Editing Peanuts (section)

==History==
===1950s===
<!-- FAIR USE of First Peanuts comic.png: see image description page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:First Peanuts comic.png for rationale -->
[[File:First Peanuts comic.png|thumb|upright=2.25|The first ''Peanuts'' strip from October 2, 1950 with (left to right) Charlie Brown, Shermy, and Patty]]

The strip began as a [[Daily comic strip|daily strip]] on October 2, 1950, in seven newspapers: the ''[[Star Tribune|Minneapolis Star]]'', a hometown newspaper of Schulz (page 37, along with a short article); ''[[The Washington Post]]''; ''[[Chicago Tribune]]''; ''[[The Denver Post]]''; ''[[The Seattle Times]]''; and two newspapers in [[Pennsylvania]], ''Evening Chronicle'' ([[Allentown, Pennsylvania|Allentown]]) and ''Globe-Times'' ([[Bethlehem, Pennsylvania|Bethlehem]]).{{sfn|Michaelis |2007|p=220}} The first strip was four panels long and showed [[Charlie Brown]] walking by two other young children, [[Shermy]] and [[Patty (Peanuts)|Patty]]. Shermy lauds Charlie Brown as he walks by, but then tells Patty how he hates him in the final panel. [[Snoopy]] was also an early character in the strip, first appearing in the third strip, which ran on October 4.<ref>{{cite comic|cartoonist= [[Charles Schulz|Schulz, Charles]]|strip=Peanuts|date=October 4, 1950|syndicate=United Feature Syndicate}}</ref> Its first [[Sunday strip]] appeared January 6, 1952, in the half-page format, which was the only complete format for the entire life of the Sunday strip. Most of the other characters that eventually became regulars of the strip did not appear until later: [[Violet (Peanuts)|Violet]] (February 1951), [[Schroeder (Peanuts)|Schroeder]] (May 1951), [[Lucy van Pelt|Lucy]] (March 1952), [[Linus van Pelt|Linus]] (September 1952), [[Pig-Pen]] (July 1954), [[Sally Brown|Sally]] (August 1959), [[Frieda (Peanuts)|Frieda]] (March 1961), [[Peppermint Patty|"Peppermint" Patty]] (August 1966), [[Franklin (Peanuts)|Franklin]] (July 1968), [[Woodstock (Peanuts)|Woodstock]] (introduced March 1966, officially named June 1970), [[Marcie]] (July 1971), and [[Rerun van Pelt|Rerun]] (March 1973).

Schulz decided to produce all aspects of the strip himself from the script to the finished art and lettering. Schulz did, however, hire help to produce the comic book adaptations of ''Peanuts''.<ref>{{cite magazine|author=Nat Gertler |author-link=Nat Gertler |title=Dale Hale and the 'Peanuts' Comic Book: The Interview | magazine=Hogan's Alley |issue=8 |date=October 2000 |publisher=Cartoonician.com}} Republished in ''[http://cartoonician.com/dale-hale-and-the-peanuts-comic-book-the-interview/ Hogan's Alley blog] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150915010228/http://cartoonician.com/dale-hale-and-the-peanuts-comic-book-the-interview/ |date=September 15, 2015 }}'' by Tom Heintjes, May 17, 2015.</ref> Thus, the strip was able to be presented with a unified tone, and Schulz was able to employ a minimalistic style. Backgrounds were generally not used, and when they were, Schulz's frazzled lines imbued them with a fraught, psychological appearance. This style has been described by art critic John Carlin as forcing "its readers to focus on subtle nuances rather than broad actions or sharp transitions."<ref name="Masters">''Masters of American Comics'' John Carlin Yale University Press 2005</ref> Schulz held this belief all his life, reaffirming in 1994 the importance of crafting the strip himself: "This is not a crazy business about slinging ink. This is a deadly serious business."<ref>{{cite web |author=Tom Heintjes |url=http://cartoonician.com/charles-m-schulz-on-cartooning/ |title=Charles M. Schulz on Cartooning &#124; Hogan's Alley |publisher=Cartoonician.com |date=May 17, 2015 |access-date=May 21, 2015 |archive-date=June 3, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150603035016/http://cartoonician.com/charles-m-schulz-on-cartooning/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

While the strip in its early years resembles its later form, there are significant differences. The art was cleaner, sleeker, and simpler, with thicker lines and short, squat characters. For example, in these early strips, Charlie Brown's famous round head is closer to the shape of an American football or [[Rugby union ball|rugby football]]. Most of the kids were initially fairly round-headed. As another example, all the characters (except Charlie Brown) had their mouths longer and had smaller eyes when they looked sideways. <!--need facts for the entire paragraph-->

