Pet Noir, a comics anthology.

Pet Noir
Manic D Press
Edited by Shannon O'Leary
126 pages, B&W, $14 US


Pet Noir is a small press comics anthology about true crime pet stories. There is a quirky good-natured vibe running throughout the storytelling: a mix of compassion for defenseless animals with a dash of ironic distance. This is enhanced by the art work which is often rough and offbeat. Basically, Pet Noir falls in with the typical small press comics anthology: a youthful and spirited mixed bag. What is refreshing about the book is how odd it is. True Crime Pet Stories?  And maybe because of the subject matter and the way it is handled by the editor, you get more of a sense of a big heart at work and less of ego: this one goes out to your pet dog, cat, goldfish, and all the other animals that humans have chosen to throw into their lives.

One of the best stories is "The Freeway Incident," art by Paul Musso, words by Shannon O'Leary, which recounts the sort of tabloid news that gets stuck in your psyche and won't go away: the story of road rage that led one man to throw a little dog into oncoming traffic. Yeah, that story, the one crammed inside your head right next to "The Lorena Bobbit Incidnet." The spare and loose style of the art blends perfectly with the peppy narrative. The portrait of the cretin dog-killer singing, "I die for da nookie..." is priceless.

Another fine example is "The Saga of Spike the Cat," art by Andy Ristaino, words by Shannon O'Leary. In this story, cretin and cat make a fateful encounter that leads to the cretin's demise. Ristaino's blocky style is very distinctive and does wonders in bringing the goofball characters to life.

Pet Noir does just enough to secure its editor and contributors good karma. At the back of the book there is even a resource guide listing various agencies working for the protection of animals such as Animal Legal Defense Fund and Best Friends. As a book that does not easily fit into any standard, my heart goes out to Pet Noir. It's not the best anthology but it's definitely memorable. The whole comics anthology category is a tricky one. Often you will find vanity press collections of so-so comics put together by friends. Even the big publishers of comics anthologies don't always get it right as in all the 9/11 anthologies that were quite a mess. As in any genre, there are gems to be found as in the excellent anthology series, Mome, published by Fantagraphics. Among all these possibilities, Pet Noir comes out a plucky shaggy dog--and that's alright.