Editing Peanuts (section)

===1970s–1990s===
In 1975, the panel format was shortened slightly horizontally, and shortly thereafter the lettering became larger to compensate. Previously, the daily ''Peanuts'' strips were formatted in a four-panel "space saving" format beginning in the 1950s, with a few very rare eight-panel strips, that still fit into the four-panel mold. Beginning on [[February 29|Leap Day]] in 1988, Schulz abandoned the four-panel format in favor of three-panel dailies and occasionally used the entire length of the strip as one panel, partly for experimentation, but also to combat the dwindling size of the comics page.{{Citation needed|date=June 2007}}<!--- Each sentence of this section requires separate citations/references: Starting in the 1980s his artistic line started to shake. This became more noticeable in the 1990s, along with his format change; depending on one's view, the art deteriorated at this point, especially where character expression was concerned, however this is highly subjective and difficult to estimate.-->

In the late 1970s, during Schulz's negotiations with [[United Feature Syndicate]] over a new contract, syndicate president William C. Payette hired superhero comic artist [[Al Plastino]] to draw a backlog of ''Peanuts'' strips to hold in reserve in case Schulz left the strip. When Schulz and the syndicate reached a successful agreement, United Media stored these unpublished strips, the existence of which eventually became public.<ref>{{cite web | title = Comic Book Legends Revealed #401 | first = Brian | last = Cronin |date = January 11, 2013 | website = [[Comic Book Resources]] | url = http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2013/01/11/comic-book-legends-revealed-401/ | access-date = May 7, 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130116063259/http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2013/01/11/comic-book-legends-revealed-401/ | archive-date = January 16, 2013 | url-status = dead}}</ref> Plastino himself also claimed to have ghostwritten for Schulz while Schulz underwent heart surgery in 1983.<ref name=Al>{{cite web|url=http://www.alplastino.com/alplastino/About_Al.html |title=About Al|publisher=Al Plastino (official site) | archive-date= July 7, 2011| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110707115920/http://www.alplastino.com/alplastino/About_Al.html | url-status = live}}</ref>

In the 1980s and the 1990s, the strip remained the most popular comic in history,<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.4to40.com/recordbook/index.asp?id=322&category=human | title=Most Syndicated Comic Strip, Peanuts, Charles Schulz, USA | access-date=June 9, 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930181330/http://www.4to40.com/recordbook/index.asp?id=322&category=human | archive-date=September 30, 2007 | url-status=dead | df=mdy-all }}</ref> though other comics, such as ''[[Garfield]]'' and ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]'', rivaled ''Peanuts'' in popularity. Schulz continued to write the strip until announcing his retirement on December 14, 1999, due to his failing health.