Review: Stray Dogs

There are some comics that are best when you go into them knowing nothing. Stray Dogs is one of them. There’s been a lot of hype around this miniseries, but maybe you’ve not heard any of it. If so, let me just say this now: STOP READING THIS REVIEW AND BUY THE COMIC. Don’t even look at the cover if you can help it. Why would I bother writing a full review and tell you not to read it? Well, partly for the people who already know something about the story. And partly because some of y’all won’t listen.

So for those people, here’s the rest of the review. Stray Dogs is a suspense thriller where the main characters are dogs. Little Sophie is the newcomer to a household full of other dogs, and she can’t remember how she got there. The answer, of course, is quite sinister; as you can tell from all the horror movie homage variant covers of this trade. Writer Tony Fleecs creates suspense excellently, and will have you rushing through the 5-issue story at breakneck speed. Does he exploit the reader’s sympathy for helpless animals? Are the twists a little obvious at times? Is it sometimes slightly TOO dark? Yes to all of those things, but he will also have you more invested in this book than most other things you’ve read this year.

It’s impossible to even briefly discuss Stray Dogs without mentioning the art style used by Trish Forstner. Several breeds of dog feature in this book, and every one of them could be a Disney dog. Many of them look like they could have stepped straight out of Oliver & Company, Lady and the Tramp, or 101 Dalmatians. I’m almost certain this comic has landed on the desk of the Mouse’s lawyers, with a Post-it reading “can we do something about this?” This style is clearly intended to be jarringly juxtaposed with the suspenseful, violent subject matter; mission very much accomplished in this case. But whilst Forstner excels at the dogs themselves and their facial expressions, anything that isn’t a dog comes out looking a bit more basic. Brad Simpson’s coloring is also underwhelming at times, although the use of red in flashback scenes is well done.

Overall, Stray Dogs was a great, out-of-nowhere surprise package that mainstream comics could use more of. Have a look through all the variant covers (unusual for a trade) and try to get your hands on the one you like best.

Writing – 4.5 Stars
Art – 4 Stars
Colors – 3 Stars

Overall: 4.5 Stars

Writer: Tony Fleecs
Artist: Trish Forstner
Colorist: Brad Simpson
Publisher: Image Comics

Author Profile

Yavi Mohan

Yavi Mohan is a comic writer (and more frequently, comic reader) based in London. He is frequently overwhelmed by the number of comics in his reading list, to the extent that it sometimes delays his reading. This list includes every issue ever published with Spider-Man as the main character.