>Heavens to Murgatroyd. This January, Hanna-Barbera's classic cartoon character Snagglepuss is being revived by DC Entertainment, but Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles is anything but a strict reboot of the pink mountain lion with particularly refined sensibilities.
>The six-issue series is written by Mark Russell, who turned The Flintstones into one of the most critically acclaimed comics in recent memory, and features art by Mike Feenan. Exit Stage Left reimagines Snagglepuss as a closeted gay playwright from the south who just happens to be the hottest thing on Broadway but will he be able to stay in that role and speak out against the many social injustices happening all around him?
>Heat Vision has the two covers to the first issue by Ben Caldwell (above) and Evan "Doc" Shaner (below) and also talked to Russell about how he ended up bringing the beloved animated lion into his new position in life.
>Given your work on The Flintstones and Prez, it only feels natural for you to handle a reboot of Snagglepuss that is a social satire on mid-20th Century New York and today's society as well but at the same time, how did you end up working on Snagglepuss of all characters?
>It just kind of happened by accident. I was just tweeting funny lines I thought Snagglepuss would say, if he was Tennessee Williams some kind of Southern Gothic playwright and Marie Javins, my editor, thought they were funny and she talked to Dan [Didio, DC co-publisher] about turning that into a comic. That's how it started. It was really just funny tweets, and it just ballooned from there.
>You're obviously a fan of the classic Snagglepuss. He has this over-the-top voice that allows him to get away with saying things like, as you said, this Southern Gothic material without coming across as being too harsh. Is that how you see him as well?
>I think that's very astute. The way I write him, he's kind of an avant grade figure for the times people kind of expect him to say things that are edgy, and witty. In a way, he's allowed to breach subjects and say things in 1953 in New York that other people simply could not.
>You're able to do a similar thing in this comic. Your character is a human-size pink tiger who talks, which gives you license to say thing that are I don't want to say controversial, but you can make comments that perhaps people aren't expecting in Exit Stage Left.
>I feel like most people judge people by their hearts, by their intentions, more than what they actually say. I wanted to make Snagglepuss a heroic figure, and make him kind of lovable, so that when he does say something kind of controversial, you assume it comes from a place of dignity and love for people. It shouldn't come across as mean or acerbic.
>When you said, not acerbic or mean, my mind immediately went to Twitter, which can reward both of those things. But, at the same time, when Exit Stage Left was first announced, and especially when the preview ran earlier this year in the Suicide Squad/Banana Splits issue, it was so embraced by people online, and especially that it was so heartfelt. Was that surprising?
>I'm also glad when people get what I'm trying to do. It's such a relief when they understand that you're not trying to assassinate this character, or that they trust you to be respectful yet original and satirical with the character at the same time. It's a really delicate thing to pull off, and I'm really happy that people, so far, seem to be trusting me with that responsibility.
Nathaniel Campbell
>I think The Flintstones earned you a lot of goodwill, and I think that's what makes people as curious and excited about Exit Stage Left as they are. It's in the Flintstones DNA to comment on modern society, that's what the original show also set out to do to a degree, but I think Exit Stage Left offers the chance for you to give voice to people who didn't necessarily have a say in society in the 1950s. Or today, even.
>I think that's right. Snagglepuss in this story is having to live a double life as a gay playwright living in New York, and he's closeted. But he has values and integrity as an artist, and he's trying to stand up for people who otherwise would be shoved under the stairs in this time of great national paranoia in the Red Scare mentality. It's very easy in a time of national catastrophe of perceived national catastrophe to throw people under the sink and forget about them, and Snagglepuss is unwilling to let them do that to people he knows and loves. He's willing to stand up for people when the rest of the country is not.
>In a lot of ways, that frees me up to say what I think about what's going on in the world now, just putting it in the context of 1953 America.
>When you've been watching what's been happening in the world, are you surprised that there are such echoes between the period you're writing about and today?
>Somebody once said that history never repeats itself, it just rhymes an awful lot. Unfortunately, there are these themes in history particularly American history that never really seem to go away. Themes like marginalizing minorities and immigrants, using fear of military threats to make people go along with abuse. These themes quieten down every now and again, but they never seem to go away, so unfortunately, when you're writing about these things, they will always be timely or relevant.
Logan Morris
>Something you demonstrated with Flintstones, and in the Exit Stage Left preview strip, is that there's a great kindness to your work. Are you conscious of who you're speaking on behalf of with these comics? Is that something that informs the way you approach something like this?
>I don't really feel a responsibility to talk on behalf of anyone else I don't really feel that's what I'm doing, I just speak from my heart about things that matter to me. I don't worry too much about getting it right, or misrepresenting other people. I'm really just representing myself. But my political philosophy my philosophy in general is that I just want the human race to play nice with itself. To me, that's the most boring, obvious ideology a person can have, and it's amazing to me, I'm continually amazed, how controversial or edgy people think that is. To me, this should be the natural state of affairs, and isn't it weird that it's not?
