Peanuts is a syndicated daily & Sunday comic written & illustrated by Charles M. Schulz, which ran from 10/2/50 to 2/13/00 (a day after his death), continuing in reruns afterward. It is one of the most popular & influential in the medium's history, with 17,897 strips published, making it "arguably the longest story ever told by one human being," according to Prof. Robert Thompson of Syracuse Univ. At its peak, Peanuts ran in over 2,600 papers, with a readership of 355 million in 75 countries, translated into 21 languages. It helped cement four-panel gag strips as the standard in the USA, & together with its merchandise earned him over a billion. Reprints remain syndicated & run in many newspapers.
