Good Dog
Reviewed by Andrew Moreton 26-Nov-14
Posh comic about Dogs, nicely drawn, could do better.
Some of us, many bought up in dog-less homes, just don’t know how to deal with a dog. Yapping dogs, or jumping slavering dogs or humping, pissing, shitting dogs – they all make a strong impression on the mind of the uninitiated, eclipsing for many the other famous characteristics like loyalty, bravery and erm, the other one, behind a pungent cloud of stolen sausages, licked faces and the odd childhood savaging.
Good Dog, a nicely drawn though inexpertly aimed comic by Graham Chafee, could help turn the mind of the prejudiced non-doggie type to, if not dogged devotion, then at least to some sympathy. Ivan is a stray, mooching around some nostalgic backwoods all-american small town, longing for a regular feed and a family to guard. After a few pages of setup he falls in with a pack of strays, led by Sasha, a semi-wild maverick who fearlessly leads raids on local chicken houses.
Plotwise, I’m afraid that’s about it. There’s a dramatic denouement but, over the comic’s 80 plus pages Chafee fails to draw out enough from its canine characters to make the climax seem any more than the obligatory peak to a predictable plot arch. Which isn’t to say that the comic is completely unenjoyable – the dogs motivations and preoccupations are well handled as is most of their dialogue and, as previously mentioned, it is very well drawn with great attention to the finer detail of doggy body language.
Trouble is that it’s so uncertainly placed. The story would be great for a children’s book, or series – it’s a straight forward fantasy about what a dogs life might be like, fairly well done, but without much depth or much to say. But the packaging, the price and Chafee himself are obviously aiming for gravitas and a grown up audience (there’s a quite a few shits and fucks peppered about the place) while actually providing no adult content to back it up.
It’s really not an entirely bad comic, but, yet again, dressing up a short story in hard covers and calling it a graphic novel can make an audience want more from a piece than maybe it’s capable of offering.