It’s a ‘Peanuts’ Day for Comics

Almost all the nation’s daily comics have a “Peanuts” theme today, with a Charlie Brown here or a “good grief” there.

The coordinated effort was conceived by “Mutts” cartoonist Patrick McDonnell before Charles M. Schulz’s death Feb. 12, said Daryl Cagle, president of the National Cartoonists Society. It was planned to appear on the same day the society would be meeting to pay Schulz tribute and to give him a lifetime achievement award.

Now the cartoonists’ work--together with tonight’s tribute at the organization’s black-tie Reuben Awards in New York City--is a memorial.

“We decided, ‘Let’s go forward with it,’ ” Cagle said. “What you see in the paper are personal statements. He meant a lot to the cartoonists.”

This October would have been “Peanuts’ ” 50th anniversary.