What, Should We Sleepwalk?

It's been five years already since writer Mark Russell and I attended a staged reading of Snagglepuss at the Tennessee Williams Festival in Provincetown. It was incredible, a highlight of my time in comics (others being the theme park opening in Kuwait, and stealing back the office in Cairo).

I was grateful to my then-bosses for indulging me by covering my costs to allow me to attend, as well as for how strongly they supported and advocated for Mark's vision of Snagglepuss, and before that, The Flintstones (with Steve Pugh) and Prez (with Ben Caldwell).

I remember when one of our most legendary artists came into my office and said "I heard this was the most woke comic out there" about The Flintstones and I hadn't heard the phrase "woke" yet. I laughed and laughed. What a ridiculous and belittling term for people doing relevant and smart work. (Spoiler: Usage of the term only got more belittling over time.)

But then I remember the same sneering in college years with the term "PC." Same shit, different terms. I don't have the energy for culture wars. We all do the best we can, and I've worked on a lot of good and bad comics, then sometimes we get to do something like Exit Stage Left.