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Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles
Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles #1
It’s 1953. While the United States is locked in a nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union, the gay Southern playwright known as Snagglepuss is the toast of Broadway. But success has made him a target. As he plans for his next hit play, Snagglepuss becomes the focus of the House Committee on Un-American Activities. And when powerful forces align to purge show business of its most subversive voices, no one is safe!
Drama! Humor! Tragedy! It all starts in Exit Stage LEFT: The Snagglepuss Chronicles #1, a new miniseries from the writer who brought you the Flintstones.
Drama! Humor! Tragedy! It all starts in Exit Stage LEFT: The Snagglepuss Chronicles #1, a new miniseries from the writer who brought you the Flintstones.
32 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 3, 2018
1 person is currently reading
61 people want to read
About the author
Mark Russell
435 books387 followersMark Russell is the author of God Is Disappointed in You and Apocrypha Now. He also writes the comic book series Prez and The Flintstones for DC Comics. He lives and works in Portland, Oregon.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
January 6, 2018
Snagglepuss as a closeted gay Southern playwright standing up to systemic oppression in 1950s America? Heavens to Murgatroyd, that sounds like a barrel of laffs! Yeah, it’s a surprisingly serious reboot for the iconic Hanna-Barbera character that’s not even pretending to aim for a kiddie audience which is probably why the first issue isn’t bad.
Mark Russell is definitely one of DC’s most interesting current writers. I really enjoyed his underrated Prez book and his Flintstones run was surprisingly decent so I’m glad he’s continuing to take fringe DC properties and relaunch them with a fresh, contemporary spin.
Like The Flintstones, Russell adopts an unexpectedly dark tone for a Hanna-Barbera comic. Gloomy real-life history appears throughout with the paranoid spectre of Cold War tension taking the form of the House Committee of Un-American Activities going after figures in the entertainment industry. The Rosenbergs’ execution and the famous gay bar, the Stonewall Inn, also feature prominently.
Weirdly, it works quite well for the character as if this was always Snagglepuss’ natural setting! Mark Russell’s writing and Mike Feehan’s art is fine throughout. However, there isn’t much of a story. Nor is Russell doing anything especially original besides dredging up the past and mixing in animal humanoids like Snagglepuss. His subtle commentary is similarly unremarkable and banal: what a dark time in American history! It feels like this could be a very predictable, very safe and disappointingly boring comic if it continues this way.
That said, there’s potential here to draw parallels with our present-day hysterical witch-hunt atmosphere and equally-unhinged political climate so perhaps the series could get much more interesting down the line if it goes in that direction. I liked the bait-and-switch climax to the issue regarding the middle-aged couple on their date night as well as Huckleberry Hound’s cameo - if Snagglepuss is meant to be Tennessee Williams, is Huckleberry Hound meant to be Truman Capote?
It didn’t wow me but Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles #1 wasn’t bad either. And at the very least Mark Russell got me to read a fucking SNAGGLEPUSS comic which I never thought I’d do! Though I’m still interested to see how the story plays out, my expectations are also somewhat tempered after this lukewarm first issue.
Mark Russell is definitely one of DC’s most interesting current writers. I really enjoyed his underrated Prez book and his Flintstones run was surprisingly decent so I’m glad he’s continuing to take fringe DC properties and relaunch them with a fresh, contemporary spin.
Like The Flintstones, Russell adopts an unexpectedly dark tone for a Hanna-Barbera comic. Gloomy real-life history appears throughout with the paranoid spectre of Cold War tension taking the form of the House Committee of Un-American Activities going after figures in the entertainment industry. The Rosenbergs’ execution and the famous gay bar, the Stonewall Inn, also feature prominently.
Weirdly, it works quite well for the character as if this was always Snagglepuss’ natural setting! Mark Russell’s writing and Mike Feehan’s art is fine throughout. However, there isn’t much of a story. Nor is Russell doing anything especially original besides dredging up the past and mixing in animal humanoids like Snagglepuss. His subtle commentary is similarly unremarkable and banal: what a dark time in American history! It feels like this could be a very predictable, very safe and disappointingly boring comic if it continues this way.
That said, there’s potential here to draw parallels with our present-day hysterical witch-hunt atmosphere and equally-unhinged political climate so perhaps the series could get much more interesting down the line if it goes in that direction. I liked the bait-and-switch climax to the issue regarding the middle-aged couple on their date night as well as Huckleberry Hound’s cameo - if Snagglepuss is meant to be Tennessee Williams, is Huckleberry Hound meant to be Truman Capote?
