The Best ‘Peanuts’ Great Pumpkin Comic Strip Came Out 2 Years Before the Famous TV Special

The article traces Linus’s belief in the Great Pumpkin back to the *Peanuts* comic strip, where the character appeared years before the 1966 television special. It argues that some of the funniest and most revealing Great Pumpkin material is in the earlier strips, giving readers more of the story than the familiar Halloween programme does.

Charles Schulz first introduced the Great Pumpkin in a strip published on 26 October 1959, with Linus writing a letter asking for Halloween presents. Later strips revisited his annual vigil, including Charlie Brown questioning whether they had chosen the right pumpkin patch and Linus citing supposed past appearances in Connecticut and Texas. In 1962, Lucy briefly adopts the belief, hoping to attract presents, before Linus calls her pumpkin patch hypocritical and she gives up.