It's scary being the new dog.
Stray Dogs is a 2021 five-issue comic book series, created by Tony Fleecs and Trish Forstner and published by Image Comics.
Sophie is a recently rescued dog and, while she has been welcomed with open paws by the other rescues, she can't shake the feeling that something is wrong with her new home and new master. Problem is, she can't remember what happened before she came to her new home. However, when her new master gives her a scarf, Sophie remembers- her previous owner was killed and the murderer just happens to be her new master. Sophie must convince the other dogs of the truth before their master decides to end them.
A prologue was released as apart of Free Comic book day in April 2021 showing the Master's first dog, followed by a miniseries, Stray Dogs: Dog Days, that was released in December 2021. The two issues of Dog Days briefly portrays the lives of all the dogs in the original story before they were taken from their homes by the Master. The prologue and Dog Days were collected together in trade format.
In 2020, before the first issue of Stray Dogs went on sale, Paramount Animation purchased the rights to adapt it into a film, with Gary Dauberman as producer.
Tropes shown in Stray Dogs (spoilers):
- Advertised Extra: The variant covers are indiscriminate with who appears, so certain dogs that play little role in the comic may be very prominent on the covers.
- Animal Talk: The dogs' language sound more like normal canine barks to human ears.
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Played for Drama. The dogs have an unfortunate tendency to become easily distracted, which explains why all of them eventually forgot about their owners and required visual and olfactory reminders to jog their memories. Sophie herself briefly forgot at the end of the first issue and needed to have her owner's scarf to remember again.
- Bad People Abuse Animals: The Master regularly kills his stolen dogs and has their heads mounted as trophies in his bedroom closet. Even without that, it's implied he "punishes" them on a regular basis and is also willing to starve them if they act out of line.
- Beware the Quiet Ones: Imogene, who never speaks within the story, pushes the Master down the stairs, knocking him out and giving the dogs time to escape.
- The Big Guy: Imogene fills role by virtue of being a Tibetan Mastiff.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: The Master has seemingly adopted a large group of dogs of different breeds from different backgrounds and takes care of them well enough that they don't believe Sophie when she says he's a murderer. It becomes clear, however, that he abuses and/or kills the dogs when they step out of line.
- Bittersweet Ending: The dogs are all saved from the house and the Master is dead, but unfortunately so is Victor, Earl, the former pack, and the Master's countless victims. Four months later, Sophie, now having been readopted and renamed Trudy, is running at a dog park. She reunites with Rusty, but neither of them remember one another or their experience at the Master's house. Nevertheless, they share a sense of familiarity between them and happily play together. When it is time to go home, Sophie briefly hesitates before happily leaving the park with her new owners.
- Broken Bird: Imogene was once a very hyperactive young puppy, but the trauma of her owner's murder turned her into The Quiet One.
- Bury Your Disabled: Victor is a Dalmatian who lost one of his forelegs to burns he sustained from a house fire when he lived with his first set of owners, and he was stolen from the fire department who adopted him after the fact. While his inquisitive and headstrong behavior definitely make him a Handicapped Badass, he's caught by the Master when he tries to bark to the police over the phone. He's promptly taken out back, shot, and pelted.
- Death Equals Redemption: Earl finally turns on the Master, and ends up being the only dog to die in the escape.
- Developing Doomed Characters: Dog Days features the origins of the Master's dogs, showcasing all of their previous owners leading up to when the Master killed them.
- The Faceless: The Master's face is not seen in full until his death.
- Food as Bribe: All the dogs are food-oriented, but Earl is the only dog given treats whereas the others only get bowls of kibble. Earl is the dog most loyal to the Master and the one in the most denial about his true nature.
- Heel–Face Turn: Earl finally turns against the Master when he remembers what he did to his former owner and learns what happened to his old friends.
- Heroes Love Dogs: Inverted. The Master is a serial killer.
- Also averted. The Master strikes Rusty when he breaks the rules, shoots and skins Victor when he calls the police, and eventually mounts the heads of the dogs when he's apparently tired of them.
- Heroic Dog: The entire cast fills this role at some point, even Earl.
- Implied Love Interest: Given how the two are constantly displaying physical affection and calling each other endearing names, Rusty and Roxanne might be mates.
- Sophie and Rusty also share some Ship Tease moments, as he is shown to be protective of her and is the only dog willing to believe her. At the end of the story, Sophie and Rusty reunite at the park and happily play together. Although neither of them remembers the other, they still sense a feeling of familiarity and friendship between them. Even Sophie's new owners playfully tease her about Rusty being her boyfriend.
- Let the Past Burn: The very end of the Dog Days two parter shows the firefighters who worked with Victor's owner burning down the Master's house months after his murders were exposed, as Revenge by Proxy since he's already dead. They wait until the house is pretty much destroyed before dousing the flames.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Several of the dogs are horrified when they realize they forgot their previous owners.
- My Greatest Failure: Other Henry previously lived with a cat named Monster who absolutely hated him. Monster would attack Other Henry practically every chance he got. When the Master broke in and killed one of their owners, Monster hid under the couch while Other Henry was trapped inside a carrier, barking as a cry for help. During the funeral, Monster curled up in Other Henry's dog bed looking completely ashamed for his cowardice and cruelty towards Other Henry.
- The Nameless: The Master is the only name the antagonist is given.
- No-Sell: Henry the poodle's story in Dog Days shows the Master stumbled upon him and his owner following a failed murder attempt. The would-be victim was able to lock herself in her room after calling the police, and her dog Duke didn't fall for the treats gambit the Master utilizes to distract dogs.
- One-Steve Limit: Inverted. There are two dogs named Henry: one is a Standard Poodle and another appears to be a Bull Terrier. The pack seems to acknowledge this, as the two are referred to as "Henry" (the poodle) and "Other Henry" (the Bull Terrier).
- The Quisling: Earl rats out on the dogs when they attempt to call the police on the Master, resulting in Victor's death. When Sophie tells the rest of the dogs what he did, they shun him.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Rusty is the leader of the dogs and the only one to give Sophie the benefit of the doubt when she says she remembers the Master murdering her owner.
- Sacrificial Lamb: Poor Victor is the one dog the Master is clearly shown killing from his current group of dogs in order to emphasize the Master is indeed a monster whose victims aren't limited to humans.
- Sacrificial Lion: Despite his earlier actions, Earl ends up being the dog to deliver a fatal bite to the Master's neck and break the front window to the house, allowing the other dogs to escape.
- Serial Killer: The Master is a serial killer who targets women who have dogs. He uses the dogs of his previous victims to draw in closer to his targets, usually at dog parks. He later kills said dogs and mount their heads as trophies as Earl finds out in issue# 4.
- Wham Shot: Sophie finds out what's in the shed in the yard. It's where the Master skins, dissects, and eventually turns his dogs into trophies when he's had enough of them.
