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The American newspaper cartoonist Charles M. Schulz is world famous as the creator of 'Peanuts' (1950-2000). Preceded by his similar first feature 'Li'l Folks' (1947-1950), the 'Peanuts' series revolves around the unlucky boy Charlie Brown, his idiosyncratic dog Snoopy and a gang of other kids. Their daily antics ran in over 2,600 newspapers, making it the most widespread comic strip on the planet. 'Peanuts' owes its success to its gentle comedy, humanity and psychological-philosophical themes. Its universe is filled solely with children and animals, used by Schulz as satirical stand-ins for the adult world. His characters express doubts and worries, suffer from bullying, depression and other emotional turmoils and wonder about life and their existence. These emotional complexities were unprecedented in gag-a-day comics at the time. Using four daily panels, a simple graphic style and witty punchlines, Schulz touched both mainstream readers and intellectuals. The 'Peanuts' characters have appeared in animated films, on a lot of different merchandising and were used in many commercial product endorsements, generating an income of over a billion dollars in Schulz’s lifetime. The cartoonist kept his personal touch in ‘Peanuts’ by creating every episode of his sophisticated newspaper comic single-handedly over the course of its 49 year long run. Along with Walt Disney and Hergé, Charles M. Schulz remains one of the most analyzed, referenced and influential cartoonists in the world.