Happy Halloween! This holiday cover comes about as the result of a suggestion by the lovely Laila, my wonderful girlfriend. She is a big fan of the It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown , and I wanted to present the type of ending to that story that I would have liked to have seen - I always felt so bad for Linus.
How about the Peanuts gang meet the Flintstone Kids; in the 2nd season of the Flintstone Kids, Freddy Flintstone sounded a bit like Charlie Brown.
ReplyDeleteI'd call that kind of voice-over a "yabba-dabba-don't"!
DeleteGreat job on the artistic mesh-up, Ross. Laila will love it! As for me? I got tired of commercial TV butchering that venerable family classic through video editing, these last twenty years (before ultimately exiling it to just internet streaming). So, I bought a DVD packet of all the Peanuts holiday specials. And I still get to laugh at Linus jumping into a pile of leaves with a giant wet lollipop. And I still shed a bit of a tear at Charlei Brown always getting a bagful of rocks.
ReplyDeleteSequel idea: Charlie Brown meets the Horta from STAR TREK: TOS, who is happy to get the bag of rocks as Halloween treats.
DeleteGood one!!! :-)
DeleteThis is terrific Ross! The spirit of Charles "Sparky" Schultz is with us, along with a touch of Hembeck. This is kind of how I pictured this scene. It would have been a gas to see Linus be rewarded for his devotion. Dolly Madison cakes for everyone!
ReplyDeleteLol! And, here, I thought I was the only one old enough to remember their sponsorship. :-)
Delete@ Anon: Don't forget animation director Bill Melendez.
DeleteYep! He and his staff provided the most sincere depictions of the Peanuts this side of the comic strip.
Delete"Nothing but sincerity as far as the eye can see!"
I wonder what results a matchup between Linus on Halloween with Calvin from Calvin and Hobbs would bring? Somehow I imagine Spaceman Spiff would react to the Great Pumpkin in a much more hostile manner than Linus would be down for. :)
ReplyDeleteMaybe Ross could reintegrate the Sally and Linus artwork from this year with the C&H artwork from STF #1915.
DeleteNot what I was quite expecting today, but I'm digging it! Well done, Ross! And as a big fan of all the Peanuts holiday specials myself, congrats on the girl, she sounds like quite a keeper!
ReplyDeleteYES!!! Congrats on having a girlfriend that is open for this interest. What a great time to have such a POSITIVE cover!!! I LOVE it!!
ReplyDeleteWe finally turned off the front porch lights at our house around 8:15 P.M. And, by my Mom's estimation, we had over a hundred kids and grown-up chaperones coming by for candy over the preceding three hours. Hope you had just as Happy a Halloween, Ross.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant Halloween cover, Ross!
ReplyDeleteI like this cover too but I was hoping you'd use "Dingbat & The Creeps" from the old Heathcliff Sat. Morn. toon for this classic toon = Dingbat (a cool vampire dog) Sparerib (a fat skeleton) & Nobody (a talking Jack O' Lantern) who would've been great as the Peanuts' Great Pumpkin. Maybe a future crossover perhaps?
ReplyDeleteI'd like to see Zoo Crew foe Cold Turkey (who could project snow) attack the Peanuts gang on Thanksgiving sometime. Maybe a Zoo Crew team-up with Snoopy & Yankee Poodle having some fun with Woodstock & Rubberduck or even Little Cheese getting into the mix somehow.
Or, failing all that, I'd settle for the Zoo Crew battling the Superior Man-Spider (the mind of Dr. Otto Pussycat O'Nine Tails in Webster Weaver's body).
Delete^ Say what?
ReplyDeleteWebster Weaver was a Funny Talking Animal version of Peter Parker. A spider bitten by a radioactive man! So, he decided to fight crime as the 'Mazing Man-Spider. And one of the super-villains he battled (as listed on a very impressive splash page) was an anthropomorphic cat with nine prehensile robotic tails. Check out Jeff "Snood" Christiansen's website "Appendix to the Unofficial Handbook Of The Marvel Universe" for on-line reprints of that splash page.
DeleteThis was good. I think an alternate to Brother Voodoo would be Kid Eternity who could have called the Great Pumpkin into existence for Linus and Sally. Great idea though. Linus always seemed to get treated bad around Halloween.
ReplyDeleteby Ordinaryguy2