Says Johnston, "[There's] a lot of sentiment. I've lived with this strip for a long time, along with my own -- sort of in and out of reality. But I know that it's time to make the story come full circle, where the children of the original story are adults with children of their own."

Besides an affinity for the characters of the strip, Johnston long friendship with Schulz makes her doubly qualified to continue his legacy: "We were really, really close -- to the point where we would have a really good scrap. Very few people would argue with him because he was "Charles Schulz," but I would. There were times when he wouldn't speak to me, but I was the one he called when he got cancer [in 1999] and I was the one who went and sat next to his bed when he was dying. We had long philosophical talks.

"We were rivals as well. When I told him that I was in 2,000 papers, he said "I'll see you in the Louvre." He was very competitive -- and he was right! He was the only one of us in the Louvre, and I'll never get there."

Johnston plans on balancing Schulz's classic approach with the "real life" approach she popularized in For Better or For Worse. "I always followed Sparky's advice -- "Do the best you can do, every single day" -- and I've had a wonderful time.

Possible storylines Johnston envisions for the strip's first year include adultery, testicular cancer, and the war in Iraq.

For his part, Seth is thrilled to be continuing PEANUTS, feeling that he can improve on and add to the work of his idol, especially now that the strip will deal with more mature themes and is no longer limited to "dumb little kids telling lame jokes."

"It's a genuine honor to be drawing this strip," said Seth, who went on to describe the premise underlying his design for the new series: "I want to emphasize the sophistication of Schulz's work by creating a strip that is both austere and direct. I would like to try to reflect the quiet and melancholy of the classic strip in a package that hopefully, shows the proper amount of respect for Mr. Schulz. Undoubtedly, PEANUTS is a great newspaper strip and I am humbled and gratified to help steward this strip into the world."

Seth has been regarded as one of North America's finest cartoonists for over 10 years. His comic book series Palookaville and graphic novel It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken are regarded as modern classics of the form. Born Gregory Gallant on September 16th, 1962 in Clinton, a small town in south Ontario, Seth is an emotional observer, deeply moved by the forgotten details of everyday life. A fan of PEANUTS since childhood, Seth attended the Ontario College of Art in Toronto in the early 1980s. While at school he discovered the provocative work of the underground comix generation and the cool, wry wit of the great mid-century New Yorker cartoonists. Drawing deeply from this disparate group of inspirations Seth has distilled one of the most distinctive and recognizable illustrating styles of the past decade and his sophisticated style has been sought by The Washington Post, Details, National Post, Spin, The New York Times, Saturday Night, and the New Yorker. His books have been translated and published in German, Dutch, French, Spanish and Italian.

"Schulz was my most formative influence. No artist made me want to be a cartoonist more than Schulz (well, maybe [Jack] Kirby). I loved him as a child and his work spoke to me deeply even then. But, honestly, it was in my early 20's that I came to reappraise Schulz and look at him with the eyes of an adult. That's when I really began to collect all of his books and really study what he had done (and was doing). Later, when Joe Matt moved to Toronto (another Schulz fanatic) we talked about him incessantly. We knew the strips so well that we would often play a game with each other on the telephone: one of us would read the first panel of any strip and the other would have to recall what the remaining 3 panels were. We both did very well."

"Schulz's drawing was a real beacon to me. His simplicity of design and composition taught me a great deal. Combined with other influences like Herge, [Peter] Arno, [Charles] Addams, John Stanley etc. really made the core of what I wanted my artwork to be like. It was Schulz's profound honesty that made the most impression on me as a young cartoonist ([R.] Crumb also). I'm still deeply moved by much of what made up Peanuts."

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