Cartoonists honor ‘Peanuts’ creator in Saturday funny pages

By MARK KENNEDY
AP Entertainment Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Cartoonists across the nation are celebrating the 100th birthday of “Peanuts” creator Charles M. Schulz as only they can, with cartoons. More than 75 syndicated cartoonists have tucked tributes, Easter eggs and references to “Peanuts” in Saturday’s funny papers to honor the creator of Charlie Brown, Snoopy and company. The list of participating strips ranges from “B.C,” “Dennis the Menace” and “Rhymes With Orange” to “Zippy the Pinhead” and “Zits.” Each artist was encouraged to come up with their own way to honor Schulz, who was known as “Sparky.” It was dreamed up by cartoonist Patrick McDonnell, who creates the daily strip “Mutts.”