[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Writer: Mark Russell
Artist: Mike Feehan
Inker: Mark Morales
Writer of Sasquatch Detective: Brandee Stilwell
Artist of Sasquatch Detective: Gus Vazquez
Inker of Sasquatch Detective: Ross Campbell
Summary
Snagglepuss and Huckleberry Hound find themselves on a TV Show. The story is told mostly in disjointed flashbacks and is ultimately a wrap around story. We learn a bit more about how S.P. spends his days (lounging by the pool) and we visit the Stonewall, where we already know he spends his nights.
This month, not a ton happens as is often the case in wrap around stories, but we learn a lot and the plot is moved forward.
This month there are cameos by Quick Draw McGraw, Clint Eastwood, Joe DiMaggio, Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe (you can see where that is going).
Positives
Here is some totally meta commentary right from the mouth of our hero himself:
“Television makes everything literally and figuratively, two-dimensional. This is everything my plays revolt against, rendering people in two dimensions.”
So, in this scene Russell, Feehan and Morales are flashing between a stage play in full color and a black and white rendering of the same scene as seen through the TV of the time. Snagglepuss is saying this, while on TV, a two-dimensional medium, while the creative team of this book express themselves in the same, two dimensions. All of this is happening in a book about the many layers of what it means to be creative and what it means to express one’s self as one truly is. Damn. Philosophy is alive and well and springing to life in the pages of DC Comics.
Feehan is the star of this issue in that he has to give us young Clint Eastwood and in her prime Marilyn Monroe. I wonder if he read the script and said, “Mark, seriously, just let me draw humanoids.” It is one thing to re-imagine characters many folks know from childhood, but it is another thing to bring Marilyn to life or put Clint in a time machine, but alas, Feehan totally nails both. Throw in the fact that Quick Draw McGraw looks so realistic you would not be surprised if kids lined up behind him for a pony ride and you have a beautifully drawn book that fits in perfectly to a compelling story.
Negatives
Once again, the weak link in this book is the Sasquatch Detective story. Again, I hate to be a hater. The colors are so bright and art is so original it is hard to say this is a negative, but, as I mentioned last month, it is such a stark contrast to the main story that I would recommend folks do not do what I did and plow right through and read them back to back. Finish the main story and then take a break. Give it a day and then read Sasquatch Detective. I think that will make it a better experience.
Verdict
Zinger after zinger keeps coming as this team keeps delivering. “You sound as drunk as a priest on Monday” is actually written in this book. Seriously, even out of context, that is pretty funny. Couple that with some deep thoughts and philosophical insights like, ” We are all loved despite being despicable in our own way” and you have a book that will be remarkably powerful while being disappointingly too short as this is only going to be a six issue run.
