It’s the Empire Stirkes Back, Charlie Brown!
Seriously. I may be nuts.
I swear as a kid I remember being in a CVS store in Woodbridge Mall (in Woodbridge, NJ for you non-NJ-ers) and while my mom was doing something in the aisle, I noticed either a Mad, Cracked, or Crazy magazine on the magazine rack. Now it must’ve been 1980/81 (making me 8 or 9 years old) because I swear in it was a spoof of ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ in which the Peanuts characters were cast as the Star Wars cast.
Now, since the dawn of the internet (man’s greatest invention EVER!) I’ve been able to find everything I remember about my childhood mentioned online. Everything, that is, except this Peanuts/Star Wars mash-up.
Nothing. Not a peep. Not a mention. I’ve even posted myself on my favorite geek sites if anyone remembers it, and…NADA! Nothing! Zip! Zero! Zilch! No one knows what the hell I’m talking about.
Did I dream it? If so, I want to know…because it was clever and I would be impressed I could be that clever at 8 years old. Plus, I’d like to do it if it wasn’t already done.
Here is what I may or may not remember (and if this isn’t already published…mine! Mine! MINE!):
• Linus was Luke. Now this was before we knew Leia was his sister, so Lucy may have either been Leia or Vader (who we did know was his father at that point). He used his blanket to escape Vader after his hand was cut off.
• Charlie Brown was Han Solo.
• Snoopy was Chewbacca and kicked Charlie Brown into the carbonite chamber when he took too long to say good-bye.
• Franklin was Lando. No surprise there, but…
• Surprise! Schroeder was Lobot (Lando’s right hand man). And the thing he had wrapped around his ears had musical notes coming from it, as if he were listening to Beethoven over them. I thought this was a good gag, and was what I would be impressed with if I came up with at 8 years old.
And, that’s all I remember.
Now, does ANYONE out there remember this or have proof it existed? Anyone?
If not…I have a free/for fun webcomic to publish. 
Best,
-Ed (the writer)
December 7th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
I have not seen that but I would totally read it. But yeah it does sound a bit sophisticated for an 8-year-old to come up with. On the other hand, it’s easy to underestimate the sophistication of children, especially our past selves.
December 9th, 2009 at 11:30 pm
man i think i saw somethin like that when i was five! ps snoopy should have been luke
December 10th, 2009 at 10:21 pm
Since you mentioned it, I remember something like that from when I was a young lad… But I’m not sure if it’s just stuff from when I was a kid getting mixed up or something that actually existed.
Also, link indicates it did at least kind of happen: http://theswca.com/index.php?action=disp_item&item_id=78722
January 8th, 2010 at 12:20 am
Funny. I did a spec strip like that in the 1980s. Only I had Charlie Brown as Luke, Linus as Obi-wan, Peppermint Patty as Leia, Marci as C3P0 and Snoopy and Woodstock as Han Solo and Chewbacca. Han-Snoopy sat on top of the dog house as “the world famous space pirate”
March 20th, 2010 at 7:25 am
Hi there, you’re right there was a peanuts parody of The Empire Strikes back in the early 80s. It was definitely in a Crazy Magazine issue, I remember it well. Sorry that’s all I can help you with, I’ve been searching for the parody myself.
July 20th, 2010 at 5:31 pm
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