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. 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.
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. 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. 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. Hanna-Barbera's first cartoon debuted in 1957.
