Peanuts is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run extended from 1950 to 2000, continuing in reruns afterward. Peanuts is among the most popular and influential in the history of comic strips, with 17,897 strips published in all,[1] making it "arguably the longest story ever told by one human being";[2] it is considered to be the grandfather of slice of life cartoons.[not verified in body] At the time of Schulz's death in 2000, Peanuts ran in over 2,600 newspapers, with a readership of roughly 355 million across 75 countries, and had been translated into 21 languages.[3] It helped to cement the four-panel gag strip as the standard in the United States,[4] and together with its merchandise earned Schulz more than $1 billion.[1] Peanuts focuses on a social circle of young children, where adults exist but are rarely seen or heard. The main character, Charlie Brown, is meek, nervous, and lacks self-confidence. He is unable to fly a kite, win a baseball game, or kick a football held by his irascible friend Lucy, who always pulls it away at the last instant.[5] Peanuts is a literate strip with philosophical, psychological, and sociological overtones, which was innovative in the 1950s.[6] Its humor is psychologically complex and driven by the characters' interactions and relationships. The comic strip has been adapted in animation and theater. Schulz drew the strip for nearly 50 years, with no assistants, even in the lettering and coloring process.