Editorial: ‘You have to meet Linus!’

I first met Linus Maurer in 2005 – and he won’t remember this – but it was here at the Index-Tribune offices on West Napa Street. I had started a few months before as news editor at the paper, and he’d walk past my desk occasionally on his way to deliver a batch of his “Newshound” cartoons to our production department.

All the women on staff – don’t ask me why, but it was always my XX-chromosomed coworkers – would come to me with, “Have you met Linus? No? Oh, you have to meet Linus!” From what I could tell, “meeting Linus” was as much a part of the Sonoma experience as wine tasting or feeling superior to Napa.

Of course, I’d been told about his longtime friendship with the late Charles Schulz, about being the namesake for the legendary blanket-toting comic-strip character, and of course his own successful career as a syndicated cartoonist. And inevitably the ladies of Sonoma had their way (which will always be the case, the gents of Sonoma informed me) and one day I was ushered over to Linus on his way out of the building by our lovely receptionist who was shouting, “Linus! Linus! There’s somebody who wants to meet you!”

He turned, smiled, extended his hand and said, “Hello, I’m Linus.”

And I responded, with foot firmly in mouth, “I know, Linus Van Pelt!”

He laughed, not calling attention to the fact that, no – he isn’t literally Charlie Brown’s best friend and long-suffering younger brother to the crabby Lucy Van Pelt. He’s actually Linus Maurer from Minneapolis. But he has lived his life in the funny papers – enjoying multiple stints with syndicated strips and various puzzle-page features, from early successes like “Old Harrigan” and the Bible-inspired strip “In the Beginning” to game-themed features such as a brilliantly conceived “Wheel of Fortune” ripoff in the ’80s to the still-popular and widely syndicated Challenger puzzle.

Of course, Sonomans know him best for “Newshound,” which runs in every issue at the center-top of this page; Linus says he hasn’t been without a byline in the I-T in 25 years.

Last week, I was visiting Linus at his place in the Springs (I’d been invited over for a 7-Up), which he shares with his longtime partner, the unforgettable Mary Jo Starsiak, and he made a rare request: he’d like to scale back to one “Newshound” per week. Linus is 89, after all, and with more than 2,600 cartoons without missing a beat for the paper, he’d like to limit his output to, well, the same rate as almost every other once-a-week single-panel cartoonist in the country. Sigh. Fair enough, Maurer. In the coming weeks we’ll be experimenting with other single-panel cartoons to fill the gap, and I invite any local would-be cartoonists to submit samples of their work (drop off at 117 W. Napa St. or email jason.walsh@sonomanews.com).

In the meanwhile, Linus and “Newshound” will remain the vital part of the I-T that they’ve been for a quarter century.

To steal a phrase from another renowned Sonoma County cartoonist: You’re a good man, Linus Maurer.

– Jason Walsh