This is Lemire's first published work, and it shows. Very rough art, but as always, it works for him. He still shows glimpses of his cinematic eye. However, the story is too bleak for my tastes, and unlike his later work, the ending leaves nothing much to show for itself. On its own, it's a fairly compelling short story, though. His common theme of family and fathers has it's genesis here as well. Well, this is raw, rough, flawed work, but it has a kick to it. Enormous, not very bright guy with wife and kid leaves the farm to visit the city, ends up in the bad part of town inadvertently, which leads to the murder of his daughter, rape of his wife, his own beating and rather implausibly plotted involvement with a bare-knuckle fight on which a big wager is placed oh his behalf. And then things get worse. It's straightforward, linear, simple, possibly simplistic, and Lemire's graphic style is rough, primitive, almost child-like, though it looks a bit like something Frank Miller might have dashed out--if Frank Miller had a heart (I almost said "soul," but that's perhaps too harsh). Despite its simplicity and roughness, and the fairly generic plot, this packs quite a kick and is definitely worth checking out for anyone who can appreciate a comic that looks great without looking in any way conventionally good. And it makes effective use of red spotting for visceral and symbolic effect.
What do You think about Lost Dogs (2005)?
A rough first effort, but full of raw emotion and energy.
—Jurenno
