Writer: Tony Fleecs
Artist: Trish Forstner & Tone Rodriguez
Colorist: Brad Simpson
Editor: Dennis Culver
Designers: Lauren Herda & Erika Schnatz
Cougar Magic by Sara Richard
Thanks to Image for the review copy!
A new horror comic from Image reuniting the creative team behind the runaway hit Stray Dogs. Tony Fleecs, Trish Forstner, Tone Rodriguez, and Brad Simpson are back for another tale of animal woe, this time starring cats! When an overturned van full of stolen felines end up at the bottom of a ravine the cats must work together to not only survive in the wild but also survive each other.
I have to admit I wasn’t really sure what to expect with this one. Stray Dogs was one of those unique books that only comes around once in a while and it caught fire like nobody could have seen coming back in 2021. So much so that a movie is now in the works. It’s not the kind of material that you would think you’d get a lot of extra miles from. They did however manage to squeeze out an additional two issue anthology of short stories from the original series that was pretty popular as well when it hit one year later in 2022. Now, two years later we have a new story, Feral, which appears to be a story told from the point of view of cats.
With all that being said they have somehow done it again!
It’s a completely new cast of animals and a completely new idea that’s honestly, quite brilliant! I was surprised how much I enjoyed this first issue. It was kinda fun being thrown back into this crazy and imaginative space where we witness the world at its darkest through the lens of the very animals that live in it. The dialogue is fairly straight-forward fast paced. The characters all have their own personalities and idiosyncrasies like before. It’s beautifully drawn and colored and maybe darker and more twisted than ever before. What sets this story apart is that they have taken the human element out of it and somehow made it an even more grounded and personal crisis for the animals directly. It’s like 101 Dalmatians with cats meets David Cronenberg’s Rabid and once again, they have me saying, “I didn’t see that coming!” It’s just a really fun 1st issue and I was thrilled with how it ended because you won’t be able to stop reading after the seed they have planted for the next issue. I can’t wait to get my hands on it!
My rating – 9/10 Great!!
Feral #1 is now available.
Are you going to pick up the comic? Have you already, if so what do you think of it? Feel free to leave a comment below or chat with us on Twitter/X at @TheConCollectve, Threads at @theconventioncollective, or Bluesky at @theconcollective.bsky.social
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