I just thought I'd post a little tribute message in light of the recent news that Peanuts will be ending its run soon, after 50 years of adorning our daily comics.
As most of you know by now, Schultz had to shut the strip down because of his recent bout of colon cancer. With the 8-week deadlines that comic strips require, he and his family decided that it would be best to discontinue the strip and concentrate on his recovery.
I don't know about the rest of you.. but frankly, I'm quite sad that it's ending. It had to happen some time I suppose, I just never thought I'd see the day. No more Charlie Brown.. no more Snoopy.. no more Linus and his blanket.. no more Lucy and her lil psychiatry stand.. no more Peppermint Patty and Marcie.. I know for some of you, the strip ended a long time ago. But for me, this spells the end of a truly legendary comic strip.
Well.. thank you Mr. Schultz.. for bringing us the wonderful world of Peanuts.. may the legend of the Great Pumpkin live on..
I am too. Peanuts, especially in the form of the book collections and the TV specials, was a part of my childhood. I was aware that Charles Schultz started writing the series in the 1950's, but I wasn't even aware he was still doing it. It's certainly had an amazing run!
Sincerely Yours, Jordan
"Man, as we know him, is a poor creature; but he is halfway between an ape and a god and he is travelling in the right direction." (Dean William R. Inge)
I'll agree that the strip peaked in the 60s and 70s, but it's the only old comic strip (among those that are still running)left that I can stomach, let alone call myself a fan of. Back then it was really ahead of its time. Most of its contemporaries were homogenous, perky strips about suburbian families (I can't believe the people at Blondie haven't sued the people at Hi and Lois yet.) Peanuts was rare in that it actually let itself be melancholy and kind of cynical. Well, it wasn't always like that...in the first couple of years, Charlie Brown was just kind of a smartass, and the three other characters at the time- Violet, Patty, and Shermy (who is perhaps most famous for always having to be a shepherd in the Christmas special...ironic because by that time in the strip he was mostly limited to bit roles and group scenes)- didn't have much in the way of individual personalities. It evolved quickly after he started phasing in new characters. There was Linus, obviously a smart kid but ends up with kind of warped perspective since he learns everything he knows from Lucy, who doesn't know anything but is confident what she says is the absolute truth as long as she yells loud enough. Schroeder, who loves his music, but is the only one who understands it or appreciates it, has to deal with Lucy's constant presence and unwanted tips on how to make his music more profitable. And then there's Sally who is shamelessly lazy and tries to fob off all her responsibilities on Charlie Brown, who has enough to deal with. Peppermint Patty comes along in the late 60's, the Gloria Steinem of her age set. She wants Charlie Brown to like her the way she likes him, but she knows she's too plain and overbearing. She's probably the most depressed character next to Charlie Brown. And Marcie, who is a great student but leads an extremely sheltered life, completely lacks street-smarts. And along with them came Franklin, one of the first regulkar black characters in a comic strip, who...well, er...Franklin never really did much of anything. :/ And then there was Snoopy who started out as a regular dog, but got bored with it and lapsed into a series of fantasy lives. By now, the strip, although it still has its moments, doesn't really do any long sotrylines like it did when it was in its prime, and it doesn't make much use of that sad sense of humor, either. And there was always Spike and that damned cactus...But I will definitely have less cause to turn to the comics page in the future...well, there's Dilbert and a few other promising new ones like Liberty Meadows, but I'd have to admit that Peanuts was usually the first one I checked for. Sigh.