There's Only One Comic Title Charles M. Schulz Hated More Than Peanuts, And It's Easily The 1990s' Best Strip

Published Sep 17, 2026, 10:30 PM EDT An experienced Editor representing Canada via ScreenRant's Team Anime, J.R. has been reading manga since the first printing of Shonen Jump in North America. This passion drove him to write about anime, manga, and manhwa since 2022, having recently served as Lead Anime Editor for ComicBook.com. His favorite moments in media coverage include reviewing the series premieres of Zom 100 and Bleach: TYBW Part 2 back-to-back and briefly meeting Junji Ito at a VIZ gallery event in 2023. Sign in to your ScreenRant account The legacy of Charles M. Schulz will long outlive the man himself, with his iconic Peanuts comic strip transforming the landscape of the medium. His depiction of a primary group of kids, their vulnerabilities, and various existential woes of daily life proved immensely successful, indicating a way forward for creators without the usual generic gags found in lesser stories. But for such a legendary series, it's still a surprisingly common factoid known by fans that Schulz didn't care much for the name Peanuts, initially having conceived it as Li'l Folks. But as it turns out, while Schulz's distaste for his newspaper syndication service's replacement name is well-documented such as via TIME Magazine, there's one comic strip with a title Schulz comically hated more. Originally launched in 1997 by Baby Blues co-creator Jerry Scott and Wonk City artist Jim Borgman, Zits quickly rose to popularity, and within a year it was circulating in over 1,700 newspapers across 45 countries. Even so, despite the strong reception for such a popular series originating from the 1990s, perhaps the perfect criticism came about when Schulz was quoted saying Zits was a worse title than even his own comic strip, and Scott and Borgman clearly loved it. Charles Schulz Confirmed 26 Years Ago The One Worse Comic Strip Name Than Peanuts By 2000, Zits had been running for two and a half years, already garnering a significant following, establishing a steady cadence of sketchbook and compilation releases while its series ran in newspapers worldwide. It debuted its first treasury, or large collection of comic strips, on March 1, 2000, with Humongous Zits, containing one singular blurb from the Peanuts creator himself, having made a playful jab at the contemporary comic strip's unappealing title. But with a series primarily focused on its central teenager, Jeremy Duncan, his friends, and his parents, Connie and Walt, as they stay sharp to his antics while being perceived as uncool and behind the times, Zits perfectly captures an unfiltered portrayal of adolescence. Zits is the worst name for a comic strip since Peanuts. -Charles M. Schulz Given that the quote is featured on the back cover, Scott and Borgman clearly loved the ironic endorsement, turning it into a self-deprecating badge of honor commemorating the first major collection of their work. Truthfully, Peanuts fans can easily find enjoyment in Zits, despite radically different art styles and worlds in play. Rather than focusing on a group of kids devoid of direct input from adults, Zits focuses instead on teenagers like Jeremy, his recurring girlfriend Sara, and best friends Pierce and Hector, their mutual struggles at the interstice of childhood and adulthood, as if separate worlds are in constant interaction and communication, with Jeremy caught in the middle. Zits is a uniquely memorable comic strip which, while certainly in no position to ever overtake Peanuts' popularity, deserves wider recognition on its own. It's remained consistently entertaining and heartfelt, and will generally be looked upon fondly as having aged well in the world of comic strips that originated from or gained prominence in the 1990s. It does, admittedly, have possibly the most unappealing name of all time, but in an uncomfortable way, it stays with the readers, and as the back cover also illustrates, it's far punchier and more effective than any of their other proposed names. Peanuts Emerged As Schulz's Title Despite Him Disliking It Originally the followup to Schulz's first cartoon accepted by the Saturday Evening Post, Schulz's iconic series that would endure for 50 years and decades beyond his passing was originally titled Li'l Folks, with him struggling to find a reliable syndication contract for it, per TIME. But the name presented a conflict and an interesting intersection of two other similarly-titled comic strips, Li'l Abner by Al Capp, and Little Folks by Tack Knight. It's especially amusing as Wee Pals would be launched 15 years later in 1965 without nearly as much of a problem. But while avoiding this dispute was understandable, it seemed that the United Feature Syndicate, Schulz's agency, had their editor choose the title Peanuts at the end, without considering the creator's opinions on the matter. October 2, 1950 – February 13, 2000 · 17,897 Strips How Well Do You Know Peanuts? “Good grief!” ⚾Charlie BrownGood Ol’ Chuck 🐕SnoopyThe Flying Ace 🧣LinusSecurity Blanket 🏈LucyPsychiatric Help 🐥WoodstockBest Friend PLAY BALL → 01 Before Peanuts