The year is 1972.

The American homefront is roiling as an oppressed people struggle under the boot of systemic oppression. The war in Vietnam is equally as just.

John Stewart is starting his career as the newest intergalactic guardian of a troubled planet.

And Huckleberry Hound is on his way out of showbusiness.

"Green Lantern/Huckleberry Hound" #1, cover

On Wednesday, writer Mark Russell is once again returning to the world of classic Hanna-Barbera characters -- this time with "Green Lantern/Huckleberry Hound," a crossover that sees two characters at different points in their respective careers at a pivotal (and resonant) moment in American history.

I talked with Russell about the book -- and about some of his upcoming projects for DC, including next month's "DC Nuclear Winter Special" and his 2019 series for Vertigo.

How did the Green Lantern/Huckleberry Hound book come together?

Mark Russell: Jim Chadwick, the editor, thought of me, because he thought it would be something up my alley to do sort of really unorthodox and unintuitive crossover like that because of other work I've done -- "Booster Gold," "The Flintstones" and obviously "Snagglepuss." He asked me if it was something I would be interested in writing and he told me he envisioned it being set in the early 70s, so it gave me a lot of ideas of what I could do with it -- the backdrop of Watergate and the Vietnam War -- so I immediately said yes.

Who are these characters to you -- both John Stewart and Huckleberry Hound?

Russell: I've written about Huckleberry Hound previously in my "Snagglepuss" comic as a character that gets into cartoons and there is basically a show business after because of the patronage of Snagglepuss, but John Stewart was pretty new to me. I really liked the idea of somebody learning to become a super hero, basically learning how to use their power. I also really like the idea setting it after the Huckleberry Hound cartoons sort of come to an end as his career as a cultural force sort of petered out. It's really, in a lot of ways, a story about two guys meeting at the opposite ends of their career. John Stewart, when he is just starting out and just learning what it is to be super hero, and Huckleberry Hound at the downward slope of his comedy career and how he has had a chance to go around the block a couple times and know how the world works.

I thought it would be really an interesting chance for them to have a conversation about John Stewart and his newness meeting the experience and waft of Huckleberry Hound.

"Green Lantern/Huckleberry Hound" #1, interior

This is not your first time with the Hanna-Barbera stable of characters. How have you been able to find so much depth in these characters?

Russell: I think the key to any good writing is to really to take your character seriously to think of them not as two-dimensional icons or punchlines but to really flush them out as people and think about what it would be like to live in their situation. That's really where the story always begins. What would it be like to be Huckleberry Hound in 1971 after his cartoon had gone off the air? How would he be making his living? What's sorts of things would he be doing? What sort of lessons would he have learned from failed career in show business?

"Green Lantern/Huckleberry Hound" #1, interior

Do you think you're done with them?

Russell: I think so, largely because DC is done with them for the moment. I would love to come back and do some more Hanna-Barbara work in the future, like you say it's been such a great grist for the mill to try and find new life in these old characters and to take characters that have been discarded by our popular imaginations seriously once again.

If you could pick another, what would you go with?

Russell: I would probably go with the Jetsons just because they're sort of the counter point to the Flintstones. An examination of the future and also for an examination of the same sort of cultural and civilizational fundamental flaws that never got fixed from the beginning of civilization at Bedrock to the end of civilization at the Jetsons' world.

"Green Lantern/Huckleberry Hound" #1, interior

What interested you in writing in the Vietnam War era? What was fascinating about writing something set in 1972?

Russell: I feel like there is a similar sensibility about politics today as there was then, and the cynicism of how we've been lied to on a grand scale and everyone knew that the Vietnam War was lost, but we were still committed to fighting it because nobody could find a good way out of it. Watergate was happening and the president was denying any involvement in the scandal that was really only done to benefit him. It really is a message about the political cynicism and the sense of helplessness that people had over their own political fates at that time. It really an examination of power and its abuse, which is I think what most super hero comic books were about in the beginning.

"Green Lantern/Huckleberry Hound" #1, interior

There's a line in the book that really interested me and speaks to larger issues in your work. You have John's mentor talking about the difference between "justice" and "peace and quiet." What's that distinction mean to you?

Russell: It's really about how power works and how power fails, and as he says in the book, the only power that really lasts is not the power you have over people, but it's the power you have with people. I think that is what makes civil disobedience work -- when it does work -- is the fact that you are not just doing it alone, but you are expressing the frustration of millions of others and that's when you start a movement that culminates, ultimately, into change.

That's really the hope I wanted offer him my rumination about power in this comic book. If you have enough people as powerless as you are, all wanting the same thing, then that in itself becomes overwhelming source of power and change becomes inevitable. It's really a message of not giving up hope in the face of hopelessness -- it's really about finding hope in the other people who are feeling hopeless around you.

The last time we talked was in January 2017. What has it been like trying to write satire the last 22 months?

Russell: It's been an interesting time, largely because I think the biggest challenge in the last 22 months and the Trump era in general is trying to write satire without giving into cynicism or without feeling like there is no point. I think a lot of it is, when in doubt just write about the world, and you feel about it, and how it's killing you, and as long as it's sincere and your points are thought out, and you're encasing it in a good story, then I think it's relevant regardless of whether or not you feel like reality is out flanking your ability to satirize it or you feel like you're being too negative.

"Green Lantern/Huckleberry Hound" #1, interior

What do you want people to take away from this?

Russell: I think a sense of hope that they can affect change not only in their own lives but in the world around them.

"Green Lantern/Huckleberry Hound" #1, interior

What can you say about the "DC Nuclear Winter Special"?

Russell: It's all these stories all set in some sort of post-apocalyptic world, but they're also holiday season stories. The irony of that really appealed to me and my story in particular is the interstitial story that connects all of them. I'm writing a story about a Rip Hunter, who is a time traveler, and he is stuck in this post-apocalyptic future, and he's waiting for his time machine to power up -- he's recharging it in the ruins of the Google campus at their electric vehicle recharging station. While he is charging his time machine to be able to leave, he is accosted by these barbarians, these futuristic cannibals, and he has to tell them stories about these DC characters in order to convince them not to eat him. It does sort of end up being a Christmas holiday story as bleak as that sounds. I tried to make it funny, so hopefully I succeeded there. It is one of the more fun things I've written in a while.

And what about your Vertigo book coming out next year?

Russell: It's slated to come out March 2019, and it's called "Second Coming." It's about a Superman-esque superhero (not to be confused with Superman himself) who shares a two-bedroom apartment with Jesus Christ. Much like the "Huckleberry Hound/Green Lantern" crossover, it's a meditation on power and sort of the limitations of physical power and how it really is only useful against 1 percent of the problems we face -- the rest have to be solved with empathy and cooperation. I'm really looking forward it. It's also an examination on the Christian religion and where it went wrong after Christ and about where we join Christ in teaching and maybe has hope for fulfilling his promise in doing so. I'm really excited about it, and I think it's going to be really funny and thought provoking. At least that's my hope.

I know you're also working on "The Lone Ranger" book at Dynamite. You sound like you are pretty busy.

Russell: Yeah, I'm incredibly busy right now -- which is a good problem to have.

"Green Lantern/Huckleberry Hound" #1, interior

"Green Lantern/Huckleberry Hound," from writer Mark Russell, penciler Rick Leonardi, inkers Dan Green and Ande Parks, colorist Steve Buccellato, letterer Wes Abbott and DC, goes on sale Wednesday.