Charlie Brown and Peanut By: Micah Lee
When Alex Davis was 2 years old, he pointed to a drawing his father had done and exclaimed, "Snoopy!" The problem is that his father was Jim Davis, the creator of Garfield, and the picture was of the cat he made famous. Charles Schulz's black-and-white dog is so beloved though that a lasagna loving cat can't even compete. Saturday, Oct. 2, marks 60 years since Schulz's first Peanuts strip hit newspapers. Since then, Snoopy and Charlie Brown and the gang have become the most recognizable cartoon characters in America and have left an indelible mark on American culture.
Did you know that there are 17,897 strips. They ran between 1950 and 2000, each one drawn by Schulz. Schulz died from colon cancer at age 77, the day before the last original strip ran.
Lucy started out younger than Charlie Brown. In her first comic strip in March 1952, Lucy was a toddler. Later, Schulz decided to make her Charlie Brown’s peer. Lucy would later be the character to observe “Happiness is a warm puppy” in an April 1960 strip.
Snoopy has five siblings. Spike was the first Snoopy brother, introduced in 1975 and named after Charles Schulz’s childhood pup. Snoopy’s other siblings include Marbles, Olaf, Andy, and his only sister, Belle.
Schulz didn't actually name Charile Brown. Charlie Brown first appeared as a character in a comic strip called Li'l Folks, but when Schulz approached the United Feature Syndicate about a publishing deal in 1950, the syndication service thought the name was too close to two other comics it ran at the time, and changed it to Peanuts. Schulz never liked the new moniker; he thought it "made it sound too insignificant."
Linus didn't speak in the first two years. He appeared as Lucy’s security blanketed younger brother in September 1952, but didn’t get a line in the comic until 1954.
It relays to the story. Erik, his head down in total concentration, took two steps forward, like he’s rehearsed a million times. His foot started toward the ball in a powerful arc, and then the most incredible thing happened. Antoine whipped the ball away at the last second, like Lucy does with Charlie Brown. He took off running around the right side and crossed the goal line, untouched, for a two-point conversion. Seagulls led 8–7.
Created with images by andertoons - "Ziploc Peanuts All Stars Cards" • sarahstierch - "Snoopy STEM"