Political allegory is not an easy thing to tackle. We’re all neck-deep in the political divide, we all have that knot in our stomachs even thinking about talking about politics. So to separate yourself enough to create something truly pointed is no easy task. So credit where it’s due: Tom King and Peter Gross’s Animal Pound #5 from BOOM! Studios bring the modern updating of Animal Farm to an emotionally crushing and terrifying close. It’s sharp, upsetting, and pays off on the premise of updating Orwell’s classic for the modern era.
There’s a lot to unpack in this issue, but the gist is that as we open Piggy, the dog who is a none-too-subtle stand-in for Donald Trump, is entering his third term “leading” the pound. The cats have been pushed to second tier, with Madame Fifi unsure of how to handle the situation. The rabbits are barely present in this issue, already having been turned into a food and hunting source by the dog population. If there’s any knock on this issue, it’s that the stand-in for the minority population becomes a non-factor by the end of this series, when the plight of refugees is so much a focus of the political discourse.
What King and Gross do nail, though, is the danger of Trump’s words. How he’s turned the entire Republican party into an extension of him. And how there’s nothing there but emptiness, braggadocio, and promises that only serve to keep him in power. And on the flip side, how liberal malaise and doom-scrolling are only going to lead to status quo rather than change.
The curious place the team ends up, to head into spoilers, is a return to the status quo from the very beginning, with everyone back in their cages and Piggy the only one running free — albeit dressed in costumes and performing for laughing humans. Is the idea that Trump does not pose the danger to democracy liberals think he does? Or perhaps that like all people, his influence is passing, and will only last as long as it does until the next group or person sucks up all the air in the room?
Obviously, it’s up to the individual reader’s interpretation, but there’s a way to read this as a stark warning against fascism, or a call to calm down, that this too shall pass. And depending on what your political leanings are that’s either terrifying, dismissive, or encouraging. Perhaps all three.
That challenge is good, by the way. Through the decades every single work of political allegory either props up or knocks down one group or another. That’s not a bug, it’s a feature of the approach, and King walks that line perfectly. He’s expertly aided by Gross, whose character designs are precise — from the slobbery Piggy to Madame Fifi slowly becoming skin and bones by the end of the issue.
Like I said just two paragraphs before, Animal Pound is what you take from it. Is it a call to action? Or merely a screed against complacency? And are we back in our cages now, or is that coming soon? It’s up to you to decide — just know that we’re all animals in one way or another. The question is whether we can work together long enough to keep democracy alive.
Animal Pound #5 Rating:
Animal Pound #5 Official Synopsis:
What happens when dogs become too powerful, changing the rules in their favor, and systematically consuming every non-dog in sight?
As some animals do what they think they must to survive, democracy is more at stake than ever, and it may not survive.
Will anyone?
