Charles M. "Sparky" Schulz 100th Birthday Wall

In honor of what would have been Sparky's 100th birthday, cartoonists across the country paid tribute to the Peanuts creator in their own comic strips.

March 22nd, 2024
Santa Rosa, CA

In honor of what would have been Charles M. “Sparky” Schulz’s 100th birthday, cartoonists across the country paid tribute to the Peanuts creator in their own comic strips on November 26, 2022.

Schulz is the only cartoonist ever to receive this honor on the comic pages—a fitting tribute for a man who devoted his entire life to cartooning. Fellow cartoonist Joe Wos was at the Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa this past month and sent these photos of what they ended up doing with all the tributes in the gallery.

The art of the daily newspaper comic strip has been undermined by short-sighted editors and publishers for decades, leading to the forced retirement of many much-loved strips. Thankfully readers can still connect with artists and their work online through places like Substack, GoComics, Comics Kingdom and a bottomless list of online platforms. Sparky was one of the best to ever do it and I’m glad there’s a tribute to his life’s work in Santa Rosa. Jeannie and the team do a brilliant job.

Below was my contribution, in what I didn’t know at the time would be one of my final Ginger Meggs strips before it was unceremoniously kneecapped after 102 years.

Special thanks to Schulz Museum board members Patrick McDonnell (MUTTS), Karen O’Connell, and Robb Armstrong (JumpStart) for conceiving and coordinating the tribute.

> In May I’ll be at NancyFest at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Museum & Library in Columbus, OH in May. Fellow cartoonists and comics fans; I hope to see you there!

You can see more about the Schulz tribute here.