launched in 1950, Charles M. Schulz drew a weekly cartoon panel for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. What was it called? ALi’l Folks BSmall Fry CThe Sandlot DJust Kids ✓ Correct! Li’l Folks ran from 1947 to 1950. When the syndicate renamed the new strip “Peanuts,” Schulz hated the title for the rest of his life. ✗ Not quite! It was Li’l Folks — and Schulz never forgave United Feature for rechristening his strip “Peanuts.” NEXT → 02 Which member of the gang is almost never seen without his security blanket — and waits every year in the pumpkin patch for the Great Pumpkin? ASchroeder BLinus van Pelt CPig-Pen DShermy ✓ Correct! Linus — Lucy’s little brother, the strip’s resident theologian, and the reason “security blanket” entered the dictionary. ✗ Not quite! It’s Linus van Pelt, whose blanket gave the English language the term “security blanket.” NEXT → 03 Schroeder hammers away at his toy piano in devotion to a single composer — whose bust sits on top of it. Who? AJohann Sebastian Bach BWolfgang Amadeus Mozart CLudwig van Beethoven DFrédéric Chopin ✓ Correct! Beethoven. Schroeder even observes Beethoven’s birthday every December 16 — while ignoring Lucy entirely. ✗ Not quite! It’s Beethoven — the one thing in the world Schroeder loves more than tuning out Lucy. NEXT → 04 When Snoopy climbs onto his doghouse in goggles and a scarf, he becomes the World War I Flying Ace — forever hunting which nemesis? AThe Cat Next Door BThe Head Beagle CThe Great Pumpkin DThe Red Baron ✓ Correct! The Red Baron — and the Sopwith Camel doghouse always goes down in flames, sending the Ace off to curse him in a French café. ✗ Not quite! It’s the Red Baron. Snoopy’s doghouse is a Sopwith Camel, and it never once wins the dogfight. NEXT → 05 Lucy runs a curbside psychiatric help booth out of a lemonade stand. What does she charge per session? A1¢ B5¢ C10¢ D25¢ ✓ Correct! Five cents, please. The nickel never went up in 50 years — and the advice was never once worth it. ✗ Not quite! It’s 5¢ — “The doctor is in.” Lucy held that price for half a century. NEXT → 06 Snoopy’s tiny yellow best friend went unnamed for years before Schulz finally christened him. What was he named after? AA brand of birdseed BSchulz’s hometown in Minnesota CThe 1969 Woodstock music festival DA character from a Beethoven opera ✓ Correct! Woodstock got his name in 1970, borrowed straight from the music festival held the summer before. ✗ Not quite! He’s named for the 1969 Woodstock festival — Schulz gave the bird the name in 1970, years after he first appeared. NEXT → 07 The jazz score for A Charlie Brown Christmas — including the immortal “Linus and Lucy” — was written by which musician? AVince Guaraldi BDave Brubeck CHenry Mancini DDuke Ellington ✓ Correct! Pianist Vince Guaraldi scored the 1965 special, and network executives were sure the jazz soundtrack would sink it. It became a permanent holiday fixture. ✗ Not quite! It’s Vince Guaraldi, whose trio gave Peanuts its unmistakable sound. NEXT → 08 Schulz drew every Peanuts strip himself for nearly 50 years. What made the final original Sunday strip — February 13, 2000 — so haunting? ACharlie Brown finally kicked the football BThe Little Red-Haired Girl was shown at last CIt was the only strip Schulz left unfinished DIt ran the morning after Schulz died ✓ Correct! Schulz died the evening of February 12, 2000 — and his farewell strip, signed off with “Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy... how can I ever forget them,” appeared in papers the very next morning. ✗ Not quite! Schulz died on February 12, 2000 — hours before his own farewell strip ran in the Sunday papers. SEE YOUR SCORE → The Doctor Is In · Five Cents, Please Your Peanuts Report Card ⚾ / 8 Good grief — or good ol’ Charlie Brown? Either way, the football is still there. Wanna try again? ⤴ ONE MORE KICK But in keeping with the resilience of his created characters, Schulz stuck to the series through the end. He was, after all, a stubborn creator in the end, continuing to show his distaste for the Peanuts title to the point of these words being printed to promote other comic strips mere weeks after his passing. But this, too, is consistent with his personality, and one of his more endearing traits; after all, it's this same stubbornness that let him win a standoff over the inclusion of his character Franklin in Peanuts going forward. So for other creators to have chosen a name that Schulz hates even more must have felt like a true victory, as the series winds down to conclude in the coming months after 30 years of success. TV Show(s) The Snoopy Show, Peanuts by Schulz First Film The Peanuts Movie Cast Christopher Shea, Kathy Steinberg, Bill Melendez, Sally Dryer, Peter Robbins, Noah Schnapp, Hadley Belle Miller, Mariel Sheets, Lisa DeFaria, Venus Omega Schultheis Created by Charles M. Schulz Movie(s) The Peanuts Movie, A Charlie Brown Christmas, A Boy Named Charlie Brown, Charlie Brown's All Stars!, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown Character(s) Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy van Pelt, Linus van Pelt, Sally Brown, Pig-Pen, Marcie (Peanuts), Peppermint Patty, Woodstock