Global Comics: The World Celebrates Charlie Brown

'Peanuts' , the comic strip that tells the adventures of Snoopy and his friend Charlie Brown , celebrates 75 years of large-scale publication this Thursday without losing its ability to make people laugh and reflect, adapting to new formats thanks to the extension of an agreement with Apple TV+ to produce original content.

On October 2, 1950, "Peanuts" began being syndicated by United Features, a newspaper distribution service. The comic strip created in 1947 by Charles M. Schulz (1922-2000), until then published in a newspaper in St. Paul, Minnesota, began to be read in a new format of four panels per installment throughout the United States and later in more than 70 countries. The humor and the quirky psychology of Charlie Brown and his friends cemented the popularity of this format in the press and attracted millions of fans around the world .

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Charlie, a boy marked by insecurity in a universe almost devoid of adults, is accompanied by his dog Snoopy, an anthropomorphic beagle obsessed with imagining himself a World War I aviator, and Woodstock the Bird (Emilio in Spanish). Also part of the group are Lucy, his brother Linus, Patty, and Charlie's sister Sally. New animated adventures

As part of its 75th anniversary celebration, Apple TV+ will offer free streaming of the popular animated holiday specials, including It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, Charlie Brown and Thanksgiving, and Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown . The collaboration with the Schulz estate will give fans access to new original series about the adventures of Charlie and his friends until at least 2030.

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Apple TV+ has been home to the Peanuts classics collection since 2020 , although the partnership to produce original content began in 2018. The company reported that it is currently developing a new animated film starring Snoopy, Charlie and the rest of the gang.

From that October 2, 1950, "Peanuts" ran a total of 17,897 strips published in more than 2,600 newspapers until Schulz's death in 2000. At that time, the series had approximately 355 million readers in 75 countries and was translated into 21 languages. Its run made it one of the most influential comic strips in the world and paved the way for its adaptation to film and television.

Snoopy has become by far the most popular character, as well as appearing on every imaginable object, from t-shirts to stationery, he has been the protagonist of an animated television series, has inspired a musical comedy and numerous ice shows with his friends and also has an amusement park in California, Camp Snoopy .

The character is also a global reference in popular culture in other fields, since, for example, in the Apollo 10 space mission, which took place from May 18 to 26, 1969 and was the second to orbit the moon, the rocket's command module adopted the name Charlie Brown in radio transmissions and the lunar module that of Snoopy.

EFE