===1960s===
The 1960s is generally considered to be the "golden age" for ''Peanuts''.<ref name=":0"/> During this period, some of the strip's best-known themes and characters appeared, including Peppermint Patty,<ref>{{Cite web|title = Peanuts by Charles Schulz, August 22, 1966 Via @GoComics|url = http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1966/08/22|website = GoComics|access-date = November 14, 2015}}</ref> Snoopy as the "World War One Flying Ace",<ref>{{Cite web|title = Peanuts by Charles Schulz, October 10, 1965 Via @GoComics|url = http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1965/10/10|website = GoComics|access-date = November 14, 2015}}</ref> Frieda and her "naturally curly hair",<ref>{{Cite web|title = Peanuts by Charles Schulz, March 06, 1961 Via @GoComics|url = http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1961/03/06|website = GoComics|access-date = November 14, 2015}}</ref> and Franklin.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Peanuts by Charles Schulz, July 29, 1968 Via @GoComics|url = http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1968/07/29|website = GoComics|access-date = November 14, 2015}}</ref> ''Peanuts'' is remarkable for its deft [[social commentary]], especially compared with other strips appearing in the 1950s and early 1960s. Schulz did not explicitly address racial and gender equality issues so much as assume them to be self-evident. Peppermint Patty's athletic skill and self-confidence are simply taken for granted, for example, as is Franklin's presence in a racially integrated school and neighborhood. (Franklin's creation occurred at least in part as a result of Schulz's 1968 correspondence with a socially progressive fan.{{sfn|Gertler|2012}}<ref name=Snopes>Evon, Dan (December 24, 2015). [http://www.snopes.com/charlie-brown-racist-franklin/ "You're a Racist, Charlie Brown?: A closer look at allegations of racism in the comic strip 'Peanuts'"]. [[Snopes.com]].</ref>) The fact that Charlie Brown's baseball team had three girls on it was also at least ten years ahead of its time. The 1966 prime time television special ''[[Charlie Brown's All Stars!]]'' dealt with Charlie Brown refusing sponsorship of his team on the condition he fire the girls and Snoopy, because the league does not allow girls or dogs to play.<!--need facts for the entire paragraph-->

Schulz threw satirical barbs at any number of topics when he chose. His child and animal characters satirized the adult world.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lambiek.net/artists/s/schulz.htm|title = Charles M. Schulz}}</ref> Over the years he tackled everything from the [[Vietnam War]] to school dress codes to "[[New Math]]". The May 20, 1962 strip featured an icon that stated "Defend Freedom, Buy [[U.S. Savings Bonds]]."<ref>{{Cite web|title = Peanuts by Charles Schulz, May 20, 1962 Via @GoComics|url = http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1962/05/20|website = GoComics|access-date = November 14, 2015}}</ref> In 1963 he added a little boy named "5" to the cast,<ref>{{Cite web|title = Peanuts by Charles Schulz, September 30, 1963 Via @GoComics|url = http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1963/09/30|website = GoComics|access-date = November 14, 2015}}</ref> whose sisters were named "3" and "4,"<ref>{{Cite web|title = Peanuts by Charles Schulz, October 01, 1963 Via @GoComics|url = http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1963/10/01|website = GoComics|access-date = November 14, 2015}}</ref> and whose father had changed their [[family name]] to their [[ZIP Code]], giving in to the way numbers were taking over people's identities. Also in 1963, one strip showed Sally being secretive about school prayer, in reference to the Supreme Court decisions on it that year.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Peanuts by Charles Schulz, October 20, 1963 Via @GoComics|url = https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1963/10/20|website = GoComics|access-date = November 14, 2015}}</ref> In 1958, a strip in which Snoopy tossed Linus into the air and boasted that he was the first dog ever to launch a human parodied the hype associated with Sputnik 2's launch of [[Laika]] the dog into space earlier that year. Another sequence lampooned [[Little League]]s and "organized" play when all the neighborhood kids join [[snowman]]-building leagues and criticize Charlie Brown when he insists on building his own snowmen without leagues or coaches.<!--need facts for the entire paragraph-->

''Peanuts'' touched on religious themes on many occasions, especially during the 1960s. The classic television special ''[[A Charlie Brown Christmas]]'' from 1965, features the character [[Linus van Pelt]] quoting the [[King James Version]] of the Bible (Luke 2:8–14) to explain to Charlie Brown what Christmas is all about (in personal interviews, Schulz mentioned that Linus represented his spiritual side). Because of the explicit religious material in ''A Charlie Brown Christmas'', many have interpreted Schulz's work as having a distinct Christian theme, though the popular perspective has been to view the franchise through a secular lens.<ref>{{Citation |last=Lind |first=Stephen J. |title=Reading Peanuts: The Secular and the Sacred |url=http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v4_2/lind/ |access-date=August 31, 2010 |publisher=[[ImageTexT]]}}</ref>

During the week of July 29, 1968, Schulz debuted the African American character Franklin to the strip, at the urging of white Jewish Los Angeles schoolteacher Harriet Glickman. Though Schulz feared that adding a black character would be seen as patronizing to the African American community, Glickman convinced him that the addition of Black characters could help normalize the idea of friendships between children of different ethnicities. Franklin appeared in a trio of strips set at a beach, in which he first gets Charlie Brown's beach ball from the water and subsequently helps him build a sand castle, during which he mentions that his father is in Vietnam.

