Peanuts Used One Last Classic Snoopy Gag To Mark The End Of An Era
An experienced Editor representing Canada via ScreenRant's Team Anime, J.R. has been reading manga since the first printing of Shonen Jump in North America. This passion drove him to write about anime, manga, and manhwa since 2022, having recently served as Lead Anime Editor for ComicBook.com.
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Plenty of stories are told with an ending in mind. Characters and their arcs are conceived with their growth and development a core hook for readers. But in the world of comic strips, while characters may change over time, and various gags and visuals may evolve, its central premise remains largely static so it continues to resemble itself. Peanuts underwent noticeable visual changes following its first years, and one of the biggest, most welcome changes, was in how creator Charles M. Schulz fleshed out the personas and mannerisms of the series' adorable mascot, Snoopy.
Snoopy has embodied different personalities and parodied historical figures like Beethoven, a secret agent, and a World War I flying ace, but one of his other most popular personas was always his World-Famous Author bit. Established in 1965, this was a common gag setup where panels would focus on Snoopy atop his doghouse, beginning each story with "It was a dark and stormy night." But on the final strip featuring Snoopy at the typewriter, penning his own words, before Schulz's goodbye letter and posthumous farewell, Snoopy signaled the end of a Peanuts era in more ways than one, with a surprisingly poignant strip on November 21, 1999.
Snoopy Ended An Era With One Final World-Famous Author Peanuts Strip
With panels being used later for the final February 13, 2000 Peanuts goodbye, this strip from the previous year was the last time Snoopy wrote an original story. This time around, though, Snoopy writes an impressive, insightful glimpse into his own character, and indeed a breakdown on the perception of what it is to be a "good dog." There's no punchline in the form of feedback on any opening cliches, and in fact, because it's a Sunday strip, it's completely uninterrupted, preceded only by Charlie Brown answering the phone while saying Snoopy's outside, writing.
The result is a sort of "lamentations of a good dog" scenario in which Snoopy realizes all an owner may say by asking them to stay home and be a good dog, is for the dog to do nothing else unprompted. Despite good intentions of protecting the household against unknown intruders by barking at passersby, or chasing cats, the real hope of the owners is for a far more compliant, subdued presence. It's not uncommon for Peanuts to march into melancholy territory, but it was clear something was different this particular Sunday morning in November. As it turns out, the timing in this instance, even with significant multi-week lead time for Sunday strips, makes this strip hit all that much harder.
The Last Original World-Famous Author Peanuts Strip Came With Some Grim News
Another major update out of the world of Peanuts on November 21, 1999 came via headlines such as The Washington Post announcing Schulz was diagnosed with colon cancer, his diagnosis hardly a week before then. It confirmed quickly that Peanuts was going to have to end sooner than later, and with this news, it changes how Snoopy's words can be taken on that day's strip. It suddenly feels less like a dog's meditation on what he must give up to gain a master's approval, and more about a man who, even after accomplishing an astonishing amount of beloved work over his lifetime, was still a complicated man at the end of the day with his own share of regrets.
October 2, 1950 – February 13, 2000 · 17,897 Strips How Well Do You Know Peanuts? “Good grief!”
⚾Charlie BrownGood Ol’ Chuck
🐕SnoopyThe Flying Ace
🧣LinusSecurity Blanket
🏈LucyPsychiatric Help
🐥WoodstockBest Friend
01
Before Peanuts launched in 1950, Charles M. Schulz drew a weekly cartoon panel for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. What was it called?
✓ Correct! Li’l Folks ran from 1947 to 1950. When the syndicate renamed the new strip “Peanuts,” Schulz hated the title for the rest of his life.
✗ Not quite! It was Li’l Folks — and Schulz never forgave United Feature for rechristening his strip “Peanuts.”
02
Which member of the gang is almost never seen without his security blanket — and waits every year in the pumpkin patch for the Great Pumpkin?
