Advance Review: Stray Dogs - Dog Days #1 (of 2)

One of the biggest hits this year, at least for my money, was the superlative Stray Dogs from Image Comics. The juxtaposition of cute dogs living amidst their greatest loss and a greater evil was a tale (tail?) of loss, love and heartbreak that had some genuine funny snippets mixed in with the Seven like horror. With nowhere really to go to extend the story for the future of the dogs, creators Tony Fleecs and Trish Forstner looks backwards to add more context to the main series.

The book is an anthology of stories that (re)introduce the dogs, though this time they are in their natural elements. By doing this, Fleecs has gone some way to add further emotion and subtext to their various lives prior to the differing events that bring the strays together.

Tony Fleecs’ writing for this series is challenged by the fact that the reader knows what the endgame is. It’s the same sort of problem that the Star Wars prequels have; we all know that Anakin becomes Darth Vader, but do we need to see it? Thankfully Fleecs does extremely well in setting up the fun in the various snippets of the dogs lives, before dropping the horror hammer. I particularly like the whole is a stick as good as a tennis ball conversation. Dog lovers will recognise some of the well observed doggy nuances, and some cat ones thrown in for good measure, on show which in fact, serves to make the horror that much more impactful. Two issues is a perfect length for these little snippets, even if there are hints that stories may continue over into next issue.

Its hard to believe that Stray Dogs is actually Trish Forstner’s early comic book work. Her art is as developed as any long time comic book veteran, extolling as it does fantastic comic timing, cute characters and overall storytelling ability, conveys the whole range of emotion of the dogs and draws them from the reader. Each dog has its own character and is superbly articulated through Forstner’s pencils. Forstner is helped out by a colorist and digital team in the shape of Brad Simpson, Tone Rodriguez with Mike Vasquez and Lauren Perry who provide colors, layouts and flatter respectively. The squad are carried over from the original run, consistency in production is therefore equally as respected as consistency of the writing and the art.

This is a great little book, shipping as it does a month before the Stray Dogs trade paperback which is due in early January 2022. For both new and returning readers, this book is seamless addition to a number of shaggy, and not so shaggy, dog stories told with the now expected, but still surprising and emotive mix of fun dogs and human horror.

Writing – 5 Stars
Art – Stars
Colors – 5 Stars

Overall – 5 Stars

Written by; Tony Fleecs
Art by; Trish Forstner
Colorist; Brad Simpson
Layouts; Tone Rodriguez with Mike Vasquez
Flatter; Lauren Penny
Logo / Design; Lauren Herda
Published by; Image Comics

Stray Dogs: DOg Days #1 (of 2) ships 29th December 2021

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network