Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles

If you told me one of the more emotionally gripping comics I was going to read this year were based on Hanna-Barbera cartoons, I’d...well I probably wouldn’t call you crazy. It’s not any more ridiculous than anything else that unexpectedly grabs you by the heart. But God DAMN was I not ready. 

I’ve mentioned Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles before; I happened to grab Issue #3 on a whim. Honestly, the idea of a serious Snagglepuss portrayed as a gay playwright in 1950’s New York is good enough on its own. But I’ve finally gotten around to finishing it(thanks in no small part to The Flinstones comics), and theres a lot to love. Cool cameos, 50’s culture/political plot points, and some unbelievably sharp artwork and writing. 

But at it’s core The Snagglepuss Chronicles is a story of human dignity, and a heartbreaking one at that. 

The struggles of being alive and existing are hard enough as it is without constantly fearing the world will lash out at you for...being alive and existing. And for some people, it is more difficult to exist as they are are than it is for others. I think we can all get on the same page on that one, right? And if for whatever reason you can’t, just focus on the characters/setting of this story: the LGTBQ community in 1950’s New York during The Red Scare. 

Can you imagine? Between House Un-American Activities Committee being an actual fucking thing, the McCarran Internal Security Act, McCarthyism, Executive Order 10450, and just society at the time, all sorts of horrible things could happen to you for being alive and homosexual. I mean sure, a lot of what I just mentioned pertained to the fight against communism less so than persecuting the LGBTQ community, but at the time, one was used to justify the other. 

And this is the world of The Snagglepuss Chronicles. Snagglepuss wants to entertain, create art, be himself, and he’s surrounded by a community of people who want to do the same. He enjoys a great deal of fame and success, and he uses his standing to help others, to give them the lives they really want for themselves. I half-expected this to be a lighthearted story where Snagglepuss goes helping his friends and sassing the shit out of the US government and the world at large. 

 If you couldn’t tell from my lengthy description of the context, this isn’t what happens. 

Snagglepuss is forced to watch so much of his world melt away as the tide of fear and persecution washes over everyone he knows. And eventually, when he is brought to a hearing expected to testify and identify “subversives,” Snagglepuss is left a choice between cooperating with a system that justifies this behavior, and standing up to it; an act which can potentially take anything and everything away from him.  

Throughout the story, many characters are confronted with their own ideas of dignity. Quick Draw McGraw, Huckleberry Hound, Marilyn Monroe, and a few others I can’t spoil are all tested...to varying degrees of success. But looking at them through Snagglepuss’ eyes you come to realize how deeply personal your struggle with dignity is. Life will move on and around you regardless of your decisions, so your choices should reflect the things you can truly live with.