Reader's Diary #2037- Mark Russell (writer), Mike Feehan (artist): The Snagglepuss Chronicles

A fan of Mark Russell's surprisingly clever Flintstones comics a couple of years back, I was very much looking forward to his take on Snagglepuss as a gay Southern playwright. Then I heard it was illustrated by Mike Feehan of Newfoundland and I couldn't wait.

The Snagglepuss Chronicles is great and I want that said up front. It's a super interesting story about the cold war, the McCarthy Hearings, and homophobia. However, that it's Snagglepuss is pretty much irrelevant. Yes, other cartoon characters show up (notably Huckleberry Hound and Quickdraw McGraw) but they might as well have had regular names and been people. Russell used the Flintstones premise to satire modern society but it didn't seem like there was much concern about the source material here. Again, the story itself is wonderful but the packaging is altogether odd.

Feehan's artwork is really good as well, reminding me somewhat of Dave Berg's work (MAD Magazine). It is, however, hindered a little by the premise and I have to admit that the human-like legs on the cartoon animals were somewhat creepy and a whole lot distracting.