Date of First Appearance:
July 13, 1954

Schulz on Pig Pen:
"Pig Pen is kind of a nuisance. Everybody kind of likes Pig Pen. I don't like to draw him. He's only useful if you have him involved in dust and being dirty. I don't have many ideas on that; I ran out of these. And I don't even enjoy them. Now and then I think I ought to draw him, but my mind doesn't work in that vein, but people are always saying, 'Why don't you draw Pig Pen?'"

Pig Pen's name was originally an insult, but describes his perpetually dirty state perfectly. He is a "human soil bank" who raises a cloud of dust on a perfectly clean street and passes out gumdrops that are invariably black. The other Peanuts characters are divided between sarcasm and admiration in their regard for him. Although he leaves dirt on everything in his path, he is a terrific baseball player with a cheerful outlook on life.