“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,” Fleecs told the Reporter.
Forstner explained, “I had studied with Don Bluth [the director of An American Tail, The Land Before Time, and All Dogs Go to Heaven] 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.”
Word of the project first came in September, when Paramount Animation revealed they’d bought the film rights, with screenwriters Gary Dauberman (Annabelle) and Mark Perez (Game Night) respectively attached to produce and write the project. Dauberman stated at the time, “so much of what makes horror work is taking something innocent and twisting it into something scary,” and “the project combines a lot of my passions: animation, horror and, well, dogs.”
“Stray Dogs” #1 will be released digitally and in comic book shops on February 17, 2021: each issue will come a variant cover homaging a different horror movie, with the first being the aforementioned Silence of the Lambs. In the meantime, head on over to the Reporter for a preview of the book, and its Bluth-esque artwork. A trailer for the book has also been released:
