Charles Schultz plans to retire from cartooning in the early part of next year, and plans to retire the strip along with him.
I’m intrigued with the possibilities of how he might end the strip, although I doubt my favorite choices (#1: Charlie Brown gets the football pulled away from him one too many times, finds his father’s rifle collection and proceeds to take out the rest of the gang in a frenzy; or #2:It’s The Great Cthulu, Charlie Brown!).
JMCJ
Die, Prentiss, Die! You will never have a more glorious opportunity!
While those might be somewhat satisfying ending for those of us who have outgrown the comic, I am willing to bet that Charlie actually does get to kick the football in the very last strip. I would have said they would win a ballgame, but that has happened already.
Of course, other choices include
Pig Pen finally takes a bath.
Lucy and Schroeder move their relationship up a level.
Snoopy is finally committed for hallucinations.
Peppermint Patty and Marcie come out.
And, in the very last strip, the Great Pumpkin finally shows up, kills all unbelievers, and elevates Linus to the role of Supreme Commander of Earth.
Well, shut my mouth. It’s also illegal to put squirrels down your pants for the purposes of gambling.
1)Charlie Brown kicks the damn football.
2)Pepperment Patty and Marcie come out of the Closet.
3)Lucy finally wises up to the fact that you can charge $150 an hour for Psychiatric advice. (25 cents, ferchrisake!)
4)The kids tell Snoopy that they’re really creeped out by the way he “thinks” at them.
5)Linus finds some book other than the Bible to quote from.
6)Charlie Brown quits as pitcher and focuses on managing. The team declines to pick up Lucy’s contract for next season and negotiates a deal to sign Patty when she becomes a free agent.
7)Spike finds a friend who’s not a cactus.
8)Woodstock gets a girlfriend named Fair Lilith.
9)The grown-ups overcome their speech impediments.
10)Hair plugs for Charlie Brown.
Joking aside, if I were Charles Schulz, I would try and bring together all the characters of Peanuts, past and present. For the last one, have a big drawing including them all.
I’ve mentioned this before, but I think it’s a shame that many of the past characters have disappeared and that he now concentrates on only four or five people.
And maybe snoopy can do his cheshire cat impression one more time.
Quand les talons claquent, l’esprit se vide.
Maréchal Lyautey
The last strips have already been written and drawn. That had already been announced when he was diagnosed. I’d honestly be surpised if anything special was done for the end of the strip.
I’m sad that the strip is ending. Say what you will but it’s been one of the few constants in my lifetime.
FWIW the football gag was left a mystery this year. I’d like to think Rerun let him kick it.
TVeblen, I have to agree with you. I won’t want to see anything that wrecks the purity of the strip. Ursa Major, your list is funny but I prefer leave out the sarcasm. There are few enough constants in our lives. I don’t want to start knocking the ones I have.
I don’t want to rile anybody, but I have to admit that on hearing the news that Sparky is retiring at last, my reaction was “It’s about time.”
The strip has been on autopilot for years and years, recycling old jokes because Schulz doesn’t have anything new to say. I for one am glad that newspapers will be able to reclaim that spot on the comics page and use it to showcase the work of a contemporary artist.
good riddance to that annoying, boring strip. I say C. Brown should come running up and kick Lucy in the head instead of even trying for the football.
I seem to be the only one I know who likes Rerun. Everyone else is disappointed; I agree that he is definitely NOT what Peanuts used to be, but that’s no reason to dislike the kid. He’s not Linus, and I still like Linus better, but I don’t hate Rerun.
