‘Stray Dogs’ Is A New Classic Animation Style Comic Book From Image Comics, But A Whole Lot Darker

Artists Tony Fleecs and Trish Forstner have a new comic book coming out from Image Comics this February, and it’s already been picked up to be adapted into an animated feature by Paramount Animation.

As reported exclusively by The Hollywood Reporter with “Game Night scribe Mark Perez to write the script. Gary Dauberman, the horror filmmaker who counts the Annabelle and It movies among his writing credits, is set to produce.”

Stray Dogs artistically will remind you of classic Disney/Don Bluth animated film of the past, although the story is far darker than your average family friendly films the House of Mouse is renowned for.

And, to further emphasis it’s darker storytelling, each issue of this five part mini-series will come with a  special Horror Movie homage variants that feature a canine spin on the iconic imagery. The first, of course, will be a nod to Silence of the Lambs

In an exclusive scoop, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Paramount Animation “has picked up the rights to [Stray Dogs], setting Game Night scribe Mark Perez to write the script. Gary Dauberman, the horror filmmaker who counts the Annabelle and It movies among his writing credits, is set to produce via his banner, Coin Operated.”

As the mystery unfolds over each issue of the comic book series, fans will be treated with special Horror Movie homage variants that feature a doggy do-over on the iconic imagery. The first will be a nod to Silence of the Lambs.

“It’s scary being the new dog. In this suspenseful new series, readers meet Sophie, a dog who can’t remember what happened. She doesn’t know how she ended up in this house. She doesn’t recognize any of these other dogs. She knows something terrible happened, but she just…can’t…recall…WAIT! Where’s her lady? Now Sophie has to figure out where she is, what’s happening and how she’s going to survive this.”

So, why the adoption of a classic and overly-familiar art style on this book? Fleecs explains all to The Hollywood Reporter in an exclusive scope yesterday:

“When I had the idea for this comic, a suspense/horror story told from the perspective of dogs,  I knew that if I wanted it to REALLY work, I needed it to look exactly like one of those great, 80s-90s era animated movies. That’s what made me think of Trish.”

And Forstner added: “I had studied with Don Bluth in his online program and learned some of his theories on storytelling and acting for animation. Drawing this book, I’m taking those ideas and creating believable, lovable characters with emotional acting and expressions. This story is something special.”

All that’s left is a first look at this new book so you can see how genuinely great it look and how much it really does feel like a Disney production. But with far more horror and far more thrills that Frozen could ever deliver!

Stray Dogs #1 will be available on Wednesday, February 17th 2021 from Image Comics.