The easy pitch for Image Comics‘s Stray Dogs, by Tony Fleecs and Trish Forstner, is “What if Don Bluth did Silence of the Lambs?” The slightly more complicated pitch is that if you’re looking for a book that will terrify you and break your heart in equal measure, look no further than Stray Dogs.
The story focuses on a group of dogs living inside an ominous house together, and it’s all from their perspective. Forstner draws them as if they walked right out of An American Tail, and the immediately charming art lures you in before the story starts to punch you in the gut. I’m hesitant to spoil all the twists and turns inherent. But suffice it to say that despite the dogs seemingly living an ideal, carefree existence, it’s anything but.
The thing is, you start to wonder why there are so many dogs — and so many types of dogs — in the same house. And once you and Sophie, the main character of the story, start to explore that… That’s when the bodies start piling up.
What makes this work is that Fleecs and Forstner don’t hold back on delving into full-on horror here, despite the adorable puppies. There’s generally a rule in movies that you don’t kill the dog. What happens when all the characters are dogs? Not all of them are going to make it out alive.
The book was so successful, it spawned a spin-off, two-issue series titled Stray Dogs: Dog Days, which is also excellent. As of 2020, it was in development by Paramount Animation as a movie. As a bonus, Image Comics has the full first issue free to read online. So if you’re looking for a comic this Halloween that’s very cute… Until it decidedly isn’t, then Stray Dogs is for you.
Bonus: If you tear through Stray Dogs, the same team is currently releasing a book through Image Comics titled Feral, which is The Walking Dead with cats. So, you’ll probably like that, too!
It’s spooky season, and you know what that means: time to curl up with a comic book or graphic novel that will scare your socks off. With that in mind, we’re posting a new horror book to check out every day of October, for our 31 Days Of Halloween Comics. Awoooo! Looking for the rest of our picks? Check them out on the Halloween tag.
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