===1970s–1990s===
In 1975, the panel format was shortened slightly horizontally, and shortly thereafter the lettering became larger to compensate. Previously, the daily ''Peanuts'' strips were formatted in a four-panel "space saving" format beginning in the 1950s, with a few very rare eight-panel strips, that still fit into the four-panel mold. Beginning on [[February 29|Leap Day]] in 1988, Schulz abandoned the four-panel format in favor of three-panel dailies and occasionally used the entire length of the strip as one panel, partly for experimentation, but also to combat the dwindling size of the comics page.{{Citation needed|date=June 2007}}<!--- Each sentence of this section requires separate citations/references: Starting in the 1980s his artistic line started to shake. This became more noticeable in the 1990s, along with his format change; depending on one's view, the art deteriorated at this point, especially where character expression was concerned, however this is highly subjective and difficult to estimate.-->

In the late 1970s, during Schulz's negotiations with [[United Feature Syndicate]] over a new contract, syndicate president William C. Payette hired superhero comic artist [[Al Plastino]] to draw a backlog of ''Peanuts'' strips to hold in reserve in case Schulz left the strip. When Schulz and the syndicate reached a successful agreement, United Media stored these unpublished strips, the existence of which eventually became public.<ref>{{cite web | title = Comic Book Legends Revealed #401 | first = Brian | last = Cronin |date = January 11, 2013 | website = [[Comic Book Resources]] | url = http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2013/01/11/comic-book-legends-revealed-401/ | access-date = May 7, 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130116063259/http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2013/01/11/comic-book-legends-revealed-401/ | archive-date = January 16, 2013 | url-status = dead}}</ref> Plastino himself also claimed to have ghostwritten for Schulz while Schulz underwent heart surgery in 1983.<ref name=Al>{{cite web|url=http://www.alplastino.com/alplastino/About_Al.html |title=About Al|publisher=Al Plastino (official site) | archive-date= July 7, 2011| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110707115920/http://www.alplastino.com/alplastino/About_Al.html | url-status = live}}</ref>

In the 1980s and the 1990s, the strip remained the most popular comic in history,<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.4to40.com/recordbook/index.asp?id=322&category=human | title=Most Syndicated Comic Strip, Peanuts, Charles Schulz, USA | access-date=June 9, 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930181330/http://www.4to40.com/recordbook/index.asp?id=322&category=human | archive-date=September 30, 2007 | url-status=dead | df=mdy-all }}</ref> though other comics, such as ''[[Garfield]]'' and ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]'', rivaled ''Peanuts'' in popularity. Schulz continued to write the strip until announcing his retirement on December 14, 1999, due to his failing health.

===2000: End of ''Peanuts''===
{{More citations needed|section|date=September 2021}}
[[File:Last peanuts comic.png|thumb|upright=1.5|Final [[Sunday strip]], which came out February 13, 2000: a day after the death of Charles M. Schulz]]

The last three ''Peanuts'' strips were run from Saturday, January 1, 2000, through Monday, January 3, 2000. The Saturday strip showed a snowball fight between Peppermint Patty and Marcie and Charlie Brown and Linus, with Snoopy sitting behind the fight trying to figure out how to throw a snowball. The strip was notable because, in addition to it being the last daily strip with a story, Schulz's health had deteriorated to the point where the lettering in the strip had to be done by computer.

The Sunday strip featured the last appearances of Peppermint Patty and Marcie, with Peppermint Patty playing a game of football in the rain by herself. Marcie comes up, carrying an umbrella and remarking that everyone has gone home. Peppermint Patty laments that they never shook hands and said "good game".<ref>{{Cite web | title=Peanuts by Charles Schulz for January 02, 2000 - GoComics | url=https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/2000/01/02 | access-date=2025-03-22 | website=www.gocomics.com}}</ref>

The January 3 strip consisted of a drawing of Snoopy sitting atop his doghouse with his typewriter, as he had done many times over the course of the strip's lifespan. The drawing was accompanied by a printed note from Schulz which officially announced his retirement from drawing and thanking his readers for their support.