>Are there times when you think, I get to put forward this philosophy, and it's through the voice of a pink gay lion?
>It's so surreal. This is never what I imagined from life, but I will totally take it. This is a dream come true I get to write whatever I can think of, and someone else have to draw it. Think of the power! The fact that it's a pink lion, or a caveman, gives me the license to say all these things and people don't really take it that personally. It's hard to get offended at something a big pink lion is saying and not feel silly about yourself.
>shoved under the stairs >throw people under the sink
never heard either of these til now
Aaron Richardson
Really excited for this, hopefully Russell will be as good as he always is. The Snagglepuss back-up story in that one whatever comic was pretty good, if I'm not misremembering liking it.
By the way, if Russell was to take on a mainline DC book, what would you want it to be anons? I liked his Booster in that Flintstones Annual, so that could be it. I think he could also write a pretty fun Shazam book.
Pretty sure people had the same reaction to Flintstones
Cooper Cox
Stop caring.
Luke Ortiz
>Look! Few idiots on twitter not realizing how good this will be!
Okay?
Also, Prez vol. 2 fucking when? You owe us DC!
Jackson Turner
Reminder that the Snagglepuss backup had furries so triggered that they couldn't fap to it that they started posting dozens of Snagglepuss redesigns that they could beat off too.
Elijah Nelson
Would love to see he and Pugh on a JLI book.
Jace Wilson
Never thought i'd be legitimately hype for the Adventures of Furry Tennessee Williams, but here I am.
Isaac Hill
>Remember reading Breitbart comments Fun times
Luis Thompson
Nonreaders talking about comics and thinking they know everything about it is cancer
Tyler Williams
>no-furry artist
I mean DC already hired a futa artist, I say being on the furry too
Tyler Baker
>Snagglepuss as a closeted gay
Huh, you know what? I guess Snagglepuss always was kind of gay.
Ryan Mitchell
>non comic readers getting mad or confused about comics
STOP THE PRESSES
I bet you think furries throwing a fit about Snagglepuss not being fuckable is another reason why the book won't sell.
>Bashing the art Is the artist different from the short preview from earlier this year? Cause that shit was great, idk what this guy is talking about.
Jonathan Moore
God that was hilarious.
Literally all the fanart they had bedroom eyes and that pixar smirk too.
Samuel Gray
I think the art was slightly changed from the announcement preview (which was something like 3 pages) to the actual preview (which was 8 pages or something)
Andrew Rivera
So was The Flintstones worth reading?
Brody Hughes
...
Christopher Howard
Yes it was.
Ryder White
>Is the artist different from the short preview from earlier this year? >Cause that shit was great, idk what this guy is talking about. Furries couldn't beat to it.
Jeremiah Thompson
God, finally. I was starting to get worried.
Parker Collins
Yes.
Jackson Murphy
PREZ AND FLINTSTONES FANS IN THE HOUSE
Christopher Ross
Holy shit, yes.
Like, I think some of the impact comes from the actual SHOCK that a Flinstones comic was not only good, but one of the best comics I've ever read. But even without going in blind, it is a fantastic comic.
If you're not hooked by the issue where aliens are using Earth as a Spring Break party destination, then give up.
Angel Anderson
They genuinely cannot comprehend anthropomorphic animals not being masturbation fodder, huh?
Julian Howard
DC is actively trying not to over exert the imprints. It looked like Milestone wasnt happening for a long time and Wildstorm ony released its second book last week.
Henry Baker
Best DC book in years.
Gavin Gutierrez
Is this gonna end in a laffolympic crossover?
Julian Morris
Do furries even know how embarrassing they are
Kayden Hill
Twitter is the domain of morons
Levi Williams
You are qualified to answer your own question.
Levi Bell
I personally love Howard Porter but some people don't
Grayson Jones
You haven't even touched the surface of what happened then, user.
No. It switches between clotying sentimentality and fashionable cynacism, so the dullards on Sup Forums think it's "heartfelt" and "smart".
Daniel Cooper
Yep. Best Big 2 comic of the year, rivalled by The Vision at Marvel
Carter Roberts
oh my goodness
Noah Gomez
...
Kayden Cook
>It's another "The 50's were bad, goyim" story
Andrew Barnes
The Flintstones was the most fedora thing from this year that wasn't Rick and Morty.
Xavier Peterson
But lackadaisy get's away with detail and having great expressions.
Jackson Sanders
Will Sup Forums automatically suck the dick of anything that promises to be an edgy deconstruction of a childrens cartoon?
Isaac Nelson
>furries think we want to jerk off to animal pictures with them
Luke Torres
If it's well made then I'll gladly sick it dry.
Anthony Hernandez
>Edgy
We have a right wing snowflake from the 1950s in our midst?
