in the hospital. They leave shortly after Snoopy gets well.

Beginning in a series of strips from May 1987, Spike began joining Snoopy in his World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

escapades as an infantryman fighting in the trenches, the one change in Spike's appearance being that he wears a WWI-style army Brodie helmet

Brodie helmet

The Brodie helmet, called Helmet, steel, Mark I helmet in Britain and the M1917 Helmet in the U.S., was a steel combat helmet designed and patented in 1915 by the Briton John Leopold Brodie...

instead of his trademark fedora. In a 1996 series when Spike comes down ill with influenza

Influenza

Influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae , that affects birds and mammals...

, Snoopy and Spike's mother Missy came over on a troopship to visit, wearing a fur hat (the soldiers manning the rails of the troopship were also beagle

Beagle

The Beagle is a breed of small to medium-sized dog. A member of the Hound Group, it is similar in appearance to the Foxhound, but smaller, with shorter legs and longer, softer ears. Beagles are scent hounds, developed primarily for tracking hare, rabbit, and other game...

s). This was her sole appearance in the strip.

At least two strips mentioned his meeting with Mickey Mouse

Mickey Mouse

.

In Snoopy's Reunion
Snoopy's Reunion
Snoopy's Reunion is the 34th prime-time animated TV special based upon the popular comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz. It originally aired on the CBS network on May 1, 1991 as part of the animated anthology series Toon Nite.-Plot:...

, Spike is shown being taken away by a rich family (with a limo), but for reasons unknown, he ended up living in a cactus in the desert possibly like what happened with Snoopy and like Lila they also lived in an apartment building but had to take Spike to the desert instead of Daisy Hill.

In The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show
The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show
The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show is an animated television series featuring characters and storylines from the Charles M. Schulz comic strip Peanuts. It aired Saturday mornings on the CBS network from 1983 to 1985. It re-aired on The Disney Channel and Nickelodeon in the 1990s...

episode "The Lost Ballpark" Spike had a cameo appearance

Cameo appearance

A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...

.

Spike's last appearance in the comic strips was on December 21, 1999, two months before the discontinuation of the strip.

Andy and Olaf

Andy and Olaf live together on a farm. Andy is distinguished by his shaggy dog appearance, but otherwise looks like Snoopy. Olaf appears to be somewhat overweight. He does not bear much resemblance to Snoopy or his other siblings. He also wears a hunting cap. Olaf now has taken residence in the city of Orange and works as a maintenance manager in a department store. Olaf also says his favorite book is still "Joe Bunny", which he has owned since puppy hood.

Olaf is first seen during a series on January 19, 1989, in which he visits Snoopy. During this sequence, Lucy

Lucy van Pelt

Lucille "Lucy" van Pelt is a fictional character in the syndicated comic strip :Peanuts, written and drawn by Charles Schulz. She is the main bully and the older sister of Linus and Rerun. Lucy is a crabby and cynical eight-year old girl, and often bullies the other characters in the strip,...

enters Olaf in an "ugly dog" contest, which he wins (much to his disappointment). He is pretty chubby compared to Snoopy's other siblings. He appears again in 1994 (beginning February 14), where he, Andy, and Spike visit Snoopy, who is in the hospital. After Snoopy gets better, the three brothers leave without saying good-bye. This is the first appearance of Andy in the strip.

After that, Olaf and Andy are shown four times in 1994. They are sitting against a barn

Barn

A barn is an agricultural building used for storage and as a covered workplace. It may sometimes be used to house livestock or to store farming vehicles and equipment...

, contemplating what direction their lives should go in. They appear sporadically after that.

Olaf usually plays the jug

Jug (musical instrument)

The jug as a musical instrument reached its height of popularity in the 1920s, when jug bands, such as Cannon's Jug Stompers were popular. The jug is just that: an empty jug played with the mouth...

, and Andy has a full drum

Drum

The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...

set, but is rather clumsy when carrying it and drops it from time to time.

Andy and Olaf spent some time traveling to Needles to live with Spike. However, after "two right turns and twenty-three wrong ones" they eventually ended up back at Snoopy's doghouse. After a brief stay and failure to become Rerun's dogs, they continued to wander around and were considering buying banjos in their last appearance on September 27, 1999.
Notably, Andy is perhaps the only Peanuts character to have originated in animation

Animation

Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...

before appearing in the strip (with the exception of Missy, Snoopy and his siblings' mother) -- his animated debut was the 1991 TV special Snoopy's Reunion. Andy is based on a wire-haired fox terrier (also named Andy) that Schulz owned from October 1988 to March 1994.

Belle

Belle is Snoopy's sister. She lives in Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...

with her unnamed teenage son who Snoopy noted as resembling the Pink Panther. Belle herself resembles her brother, but with longer eyelash

Eyelash

An eyelash or simply lash is one of the hairs that grow at the edge of the eyelid. Eyelashes protect the eye from debris and perform some of the same function as whiskers do on a cat or a mouse in the sense that they are sensitive to being touched, thus providing a warning that an object is near...

es. In addition she wears a lace

Lace

Lace is an openwork fabric, patterned with open holes in the work, made by machine or by hand. The holes can be formed via removal of threads or cloth from a previously woven fabric, but more often open spaces are created as part of the lace fabric. Lace-making is an ancient craft. True lace was...

collar.

Belle only made a few appearances in the strip, but is well-remembered because of the Belle stuffed animal

Stuffed animal

A stuffed toy is a toy sewn from cloth, plush, or other textiles, and stuffed with straw, beans, plastic pellets, cotton, synthetic fibres, or other similar materials. Stuffed toys are also known as plush toys A stuffed toy is a toy sewn from cloth, plush, or other textiles, and stuffed with straw,...

toys sold in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Many people who were not regular readers of the comic strip mistakenly thought that she was Snoopy's girlfriend, rather than his sister. In Snoopy's World War I fantasies, Belle is a nurse, not a soldier.

Snoopy's sister made her first appearance in the comic strip on June 28, 1976, though she was mentioned by Snoopy earlier on June 22, 1976. Belle also appeared briefly in the opening sequence of The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show
The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show
The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show is an animated television series featuring characters and storylines from the Charles M. Schulz comic strip Peanuts. It aired Saturday mornings on the CBS network from 1983 to 1985. It re-aired on The Disney Channel and Nickelodeon in the 1990s...

. While she was mentioned in the lyrics to the opening theme song, Belle never made an appearance in the cartoon series.

Similar to Spike, Belle also plays the violin.

In 1984, Snoopy and Belle inspired fashion designers around the world, including Lagerfeld

Karl Lagerfeld

Karl Lagerfeld is a German fashion designer, artist and photographer based in Paris. He has collaborated on a variety of fashion and art related projects, most notably as head designer and creative director for the fashion house Chanel...

, Armani, and de la Renta

Oscar de la Renta

Oscar de la Renta is one of the world's leading fashion designers. He was named to the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1973.-Career:...

to create one-of-a-kind outfits in their honor. Both beagles modeled for the "Snoopy in Fashion" exhibition held that year in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

Marbles

Marbles, reputedly the smartest of the siblings, is a spotted beagle whose few appearances in the comic strip were in 1982 from September 30 to October 9. Unlike Snoopy's siblings Spike and Belle, he does not share in Snoopy's fantasy WWI scenery, seeing Snoopy's Sopwith Camel

Sopwith Camel

The Sopwith Camel was a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter introduced on the Western Front in 1917. Manufactured by Sopwith Aviation Company, it had a short-coupled fuselage, heavy, powerful rotary engine, and concentrated fire from twin synchronized machine guns. Though difficult...

as his doghouse, an "ambulance" as a shopping cart, etc. while commenting that "...he [Snoopy] was always the quiet one in the family." He was also seen to wear shoes.

He also appeared in the 1991 animated feature Snoopy's Reunion, and in a flashback from I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown, when Charlie Brown was talking to Rerun about Snoopy's siblings. Marbles plays the banjo

Banjo

In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...

Other siblings

The two other siblings, Molly and Rover, appeared in the 1991 TV special Snoopy's Reunion; however, Schulz never depicted or named these characters in the comic strip, so these names are not considered to be canonical

Canon (fiction)

. In the TV show, these two siblings play the dobro

Dobro

Dobro is a registered trademark, now owned by Gibson Guitar Corporation and used for a particular design of resonator guitar.The name has a long and involved history, interwoven with that of the resonator guitar...

and the mandolin

Mandolin

A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...

. Molly is shown to be sort of pampered because she has her own makeup.

Snoopy's parents

Snoopy's father [unnamed] and Snoopy's mother Missy have each appeared only once in the comic strip (father: June 18, 1989; Mother: July 26, 1996), but only Missy appeared on television. Missy appeared in Snoopy's Reunion
Snoopy's Reunion
Snoopy's Reunion is the 34th prime-time animated TV special based upon the popular comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz. It originally aired on the CBS network on May 1, 1991 as part of the animated anthology series Toon Nite.-Plot:...

in the flashback of when Snoopy and his siblings are born and being bought by people. Snoopy's father is said to have lived in Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, and he wears glasses and has a mustache. Snoopy's mother looks like a female version of Snoopy (similar to Belle and Molly).

External links

The Peanuts Animation and Video Page
Spike's origin strips
Belle fan site dead link try archive machine

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