Instruct: Given a question, retrieve passages that can help answer the question.
Query: When was the first Peanuts comic strip printed?
Peanuts is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz that ran from October 2, 1950, to February 13, 2000, continuing in reruns afterward. Peanuts is among the most popular and influential in the history of comic strips, with 17,897 strips published in all,[1] making it "arguably the longest story ever told by one human being".[2] At its peak in the mid- to late 1960s, Peanuts ran in over 2,600 newspapers, with a readership of around 355 million in 75 countries, and was translated into 21 languages.[3] It helped to cement the four-panel gag strip as the standard in the United States,[4] and together with its merchandise earned Schulz more than $1 billion.[1]
Tagged ""The newspaper full of humour and comic strips"", it also adopted the slogan, ""The newspaper one reads on the couch while munching chocolate"". "Charlie" was originally the French version of a contemporary Italian magazine, "linus". Like its Italian counterpart, it took its name from one of the characters of the comic strip "Peanuts", in that case Charlie Brown. The comics featured in "Charlie" included French originals as well as translations of American strips — "Peanuts" and others — and of Italian stories originally published in "Linus".
Often, the strip comments about the comics industry itself; such as during mid-late June 2007 when the strip commented about shrinking page sizes of newspapers and the proliferation of "reruns" of comics no longer drawn such as "Peanuts". "Peanuts" was parodied again in late October 2007, when instead of the normal strip characters an entire week of strips was devoted to an "interview" with what a middle-aged Charlie Brown might look like, discussing David Michaelis' controversial biography "Schulz and Peanuts." Part of the parody has him married to Lucy van Pelt, who henpecks him.
Plunk was first created in the late 1980s for the Belgian Centre for Comic Strip Art as a fictional example of the merchandising that can be produced with successful comic figures like "The Smurfs" or "Peanuts". In 1990, he became a character in "Taco Zip", the comic strip by Cromheecke which appeared at the time in the Dutch newspaper "De Volkskrant". These comic strips were later reprinted in four albums and twenty years later in one collection.
In the 1980s and the 1990s, the strip remained the most popular comic in history,[31] even though other comics, such as Garfield and Calvin and Hobbes, rivaled Peanuts in popularity. Schulz continued to write the strip until announcing his retirement on December 14, 1999, due to his failing health.
When cartoonist Morrie Turner began questioning why there were no minorities in the comic strips, his mentor, "Peanuts" cartoonist Charles M. Schulz, suggested he create one. Morris' first attempt, "Dinky Fellas", featured an all-black cast, but found publication in only one newspaper, the "Chicago Defender". Turner integrated the strip, renaming it "Wee Pals", and on February 15, 1965, it became the first American syndicated comic strip to have a cast of diverse ethnicity.
Many other cartoonists paid tribute to Peanuts and Schulz by homages in their own strips, appearing on February 13, 2000, or in the week beforehand.[32] The comic was reprinted the day after that, but only had the farewell letter. After Peanuts ended, United Feature Syndicate began offering the newspapers that ran it a package of reprinted strips under the title Classic Peanuts. The syndicate limited the choices to either strips from the 1960s or from the 1990s, although a newspaper was also given the option to carry both reprint packages if it desired. All Sunday strips in the package, however, come from the 1960s.
Violet was first featured in the February 7, 1951 "Peanuts" strip. From there on, Violet's character changed and developed until she began to become less prominent than the other major characters, with her forthcoming appearances reduced to mere cameos. Her last comic strip appearance, discounting the reruns of the strip, was on the November 27, 1997 "Peanuts" strip.
Cartoon tributes have appeared in other comic strips since Schulz's death in 2000 and are now displayed at the Charles Schulz Museum.[50] In May 2000, many cartoonists included a reference to Peanuts in their strips. Originally planned as a tribute to Schulz's retirement, after his death that February it became a tribute to his life and career. Similarly, on October 30, 2005, several comic strips again included references to Peanuts and specifically the It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown television special.
