Stray Dogs
Tony Fleecs, writer; Trish Forstner, artist; Brad Simpson, colorist; Tone Rodriguez, layouts
Image Comics, 2021
At the outset, this is a story about a group of talking stray dogs. They are Disney-cute, completely devoted to their master, and doing their best to greet the new dog (Sophie) and make her comfortable. But there's a private room where they are not allowed, and none of them remember much about how they got there. The master brings the new dog a scarf which reminds her about everything: he killed her master and brought her to his house.
At first the other dogs do not believe her. But one of the experienced ones accompanies her into the private room, where they see strange, unexpected things (mainly women's clothing). Gradually some of the other dogs start remembering things--all of them point towards the master as serial killer. In the end all of the dogs unite to oppose their master, which appears hopeless. Until a K-9 police dog leads the authorities to the graves hidden under the porch.
So it is a tale that is both cute and horrifying by turns. There is an obvious parallel with Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson's Beasts of Burden. But that series also includes cats, as well as a supernatural element (in the form of the Wise Dogs, a group of elders).
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