It didn’t wow me but Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles #1 wasn’t bad either. And at the very least Mark Russell got me to read a fucking SNAGGLEPUSS comic which I never thought I’d do! Though I’m still interested to see how the story plays out, my expectations are also somewhat tempered after this lukewarm first issue.
January 6, 2018
This was a really cool first issue. I've really been looking forward to this title, and I didn't know it was set during the Red Scare. I loved the shots of McCarthy, and I hope this shows him as a total maniac (like he was). I also really love that S.P. went to the Stonewall, that was a good... cameo, I guess you'd call it.
January 12, 2018
The first issue promises a great and topical story about an authoritarian regime going after “deviants and subversives” (including, of course, the protagonist: a gay playwright who also happens to be a pink panther). I’m gripped and I’m pulling Exit Stage Left on my list of regularly read comics.
January 20, 2018
What did I just read? I had no expectations, but I could have never expected that. It was pretty good, but definitely not the type of story that will hold my attention.
April 21, 2018
It took me forever to get a copy of this! I’m finding this new take on Snagglepuss really interesting.
January 5, 2020
I picked this book up because it was an answer on a recent Jeopardy episode.
Wow - so what would you think if Quick Draw McGraw and Huckleberry Hound were gay lovers in 1953 who met at the Stonewall? That Snagglepuss was a playwright being investigated by the House on Unamerican Activities? If Marylyn Monroe confided why she left DiMaggio and loved Miller? And of course, Lillian Hellman is there, because after all, it is 1953.
Yeah, this one will stay with me for a while! Looking forward to the next installment.
Wow - so what would you think if Quick Draw McGraw and Huckleberry Hound were gay lovers in 1953 who met at the Stonewall? That Snagglepuss was a playwright being investigated by the House on Unamerican Activities? If Marylyn Monroe confided why she left DiMaggio and loved Miller? And of course, Lillian Hellman is there, because after all, it is 1953.
Yeah, this one will stay with me for a while! Looking forward to the next installment.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 11, 2018
A very odd, subversive comic that seems to be having a difficult time finding a coherent theme. Mark Russell is trying to keep a whole bunch of thematic balls in the air which can lead to an energetic intensity but right now feels more like chaos.
That said, the characters are fantastic and the dialogue is fun. The art is uncomfortably realistic with plenty of references to the art of the era plus kinda cool visual gags.
That said, the characters are fantastic and the dialogue is fun. The art is uncomfortably realistic with plenty of references to the art of the era plus kinda cool visual gags.
May 19, 2018
A good read, though it has some problems in the writing and artwork. The story really felt more like an extended prologue where nothing really happened outside of plots being set up. While the artwork is serviceable, it dives into the uncanny valley when you see that the animal characters have the faces of animals, but have the basic bodies of muscular men and, like many cartoon characters, don't wear pants, but the realism of this series makes it more unsettling and creepy than intended.
January 28, 2018
Foolishness
Simplistic, “book” just wanders around, showing two dimensional caricatures of heroes from earlier in our history, without explaining who they were or why they were important. And then it ended in a long commercial for another comic...hard to believe I paid for this crap
Simplistic, “book” just wanders around, showing two dimensional caricatures of heroes from earlier in our history, without explaining who they were or why they were important. And then it ended in a long commercial for another comic...hard to believe I paid for this crap
February 7, 2018
It wasn't quiet what I thought it was going to be. Pretty heavy handed subject matter at times, which was before my time. But I found myself thinking this could happen today or is happening just on a different scale and idea. I prefer my reading to be light in subject matter and fun but will continue the series since it is short just because I want to know what happens.
February 3, 2018
I've got to say that was very good; the dialogues and design of the characters were amazing . I mean they are doing very well , despite that's the first publication , and I hope that maintain the same level in every publication.
January 4, 2018
.......sure. why not
January 15, 2018
Having absolutely no expectations for this, it was a good surprise and well-written issue #1.
January 24, 2023
Overall this book was okay but would of liked it if it was more flash out. The he pace of plot was okay and the ending was fine. I didn't like the characters and the art work was fine. I liked the cover of book.
January 8, 2018
Seems factual.
Read
September 18, 2018meh
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews