The moment is finally here. Matt Fraction and David Aja’s long awaited ‘Pizza Dog issue’ has finally arrived. What started as a joke between the two and editor Stephen Wacker has come to fruition and now only one question remains: does it live up to the hype?
Written by Matt Fraction
Illustrated by David Aja
• THE breakout character of 2012… becomes the breakout character of 2013… as PIZZA DOG gets his own issue.
• Literally… the entire issue… it’s all from the dog’s point-of-view.
• Pizza Dog gets hired to solve a crime — the grizzly murder that shocked Team Hawkguy — and the only thing more shocking than THAT… is what happens the end of THIS.
• Seriously. This is not a joke! Even the coloring. Dog issue. We’re all gettin’ fired. PLEASE READ…
“Pizza is my Business” …before it’s too late for us.
At first, the idea of a comic book told entirely from the perspective of a dog should seem like a rather stupid idea. Then, after much deliberation, one should come to the conclusion that it’s most likely a really stupid idea. Comics, obviously, work to tell the in two distinct ways that come together as a whole: visually and through dialogue and/or narration. Telling the story from the perspective of a dog therefore limits the former and practically eliminates the latter. Yet, despite multiple readings, they fact that this issue not only works, but is an engaging story continues to be astounding.
Matt Fraction and David Aja have garnered enough praise from Hawkeye that the fact that they made this issue work should be no real surprise, though. The two of them clearly work great together and already have Eisner award nominations for a book that could almost be seen as the Seinfeld of comics: a book about nothing, if you will. Yet here they have managed to make not only a working comic, but an engaging and engrossing one, about a dog. This is entirely thanks to David Aja’s masterful artwork on the final page and Matt Fraction’s subtle, guiding hand.
It’s because of David Aja’s rather unbelievable artwork here that shows that this issue could never have happened with any other creative team. No other artist could really be able to convey on the page what David Aja has done here. Aja and Fraction have managed to create, for every character that Pizza Dog (named Lucky in the issue, but will forever be known as Pizza Dog in our hearts) encounters throughout the issue thanks to the use of amazingly clever road sign-esque emblems. Instantly, this gives the issue a sense of character in a way it couldn’t otherwise as every character’s key features come to the forefront through Pizza Dog’s eyes. Aja has managed to make the experience of reading “Hawkeye” #11 a wholly visual experience without compromising any of the story on the page. It creates an almost mesmerising effect that culminates in a one-page detective scene as Pizza Dog, using only his nose, figures out what happened on the roof in a diagram that would put Batman to shame.
While David Aja certainly deserves enough credit for how well the final page works, Matt Fraction’s guiding hand over the issue calls for some as well. The issue, while not exactly being the hard boiled detective story that was expected by some, serves as an almost intermission to the story as a whole. The set dressing is changed slightly and characters are introduced here, but thanks to it being the Pizza Dog issue there is never the need to stop the progress of the issue to explain why these events are significant. The ‘why’ comes later as now the focus is on Pizza Dog. It’s an inspired way of being able to create massive dynamic-shifting changes to the atmosphere of the story without halting it’s progress. Though, for some, it may mean that the Pizza Dog mystery is not quite as important as presented and we don’t exactly get a showdown between Pizza Dog and the villain here. Instead, it allows Fraction to present a simple and fun story while switching things around, using delicate sleight of hand in the background, for upcoming issues.
For an idea that may have started as a joke, the idea of a Pizza Dog issue will, ultimately, be seen as inspired thanks to the raw talent of the creative team involved. While the story may be simple, focusing more on how the character of Pizza Dog exists within the confines of the book’s universe, it’s entirely engrossing thanks to the unique way it is presented to the reader. The mystery of the rooftop may not be the crux of the issue as was thought, but it gives an insight to the character of Pizza Dog (a sentence that, likely, has never been typed before) and allows the reader to connect with him beyond him simply being a dog. It may have started as a joke, but thanks to the creative team the Pizza Dog issue will likely go down in history.
Final Verdict: 9.5 – It may be a simple story, but the way it has been told causes it become a contender for Comic Of The Year. You’d be a fool to miss this one.
