Lost Dogs is the first time I�ve come across the work of Jeff Lemire, but seeing as how he�s set up his own website, where I can buy more of his work, I can safely say that it won�t be the last thing I�ll read by him. The winner of a Xeric grant (one day soon, I�ll do the proper research to tell you exactly what that means outside of �some people thought his comics were real good,�) Lemire�s dark and stirring story of a quiet giant who comes face to face with humanity�s dark side is beautifully rendered and emotionally devastating without being the slightest bit overwrought or cheaply sentimental. In fact, one could say that its strength comes from Lemire's unerring storytelling that eliminates many of the comfortable cliches that many writers have come to lean upon as a crutch while still using recognizable situations and emotions to bring the reader further into the world presented. Our anonymous lead is a quiet, innocent man who dotes over his wife and daughter as only those who appreciate what they have can and whose outsized stature belies his gentle nature. While visiting the city, the family is attacked at the docks and Jack fruitlessly attempts to defend them. He�s beaten by a group of men and tossed into the harbor, left to drown as his daughter is murdered and his wife is ravaged by the assailants. Only good fortune (if it can be called that) saves Jack from drowning and the next morning he�s picked up by a fishing vessel and brought to a man named Jack, who promises to help him find his still-alive wife if he�s willing to box the champion for him. Of course, things aren�t quite that simple and the events that follow confront both the lead and the readers with the casual evil that some men are capable of.
There�s a simplicity to Lemire�s work here, worthy of comparisons to Faulkner with its easily deceptive nature, that draws the reader in for the kill without their ever noticing the strings. Particularly of note is his thick-lined, black and white and red art. It�s top-notch work that perfectly expresses the story's tone and emotional state of the lead as it captures period details of Europe in the 1800s without ever calling attention to them. My only quibble, and this is very minor, is that he should have had someone proofread for spelling and punctuation, as these mistakes in an otherwise well-realized and perfectly rendered story slapped me in the face. That probably says more about me than the work, doesn�t it? Highly recommended.