The practice of continuing a zombie comic strip is commonly criticized by cartoonists, particularly younger ones in the new generation, including Bill Watterson and Stephan Pastis. Pastis addressed the issue in his strip, "Pearls Before Swine", in 2005. Mark Tatulli also commented on zombie strips in his strip "Liō" in 2010. and in 2013. After an incident in which United Feature Syndicate secretly retained the services of superhero comic artist Al Plastino to continue the comic strip "Peanuts" in case of an interruption, Charles Schulz, author and creator of "Peanuts", requested that his strip (which, in contrast to most comic strips today, he drew completely on his own with no assistants of any kind) not be continued by another cartoonist after his death; Schulz's family (as well as Universal Uclick, which currently holds the strip's publication rights) has honored his wishes. Since Schulz's death in 2000, "Peanuts" has continued in reruns under the title "Classic Peanuts".
Inspired by Charles Schulz's "Peanuts" and "Outhouses of the North", a small book of cartoons published by the Highway Bookshop in northern Ontario, Sim spent 1975 and 1976 developing a comic strip called "The Beavers". Highway Bookshop published the strip as a book in 1976. A second book failed to materialize when the publisher shut down. Sim then pursued syndication, pitching "The Beavers" to the "Kitchener-Waterloo Record". With Day inking the strips, a year's worth was produced in three days. Sim also wrote or drew stories published in anthologies such as "Phantacea" and "Star*Reach". "The Beavers" also saw print in "Star*Reach's" sister funny animals comic "Quack!".
Later that year, Schulz approached United Feature Syndicate with the one-panel series "Li'l Folks", and the syndicate became interested. By that time Schulz had also developed a comic strip, usually using four panels rather than one, and to Schulz's delight, the syndicate preferred that version. "Peanuts" made its first appearance on October 2, 1950, in seven newspapers. The weekly Sunday page debuted on January 6, 1952. After a slow start, "Peanuts" eventually became one of the most popular comic strips of all time, as well as one of the most influential. Schulz also had a short-lived sports-oriented comic strip, "It's Only a Game" (1957–59), but he abandoned it after the success of "Peanuts". From 1956 to 1965 he contributed a single-panel strip, "Young Pillars", featuring teenagers, to "Youth", a publication associated with the Church of God.
An early influence on cartoonist Charles Schulz and an inspiration for his "Peanuts", "Skippy" is considered one of the classics of the form. In "Vanity Fair", humorist Corey Ford described it as "America's most important contribution to humor of the century", while comics historian John A. Lent wrote, "The first half-century of the comics spawned many kid strips, but only one could be elevated to the status of classic... which innovated a number of sophisticated and refined touches used later by Charles Schulz and Bill Watterson..." Comics artist Jerry Robinson said,
"Skippy" started in 1923 as a cartoon in "Life" and became a syndicated comic strip two years later through King Features Syndicate. Creator Crosby retained the copyright, a rarity for comic strip artists of the time.
From 1947 to 1949, the newspaper printed the comic strip "Li'l Folks", by Twin Cities native Charles M. Schulz. This comic introduced a number of characters who would later return in 1950 in the syndicated comic strip "Peanuts", including Charlie Brown and a dog strongly resembling Snoopy.
Shermy is a fictional character from the comic strip "Peanuts", by Charles Schulz. Schulz named him after a friend from high school. When Peanuts made its debut on October 2, 1950, Shermy had the first lines of dialogue in the series, ending with "Good ol' Charlie Brown . . . How I hate him!" 
Later that year, Schulz approached the United Feature Syndicate (also a Scripps Company) with "Li'l Folks", and the syndicate became interested. However, by that time Schulz had also developed a comic strip (also called "Li'l Folks"), typically using four panels rather than one. The strip was similar in spirit to the panel comic, but it had a set cast of characters, rather than different nameless little folk for each page. The syndicate preferred the strip; however, the name "Li'l Folks" was too close to the names of two other comics of the time: Al Capp's "Li'l Abner" and a strip titled "Little Folks". To avoid confusion, the syndicate chose the name "Peanuts", after the peanut gallery featured in the "Howdy Doody" TV show. "Peanuts" made its first appearance on October 2, 1950, in seven newspapers.
