Comics--as a special literary genre--must be judged by special criteria. In fact, the four-panel daily comic strip must be judged by different standards from the full-length comic book or the single- or double-frame comic. Among the four-panel strips are found comics that make a claim to literary quality--"Li'l Abner,""Pogo," and "Peanuts." These comic strips are "uniquely expressive" and transcend the severe limitations of their genre through a creative use of language and symbolism. Charles Schultz's technique in "Peanuts" involves understatement and symbolism through which adult personality types act in the guise of children. Walt Kelly's "Pogo-lingo"--a purposeful, comic distortion of language employing many puns--becomes part of the cartooning style and, thus, has graphic value. Like Kelly, Al Capp is a satirist, and his Abner is in the American tradition of the innocent picaro whose responses reveal the shams of society. (JS)