Remembering the 100th Birthday of Charles M. Schulz

Alley Oop Comic

Browse the entire selection of all things Charlie Brown at Amazon.

Oh, what an amazing and wonderful tribute to a man who forged the way for so many comics creators throughout the years. Reading through this collection brought so many memories flooding back, love, light, laughter, tears.

Oh my gosh, the memories keep rolling back: Drakesboro, Kentucky, December, 1977. United Methodist Church. My cousin Debbie was our choir director. We’d been wrapping up songs for our Christmas Choir Special, and took a break. Jimmy Stewart, Jr.–he was just a couple years older than I–was playing the Charlie Brown Theme on the piano, and he was tearing it up. I was standing behind him imitating Lucy Van Pelt and making commentary of some of her famous one-liners.

 {Note: I learned to do voice impressions back in the 60s listening to Alvin and the Chipmunks, which drove my mom crazy every time she heard me chirping out, “Christmas, Christmas Time is here!” I taught my son Alex that skill, and he does voice impressions and chipmunks better than I do, now–and Gods help us, he’s teaching it to our grandson Liam.}

I squawked out, “YOU BLOCKHEAD!” Jimmy looked over his shoulder at me and smiled, and fired into the chorus: Doo doo de doo doo de doo doo dee doot! …I shut up. 😀

Wow. Those are fond memories of innocent days you can’t buy back at any price.

Here’s to you, Sparky!

In honor of what would have been Charles M. “Sparky” Schulz’s 100th birthday on November 26, 2022, syndicated cartoonists across the country have paid tribute to the Peanuts creator in their own comic strips published on the date. Schulz is the only cartoonist ever to receive this honor—a fitting tribute for a man who devoted his entire life to cartooning.

The Charles M. Schulz Museum is proud to share the collection of tributes on this page.

How to read: You can navigate this priceless collection of tributes by clicking the first thumbnail, and the full comic strip pops up. You can arrow Left or Right to read them all.

What brings me so much joy is seeing all the artists I know, Past, Present and Future (many of these legendary comic strips have passed the mantle down to children or grandchildren) who contributed here. Mary Worth by Karen Moy and June Brigman, MUTTS by Patrick McDonnell, Hi & Lois by Brian Walker, Greg Walker and Chance Browne, Crabgrass by Tauhid Bondia (Tauhid lives down the road here from me in Hodgenville, KY!!! <3 ), Beware of Toddler by George Gant. Thank you, artists, for reminding us how incredible is the power of the artist to transform us all.

Crabgrass comic

Rip Haywire

Click here to read them all:

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.