On the morning of Sunday, February 12, 2000, avid fans of Peanuts and newspaper readers opened the pages to the last issue of Peanuts.
After decades of printing, Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the rest of the gang are saying their final goodbyes.
As an icon of pop culture and a keystone in contemporary cartooning, the end of Charles Schulz’s masterpiece came with a poetic end.
Just hours before the newspapers left the printing press, Schulz peacefully died.
But who was Charles Schulz, and what was the story behind his beloved works?
Schulz was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. At just two days old, his uncle called him “Sparky,” after the horse Spark Plug from Barney Google.
It was his first encounter with cartooning and comic strips, and while he didn’t know it yet, it was a dream he would set out to realize.
Life, however, had other plans.
Schulz has always described himself as an underdog who endured rejection, bullying, and isolation.
His father worked as a barber, and at that time, he was struggling to make ends meet.
At one point, her mother suffered so much from cancer that she never had the energy to shop or cook. Schulz was left hungry.
The experience left a profound mark on him that he wrote in a strip, “Security is knowing there’s some more pie left.”
Nonetheless, he continued to hone his artistic skills while at school.
Teachers noticed his work and encouraged him to publish it in the school’s yearbook.
The drawings never made it to the yearbook.
It was an experience that he brought with him until later life and a poignant episode to the birth of his character Charlie Brown.
After coming back from the war, Schulz continued to pursue writing comic strips.
He was first employed in Art Instruction.
He began writing and fleshing out the characters for “Sparky’s Li’l Folks.”
And while the strip feature different characters, commentators of his work believed that they were fragments of Schulz and his experiences.
He sent cartoons to Colliers and the Saturday Evening Post. He sent strips to publications he thought would love the cartoons.
Every one of them rejected it. At one point, Disney even told him he was unqualified to work as an animator.
Thankfully, his work was printed by the Star Tribune.
Eventually, his work was running weekly.
The strip features Charlie Brown, his stand-in, struggling with acceptance and rejection, much like in real life.
His stories resonated with people, especially those who experienced the same challenges as he did.
By 1958, 400 papers were running the newer iteration of “Li’l Folks,” – a cartoon called Peanuts.
His characters, most especially Snoppy, became cultural icons. Schulz, who came from a life full of struggles, became world-renowned.
Through Charlie Brown, Schulz had the chance to tell his story.
But it was also the story of people during the 50s and the 60s. Peanuts became a beacon that challenged the innocence of youth and that even as children, we can feel the pain that we’ll eventually carry for most of our adult lives.
Charles Schulz was Charlie Brown, and in a poetic end, Charlie Brown ended when Charles Schulz’s life ended that night of February 13, 2000.
Watch how a bullied kid became one of the most celebrated artists in American History.
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