✓ Correct! Linus — Lucy’s little brother, the strip’s resident theologian, and the reason “security blanket” entered the dictionary.
✗ Not quite! It’s Linus van Pelt, whose blanket gave the English language the term “security blanket.”
03
Schroeder hammers away at his toy piano in devotion to a single composer — whose bust sits on top of it. Who?
✓ Correct! Beethoven. Schroeder even observes Beethoven’s birthday every December 16 — while ignoring Lucy entirely.
✗ Not quite! It’s Beethoven — the one thing in the world Schroeder loves more than tuning out Lucy.
04
When Snoopy climbs onto his doghouse in goggles and a scarf, he becomes the World War I Flying Ace — forever hunting which nemesis?
✓ Correct! The Red Baron — and the Sopwith Camel doghouse always goes down in flames, sending the Ace off to curse him in a French café.
✗ Not quite! It’s the Red Baron. Snoopy’s doghouse is a Sopwith Camel, and it never once wins the dogfight.
05
Lucy runs a curbside psychiatric help booth out of a lemonade stand. What does she charge per session?
✓ Correct! Five cents, please. The nickel never went up in 50 years — and the advice was never once worth it.
✗ Not quite! It’s 5¢ — “The doctor is in.” Lucy held that price for half a century.
06
Snoopy’s tiny yellow best friend went unnamed for years before Schulz finally christened him. What was he named after?
✓ Correct! Woodstock got his name in 1970, borrowed straight from the music festival held the summer before.
✗ Not quite! He’s named for the 1969 Woodstock festival — Schulz gave the bird the name in 1970, years after he first appeared.
07
The jazz score for A Charlie Brown Christmas — including the immortal “Linus and Lucy” — was written by which musician?
✓ Correct! Pianist Vince Guaraldi scored the 1965 special, and network executives were sure the jazz soundtrack would sink it. It became a permanent holiday fixture.
✗ Not quite! It’s Vince Guaraldi, whose trio gave Peanuts its unmistakable sound.
08
Schulz drew every Peanuts strip himself for nearly 50 years. What made the final original Sunday strip — February 13, 2000 — so haunting?
✓ Correct! Schulz died the evening of February 12, 2000 — and his farewell strip, signed off with “Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy... how can I ever forget them,” appeared in papers the very next morning.
✗ Not quite! Schulz died on February 12, 2000 — hours before his own farewell strip ran in the Sunday papers.
The Doctor Is In · Five Cents, Please Your Peanuts Report Card
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/ 8
Good grief — or good ol’ Charlie Brown? Either way, the football is still there. Wanna try again?
These regrets by Schulz include ones directly related to Peanuts, stating some in his interview with Al Roker such as never getting to let Charlie Brown kick the football, while feeling his condition had taken this part of his life away from him. Diving into other aspects of his Peanuts run, there were a solid handful of regrets and sad memories over the years, from feelings of abandonment to unrequited love. It's resulted, in some cases, in biographers capturing a side to him even his family might not recognize per Reuters. But through his work, Schulz garnered love both from an adoring family and a worldwide fan base with Peanuts, and arguably especially Snoopy, continuing to loom large over the pop culture zeitgeist.
- TV Show(s)
- The Snoopy Show, Peanuts by Schulz
- First Film
- The Peanuts Movie
- Cast
- Christopher Shea, Kathy Steinberg, Bill Melendez, Sally Dryer, Peter Robbins, Noah Schnapp, Hadley Belle Miller, Mariel Sheets, Lisa DeFaria, Venus Omega Schultheis
- Created by
- Charles M. Schulz
- Movie(s)
- The Peanuts Movie, A Charlie Brown Christmas, A Boy Named Charlie Brown, Charlie Brown's All Stars!, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown
- Character(s)
- Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy van Pelt, Linus van Pelt, Sally Brown, Pig-Pen, Marcie (Peanuts), Peppermint Patty, Woodstock
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.