Written by Tony Fleecs
Art by Trish Forstner
Published by Image Comics
I have to admit, of all the dogs in Stray Dogs, I’ve never been fond of Earl.
The droopy old hound faithfully defends the Master against all the questions and accusations that the rest of the pack are beginning to have.
First it was just Sophie, then Roxanne, and finally Victor. And to top it all off, Rusty is firmly on their side even if his own memories are questionable.
Earl always felt a little too devoted to the Master, unwilling to entertain a word against him.
He would be loyal to the Master no matter what. Whatever was going on in that house, it wasn’t anything nefarious.
The others were paranoid.
All of the treats, a roof over their heads, good food, space to run. What more could he or any of the others ask?
Their suspicion is disloyal.
In this issue, Earl even goes as far as to defend the Master for going through the photos of women scattered across the breakfast table.
The other dogs are confused or horrified, but there is Earl, defending the Master’s hobby. Just because he takes pictures doesn’t make him a killer. The others are just reading too much into it.
Every remark is met with Earl’s stubborn assurance that because he’s known the Master since he was a puppy, there’s no way that the Master could be anything other than a good person. He never mistreated Earl, and Earl has no reason to believe that the Master is a killer. Even with suspicion spreading through the pack and increasing evidence of some kind of foul play, Earl is unmoved.
Everything, Earl assures himself as much as anyone, was fine until Sophie arrived and tried to turn the other dogs against the Master. Despite the fact that the Master failed to feed them breakfast that day, he’s a good man who takes good care of them. Full stop.
But Sophie is determined to get real answers, not just Earl’s assurances that things are fine. She leads the others outside to where they last saw Victor. Everyone fans out across the yard. Too many places smell like Victor. Something isn’t right.
Everyone except Earl, naturally. He skipped the search for Victor to scowl at the others through the bathroom window..
But something has finally gotten through to him, gnawing at the edges of his memory. When he sees the door to the Master’s forbidden room just the tiniest bit open, Earl does some exploration of his own.
What he finds changes everything.
I may have to reconsider my opinion of Earl after all.
