Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Exit Stage Left The Snagglepuss Chronicles by Mark Russell Comic Book / Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles. Exit Stage Left!: The Snagglepuss Chronicles is a six-issue miniseries starring the classic Hanna-Barbera character Snagglepuss. It was written by Mark Russell and is part of the Hanna-Barbera Beyond series. In 1953, as America looks for ways to outmaneuver the Soviet Union, the House Un-American Activities Committee seeks to rid the entertainment industry of those whose work they deem disruptive to public morals. Among their targets is Snagglepuss, creator of popular but controversial plays like The Heart is a Kennel of Thieves . When the HUAC's new head finds evidence that Snagglepuss is gay, he must figure out how to outwit them before he ends up on the blacklist. Snagglepuss: Exit Stage Left Is a Brilliant Exploration of McCarthyism and the Lavender Scare. Every time I’ve found myself explaining the basic premise of Mark Russell and Mike Feehan’s Snagglepuss: Exit Stage Left , people’s immediate reactions have been the same. At first, there’s light shock that DC would make a comic about a gay, closeted, anthropomorphic mountain lion and noted playwright. But then, after hearing more of the plot—how Snagglepuss becomes the newest target of the House Un-American Activities Committee’s crusade to oust subversive voices from Hollywood—their reactions shift. When you note that the book takes place in the early ‘50s during the height of McCarthyism and the Second Red Scare, there’s a certain distance that’s easy to put between the world of the comic and our reality. But while our reality may not be filled with walking, talking animals who are every bit the cultural tastemakers that we are, Exit Stage Left is, in fact, telling an all-too-realistic story about institutional bigotry that’s grounded in American history. On the night of the final performance of Snagglepuss’ play “My Heart Is a Kennel of Thieves” on Broadway, all of New York City is abuzz with excitement and anticipation about what the writer will do next. After cutting through throngs of fans and paparazzi, Snagglepuss and his wife Lila Lion slide into their limousine and speed off into the night to chat with one another about their evening out on the town. The crowd, Lila accurately points out, adores Snagglepuss. But the crowd, Snagglepuss accurate points out in response, doesn’t actually know anything about him. They know that the mountain lion, a native of Mississippi, grew up reading The New Yorker and revering members of the Algonquin Round Table like Dorothy Parker, but they don’t know his true political affiliations or his heart. Wordlessly, Lila steps out of the limousine moments later and the car revs back up, taking Snagglepuss to a nearby gay bar (the Stonewall) to meet with his actual lover, Pablo. Living this sort of double life is second nature for Snagglepuss—after all, he’s made a career out of building elaborate facades for the public’s consumption. But what Exit Stage Left is ultimately setting up in this first issue is that, as hidden away as he thinks he is, Snagglepuss’ very existence is a subversive act of defiance that will pull him even more squarely into the spotlight. Exit Stage Left wastes no time in establishing its central villain in one Gigi Allen, a State Department employee sent to assist HUAC in its mission to oust Communist sympathizers from within the country. Even as Snagglepuss foolishly tries to dismiss the House’s televised trials of public figures as a bloodthirsty spectacle for the small-minded, he can’t stop himself from picking up on the atmospheric change hinting at the storm coming his way. In response to Snagglepuss’ refusal to tale the House seriously, Pablo tells him the story of how he and other gay Cuban men once rolled their eyes at their government—a mistake that would ultimately lead to death for some and exile for others. Pablo’s story shakes Snagglepuss and sends him on an introspective journey that transports us into the mind of a man/mountain lion who knows, instinctively, that the shoe is about to drop—a novel way to tell a story about McCarthyism. Like its Red counterpart, the Lavender Scare was an anti-Communist witch hunt that saw hundreds of innocent people fired from their jobs, but the Lavender Scare was unique in that it specifically targeted LGBTQ people, or those suspected of being queer. Even if people were not actually Communists, the idea was that queer people could be blackmailed by Communists or their sympathizers because of their sexual or gender identities. Of course, garden-variety homophobia underpinned the Lavender Scare’s structure, but the