Robert Mayer, a man whom I was glad to call a friend, and whose work I have proudly published for over 15 years, passed away on Tuesday. He was a journalist and an author, whose books include everything from the influential literary superhero satire Superfolks to the true crime chronicle The Dreams of Ada to being a contributor to the best-selling lurid hoax Naked Came the Stranger.
But why mention him here on this Peanuts books blog? Well, on the opening page of Superfolks, he is chronicling the bad end that various heroes, ranging for Superman to John Kennedy, had come to. And the list caps off with “Even Snoopy had bought it; shot down by the Red Baron; missing in action over France.” (Fear not, dear readers; toward the end of the novel, it is indicated that while Snoopy may have been downed, he was not yet out.) While the novel came out in 1977, it was still a fairly early literary reference to Peanuts.
It’s a small thing, but I welcome the excuse to talk about my friend.