"Li'l Folks", the first comic strip by "Peanuts" creator Charles M. Schulz, debuts mainly in Schulz's hometown paper, the "St. Paul Pioneer Press", on June 22. "Li'l Folks" can almost be regarded as an embryonic version of "Peanuts", containing characters and themes which were to reappear in the later strip: a well-dressed young man with a fondness for Beethoven a la Schroeder, a dog with a striking resemblance to Snoopy, and even a boy named Charlie Brown.
Comic strips have also dealt in subtext and innuendo, their wide distribution in print newspapers and magazines limiting their inclusion of controversial material. The first openly gay characters in the US appeared in prominent strips in the late 1970s; representation of LGBT issues in these titles causes vociferous reaction, both praise and condemnation. Today comic strips educating readers about LGBT-related issues are syndicated in LGBT-targeted print media and online in web comics.
The first distinction in comic strips formats is between the daily comic strip and the Sunday strip. A daily strip is usually carried on a standard newspaper page, often alongside other strips and non-comics matter (such as crossword puzzles). It is usually printed as either a horizontal strip (longer than it is tall) or a box (roughly square) in black and white, although in recent years syndicates have offered daily strips in color, and newspapers with the ability to print it as such have done so.
Peanuts Motion Comics is a series of animated cartoon shorts based on 1964 strips of Charles Schulz' comic strip, "Peanuts". The series premiered on iTunes in 2008 with the support of the Schulz estate. The first season consists of 20 cartoon shorts, paired into 10 episodes. The episodes employ signature themes and plotlines from the classic strips. The first season was released to DVD on March 9, 2010. Animation production was done by Studio B Productions.
The Complete Peanuts is a series of books containing the entire run of Charles M. Schulz's long-running newspaper comic strip "Peanuts". The series was published at a rate of two volumes per year, each containing two years of strips (except for the first volume, which includes 1950–1952). Slipcased sets of two volumes are also available. The series comprises a total of 26 volumes, including a bonus book with sketches, interviews, and other extra material. These hardcover books were first published between 2004–2016. Later "Fantagraphics Books" also began publishing the series in a softcover format. A companion series titled "Peanuts Every Sunday", collecting only the Sunday strips of the "Peanuts" series, was launched by Fantagraphics in 2013 and is scheduled to run until 2022.
The final daily original Peanuts comic strip was published on Monday, January 3, 2000. The strip contained a note to the readers of the strip from Schulz and a drawing of Snoopy, with his trusty typewriter, sitting atop his doghouse deep in thought. Beginning the next day, a rerun package premiered in papers that had elected to pick it up (see below). Although Schulz did not draw any daily strips that ran past January 3, he had drawn five Sunday strips that had yet to run. The first of these appeared six days after the last daily, on January 9.
Peanuts continues to be prevalent in multiple media through widespread syndication, the publication of The Complete Peanuts, the release of several new television specials (all of which Schulz had worked on, but had not finished, before his death), and Peanuts Motion Comics. Additionally, BOOM! Studios has published a series of comic books that feature new material by new writers and artists, although some of it is based on classic Schulz stories from decades past, as well as including some classic strips by Schulz, mostly Sunday color strips.
The entire run of Peanuts, covering nearly 50 years of comic strips, was reprinted in Fantagraphics' The Complete Peanuts, a 26-volume set published over a 12-year period, consisting of two volumes per year published every May and October. The first volume (collecting strips from 1950 to 1952) was published in May 2004; the volume containing the final newspaper strips (including all the strips from 1999 and seven strips from 2000, along with the complete run of Lil' Folks[66]) was published in May 2016,[67] with a twenty-sixth volume containing outside-the-daily-strip Peanuts material by Schulz appeared in the fall of that year. A companion series, titled Peanuts Every Sunday and presenting the complete Sunday strips in color (as the main Complete Peanuts books reproduce them in black and white only), was launched in December 2013; this series will run ten volumes, with the last expected to be published in 2022.
Charles Schulz had always resisted republication of the earliest Peanuts strips, as they did not reflect the characters as he eventually developed them. However, in 1997 he began talks with Fantagraphics Books to have the entire run of the strip, which would end up with 17,897 strips total, published chronologically in book form.[65] In addition to the post-millennium Peanuts publications are BOOM! Studios restyling of the comics and activity books, and "First Appearances" series. Its content is produced by Peanuts Studio, subsequently an arm of Peanuts Worldwide LLC.