trappings of patriotism and service to one’s country made the initiative that much more palatable to the public. Exit Stage Left is setting the stage for a story about just what it meant to be a victim of the Lavender Scare on a very human level. Often, when we talk about McCarthyism and the impact it had on our culture, we use broad, sweeping abstracts that gloss over the individual lives of people who were hurt. The anti-Communist panic of the ‘50s wasn’t just a political movement that swept the nation, it was a series of lives inexorably altered or ruined by a politically-driven mass hysteria. Snagglepuss: Exit Stage Left is trying to tell the story of one of those lives, in hopes of doing justice for more. Snagglepuss, LGBT hero: Legendary Hanna-Barbera character reborn in new comic series. Comics writer Mark Russell on reviving a beloved cartoon character in a striking tale of pre-Stonewall gay life. By Chauncey DeVega. Published June 10, 2019 5:17PM (EDT) Shares. Hanna-Barbera's first cartoon debuted in 1957. In the 60-odd years since that moment, Hanna-Barbera's characters and series, including the Flintstones, the Jetsons, Scooby-Doo, and so many others are now beloved across generations and by people all over the world. On the surface these are "just" children's cartoons, but many of Hanna-Barbera's cartoons are rife with double-entendres that only become more obvious and clear when viewed through adult eyes of an adult or other more sophisticated viewers. The enduring popularity and widespread love felt for the Hanna-Barbera cartoons has created an opportunity to subvert expectations by using those characters and settings to tell more challenging stories about such topics as human nature, family, love, sex, religion, capitalism, greed, war, and politics. Mark Russell has taken on this challenge to great effect and creative success in his DC Comics graphic novel series "Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles," which features the titular Hanna-Barbera character as a gay icon and playwright in 1950s New York. Along with other characters such as Quick Draw McGraw and Huckleberry Hound, Snagglepuss navigates life and love as a member of the gay community during the reign of terror that was the House Un-American Activities Committee and the Red Scare. "Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles" won the 2019 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comic Book. "The Snagglepuss Chronicles" has also been nominated for best limited series at this year's prestigious Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards. In this conversation Russell reflects on how he managed to write such a humane story about vulnerable people and their struggle for equality, as well as the ways in which "The Snagglepuss Chronicles" is a rebuttal to the Age of Trump and the rising global tide of fascism. Russell also shares the principles that motivate his writing and character-development, avoiding stereotypes and gay tropes in fiction, and the challenges and rewards that come with living a life of principle. Mark Russell is also the writer of DC Comics' reimagined versions of "The Flintstones" and the ongoing series "Wonder Twins." Our conversation has been edited for clarity and length. "The Snagglepuss Chronicles" is very sincere and humane. It is very personal. Were you writing to someone? Who is this for? I don't think I'm just writing for one person. But I do think that in a lot of ways you always write for a small audience. You write for yourself and you write for maybe one other person who's experienced something with you. So, yes, you do tend to write for a specific audience, whether one understands that is what we are doing or not. For me, writing is inherently an act of sincerity. Every advance I've made as a writer has been a rebellion against insincerity. With "Snagglepuss" and "The Flintstones" before it, what I really tried to do was be as blunt as possible with myself and in my writing. How do you manage that vulnerability? And why are so many writers and others afraid to be that vulnerable in their art and lives? It takes a toll on you. I mean there's only so much you can do before you feel completely exhausted. "The Snagglepuss Chronicles" was the hardest thing I've ever had to write, not because the task itself was that difficult but just because it was so emotionally devastating to build connections with these characters, and then having to do horrible things to them, to expose their own truth. How did you make that decision to do it? Was there a moment where you said to yourself, "I can't do this. I won't do this." No. I think that once you commit to that path as a writer, you have to see it through to the end.