Although a series of reruns of older strips would begin on January 4, 2000, there were still six unpublished Sunday strips that Schulz had completed. The first of these ran on January 9, featuring Rerun and Snoopy playing in the snow.<ref>{{Cite web | title=Peanuts by Charles Schulz for January 09, 2000 - GoComics | url=https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/2000/01/09 | access-date=2025-03-22 | website=www.gocomics.com}}</ref> The second featured the last appearance of Woodstock, as he and Snoopy in one last fantasy sequence are called upon by George Washington to chop firewood.<ref>{{Cite web | title=Peanuts by Charles Schulz for January 16, 2000 - GoComics | url=https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/2000/01/16 | access-date=2025-03-22 | website=www.gocomics.com}}</ref> Rerun makes his final appearance in the fourth, trying to paint something other than flowers in art class, and Sally makes her last appearance in the fifth conversing with Charlie Brown about love letters.

The final ''Peanuts'' strip, as shown here, ran on February 13, 2000, the night after Schulz died from a heart attack. It consisted of two small panels across the top and a large panel at the bottom. The title panel shows Charlie Brown talking to someone on the telephone, who is apparently asking to speak to Snoopy. Charlie Brown responds by telling the caller "No, I think he's writing". The second panel shows Snoopy sitting atop his doghouse typing on his typewriter as he had many times before, while the words "Dear Friends…" appeared above his head.

The larger panel at the bottom consisted of a larger scale drawing of the final daily strip, with Snoopy against a blue sky background. Above his head, several panels from past strips were overlaid. Underneath these panels, the full note that Schulz had written to his fans was printed (part of it had been omitted in the final daily strip). It read as follows:

{{blockquote|Dear Friends,<br />
I have been fortunate to draw Charlie Brown and his friends for almost fifty years. It has been the fulfillment of my childhood ambition.<br />
Unfortunately, I am no longer able to maintain the schedule demanded by a daily comic strip. My family does not wish "Peanuts" to be [[Zombie strip|continued by anyone else]], therefore I am announcing my retirement.<br />
I have been grateful over the years for the loyalty of our editors and the wonderful support and love expressed to me by fans of the comic strip.<br />
Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy, …how can I ever forget them… | Charles M. Schulz}}

Many other cartoonists paid tribute to ''Peanuts'' and Schulz by homages in their own strips, appearing on February 13, 2000, or in the week beforehand.<ref>{{cite news | date=May 28, 2000 | author=[[Associated Press|AP]]|title=Comic strips hail spark of 'Peanuts' creator | newspaper= [[Deseret News]] | url= https://www.deseret.com/2000/5/28/19509368/comic-strips-hail-spark-of-peanuts-creator | access-date=June 2, 2023}}</ref> The comic was reprinted the day after that, but only had the farewell letter. After ''Peanuts'' ended, United Feature Syndicate began offering the newspapers that ran it a package of reprinted strips under the title ''Classic Peanuts''. The syndicate limited the choices to either strips from the 1960s or from the 1990s, although a newspaper was also given the option to carry both reprint packages if it desired. All Sunday strips in the package, however, come from the 1960s.

''Peanuts'' continues to be prevalent in multiple media through widespread syndication, the publication of ''The Complete Peanuts'', the release of several new television specials (all of which Schulz had worked on, but had not finished, before his death), and ''[[Peanuts Motion Comics]]''. Additionally, [[BOOM! Studios]] has published a series of comic books that feature new material by new writers and artists, although some of it is based on classic Schulz stories from decades past, as well as including some classic strips by Schulz, mostly Sunday color strips. One graphic novel, ''Scotland Bound, Charlie Brown'' adapts a cancelled Schulz and Melendez script.

In early 2011, [[United Media]] (the parent of United Feature Syndicate) struck a distribution deal with Universal Uclick (now known as [[Andrews McMeel Syndication]]) for syndication of the company's 150 comic strip and news features, including ''Peanuts''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/universal-uclick-to-provide-syndicate-services-for-united-media-116811443.html|title=Universal Uclick to Provide Syndicate Services for United Media|website=PR Newswire|date=February 24, 2011}}<!--accessed February 24, 2011--></ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.editorandpublisher.com/Magazine/united-media-outsources-content-to-universal-uclick-64912-.aspx|title=United Media Outsources Content to Universal Uclick|work=[[Editor & Publisher]]|date=April 29, 2011}}{{Dead link|date=June 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>{{dead link|date=September 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}<!--accessed April 29, 2011-->{{cbignore|bot=medic}} On January 5, 2015, Universal Uclick's website, [[GoComics]], announced on that it would be launching "Peanuts Begins", a feature rerunning the entire history of the strip from the beginning in colorized form. This was done to honor the 65th anniversary of the strip's debut.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://blogs.gocomics.com/2015/01/new-comic-alert-peanuts-begins-by-charles-schulz-.html|title=New Comic Alert! Peanuts Begins by Charles Schulz|access-date=December 30, 2016|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20161220054129/http://blogs.gocomics.com/2015/01/new-comic-alert-peanuts-begins-by-charles-schulz-.html|archive-date=December 20, 2016|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all|website=GoComics|date=Jan 5, 2015}}</ref>