Charles M. SChulz
Charles “Sparky” M. Schulz was born November 26, 1922 in Minneapolis, Minnesota and grew up in Saint Paul. Schulz was born of German and Norwegian descent from his father, Carl Schulz and his mother, Dena Halverson respectively. Schulz is primarily known for the creation and illustration of the popular series, “Peanuts,” from October 1950 to February 2000 when Schulz unfortunately died.
Schulz was a dedicated worker that drew his comics nearly every day until they were switched to weekly on Sundays for some time. The Peanuts is one of the most popular and influential comic strips of all time all being written and illustrated by Schulz, making it”arguably the longest story ever told by one human being.” In total, Schulz drew and published 17,897 Peanuts strips for about 50 years taking one vacation for his 75th birthday. It is estimated that the Peanuts strips and merchandise make over 1 billion dollars per year.
The comic is influenced by Schulz’s love of comics. Ever since a young age, when his uncle gave him the nickname “Sparky,” after a horse in the comic strip, Barney Google. He is also inspired by his own life. For example, in the Peanuts, Snoopy was based on Schulz’s own dog in real life. Charlie Brown was also based on Charles M. Schulz himself as well as, the Little Red-haired Girl being based on a woman Schulz had proposed to and gotten rejected by and Linus and Shermy being named after his friends in real life.
Charles M. Schulz is easily one of the most important, influential, and creative people to create comics of all time because of his dedication to his work in drawing these strips for 50 years. Schulz created a comic that people from around the world recognize and appreciate. Furthermore, his work lives on through the animated series that many people enjoy during holidays such as Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Valentine’s Day.