Owen Long
Yeah, everyone loved Wacky Raceland and Scooby-Doo Apocalypse here.
Stop posting.
Nathaniel Adams
There is nothing sadder tha seeing tumblr trying to use Sup Forums memes.
Anthony James
If they had even the slightest bit of self-awareness, they wouldn't be furries to begin with.
Aaron Garcia
That is 10x worse than any big two art. Even Henderson.
Thank god marvel and dc don't hire furry artists.
Henry Foster
Its just liberal millenials in the age of Trump, user. Just say stuff like all my dreams are broken, its the systems fault that Im a loser, and authority figures suck, and Sup Forums will treat it as the raging voice of our generation.
Chase Garcia
His eyes did look kinda dead, it was weird.
He didn't need to become fapbait, but some slight changes would have helped.
Luis Bailey
Never ever, last I heard.
damn shame
Aiden Brown
>snagglepuss comic series I never asked for this >Mark Russell, who turned The Flintstones into one of the most critically acclaimed comics in recent memory Fuck yeah
Adrian Morgan
This and Ennis' Dasterly and Mutley book are what currently make the HB line worthwhile.
Joshua Lopez
What's next? Magilla Gorilla as an Israeli refugee that liberal college student Ogee fights to allow him to stay?
Christopher Rodriguez
How does that even make sense?
Camden Morris
...I don't know, maybe? Sounds ok.
Juan Diaz
>It's another the 50's werte bad because identity politics didn't exist yet episode
Oh boy! Haven't seen one of those since last Oscar season.
Jason Cooper
> he made up words of his own that weren't memes, I am confused and enraged
Joshua Robinson
That at least won't be as cringy as seeing urban liberals exploiting nostalgia to sell a comic about working class whites learning lessons of progressivism.
Adrian Roberts
Maybe pick up a history book once in awhile, son. You might actually learn something and develop better understanding of the world beyond idiotic memes.
Jayden Flores
I don't understand why this isn't reposted in every thread about social media
Jacob Bennett
Yeah, because the civil rights movement didn't have any poor consequences and didn't backfire horribly, and now race relations are better than ever before.
Eli Anderson
> I don't HAVE to read something to know it's pandering crap
>y-y-you're too stupid to understand its subtleties! Is this comic attracting the Rick and Morty autistic audience?
Joseph Long
All furries who get hired by big companies either hide their power levels well, or, believe it or not, are less perverted individuals.
Isaiah Williams
>babbu finds his first reaction image
Owen Cooper
what's the point of advocating you're underage
Michael Morris
...
Brayden Brooks
In other words, the main audience were manchildren. Let me guess, it got good reviews from "woke journalists" but ended up selling terribly.
Julian Wright
It's fucking snagglepuss, when does he not have bedroom eyes and the dreamworks smirk?
Lucas Murphy
This looks kinda shit
Camden Sanders
I too yearn for the days of old when being a white man meant I had the legal right to oppress anyone I wanted and did not bear any consequences of my racist and sexist actions.
Levi Brown
Speaking as someone who draws comissions, no It's like DA on steroids, dog eat dog, it's a pretty vicious fandom
Carter Sanchez
Both make me extremely uncomfortable and im a furfag myself
William Phillips
>dog eat dog surely there was a better turn of phrase you could have used
Jayden Foster
That is way better tho
Nathan Allen
will you stop with the tumblr speak we can tell which posts are yours fucko
Caleb Gutierrez
I disagree
Caleb Lee
>YOU'RE A FUCKING WHITE MALE!
Yeah, it's so much better now that blacks are literally rioting with cops to afraid to do anything and people would rather let queers in California spread AIDS without consequence than be labelled "homophobic".
Levi Hughes
people don't want to admit they are wrong
Charles Flores
sure, why not
Nicholas Miller
lol
Nathaniel Harris
>liberal college students >fighting for the rights of Israelis
Owen Johnson
No shit, the average furfag is less degenerate than the average cartoon/comicfag, animal parts nonwithstanding.
We trade in a lot of extreme fetishes in Sup Forums.
Hunter James
Is Sup Forums seriously defending the art to the left? This just goes to show that Erica Henderson's error was not being progressive enough, otherwise half of Sup Forums would be defending her.
David Phillips
>not defending Howard Porter over some random furry artist doing le Dreamworks face
Jonathan Jackson
nightmare vs. hardblush. Sorry I don't like either you could maybe fix left by not giving him eyes that look like he had a war flashback and right by letting him actually look older and not like he about to get some dick.
Adrian Rogers
Meh, I see where he's coming from, but that face is too blatantly "furry" to work
Brody Parker
>with cops to afraid to do anything
Don't be silly, they aren't afraid of shooting unarmed civilians. Especially if they're black. And AIDS is no longer deadly thanks to modern effective medication. Why should it be seen as any different from any other STD anymore?
