Next week, AHOY Comics will release Snelson #2, the next chapter of the dark comedy miniseries from writer Paul Constant, artist Fred Harper, colorist Lee Loughridge, and letterer Rob Steen. The series follows Melville Snelson, a comedian who peaked in the ’90s, as he attempts to stay relevant by any means necessary. Today The Beat is pleased to present an exclusive excerpt from the upcoming issue.
Here’s how AHOY describes Snelson #2:
Snelson’s standup comedy is two decades past its sell-by date, and hecklers now outnumber fans. His interpretation of this rejection—as “cancellation” for being edgy—propels Snelson to the fringes of alt-right podcasting. All AHOY titles include bonus illustrated prose stories. Issue 1 features a variant cover by MAD legend Sergio Aragones.
In an interview with The Beat prior to the release of the series’ first issue, Constant described walking the tightrope of writing a series with an unlikeable protagonist:
I wanted to understand how someone becomes an embittered troll—but I absolutely do not want to make trolls sympathetic. Snelson is not the hero of this book, and I have a huge responsibility to ensure that I don’t glamorize him or endorse his beliefs in any way. If a reader were to send me an email saying “Snelson is my hero,” in the way that some misanthropic fans have unironically embraced The Joker or Thanos or Walter White as heroes, I would feel like I failed at my job.
The preview for the latest issue checks in on Snelson in the wake of his “cancellation,” as he takes the next logical steps and launches a successful podcast where he interviews other “cancelled” comedians. You can check that out, as well as the variant cover for the issue by the legendary Sergio Aragonés, below. Snelson #2 is set to arrive in stores on Wednesday, September 8th.
