Cartoonists To Honor ‘Peanuts’ Creator

Cartoonists across the nation are celebrating the 100th birthday of “Peanuts” creator Charles M. Schulz as only they can — with cartoons.

AP News reports more than 75 syndicated cartoonists have tucked tributes, Easter eggs and references to “Peanuts” in Saturday’s funny papers to honor the creator of Charlie Brown, Snoopy and company.

“It’s a tribute to probably the world’s greatest cartoonist,” said cartoonist Patrick McDonnell, who creates the daily strip “Mutts” for 700 newspapers. “After ‘Peanuts,’ the cartoon world changed. I think most working cartoonists today would say he was the inspiration for them to become cartoonists.”

The list of participating strips ranges from “B.C,” “Dennis the Menace” and “Rhymes With Orange” to “Zippy the Pinhead” and “Zits.” Each artist was encouraged to come up with their own way to honor Schulz, who was known as “Sparky.”