“Don’t get scratched. Don’t get bit. Don’t become…feral”.
Warriors meets The Walking Dead, the horror comic Feral from Image Comics features a band of cats fighting for survival amidst a rabies outbreak. Throughout the story, Elsie, Lord, Gigi, and the rest of the gang have survived ordeals with the “Bad Kind”, murderous cat ladies, and a cabal of cannibalistic cats ruling over an abandoned pet store. Now, this group of indoor cats finds itself in yet another catastrophic situation, as they have been captured and taken to a middle school that has been converted into a temporary CDC worksite, where they are being held with seemingly no means of escape.
SPOILERS AHEAD for Feral #22!
At the end of Feral #20, Pet City was overrun by masked men in hazmat suits working for the CDC who stormed in and abducted our feline friends. In the silent interlude issue for Feral #21, when we pick up with the cats, we learn what troubling fate has befallen them. The animals at the worksite are being tested and monitored for any signs of infection. Those who show signs of infection are euthanized. While searching the CDC worksite, one of the cats, a gray and white cat aptly named Ghost, discovers to his horror that the cat’s beloved canine companion, Moosh, is scheduled for euthanization.
In Feral #22, we pick back up with the rest of our cast of adorable characters, as we check in with Elsie, Lord, and Gigi, and see how they are faring in these unsettling circumstances. The issue opens with a cat named Mister Leland being taken away by CDC scientists. There is some speculation among the cats about where Mister Leland is being taken, and whether the scientists’ purpose here is to help or harm them.
A black cat named Willow tells the indoor cats that all the cats are here to be tested. Willow cryptically tells the other cats that, “Some pass the test. Some do not. Those who fail come back…changed”. She also says that an orange cat named “Three Seventeen” in the cage next to hers has been tested many times. Willow further explains that when the cats are tested, they are brought into a room, where there is a “pinch” as they are injected with an unknown substance. Afterwards, the scientists wait to see if the cats “pass” the test. It appears that the CDC scientists may be working on a vaccine to bring a swift end to the rabies outbreak, and these cats are to be their guinea pigs as they work to develop a cure.
The cast of Stray Gods make a guest appearance in Feral. (Image)
The comic appears to come to a screeching halt in the middle of the book with several pages to go, but wait, there’s more! Yes, dear readers, there is another separate story contained in this issue that connects this title with another beloved Tony Fleecs and Trish Forstner co-creation, the 2021 Image Comics series Stray Dogs. Much like Feral, Stray Dogs is a horror comic series following a group of talking domesticated pets, except this one is with dogs instead of cats. Stray Dogs follows a dog named Sophie who discovers to her horror that her new master is a serial killer who murders women and kidnaps their dogs to be kept as his trophies. At the conclusion of the series, the dogs managed to escape their murderous Master with the help of a willing sacrifice from the oldest dog in the home.
The second story contained in Feral #22 follows the Stray Dogs cast of Sophie, Rusty, Aldo, and Killer as they also find themselves imprisoned in the same CDC worksite where the indoor cats are being held captive. In this story, Sophie and the dogs are struggling to recall their shared traumatic memories of their abductor, who murdered their previous owners and kept the dogs as his prisoners. They also struggle to remember how they were brought to the CDC worksite. In the end, we are left to wonder whether they will manage to recover their memories and if they will cross paths with the indoor cats from Feral. We also learn that the Master from Stray Dogs may be alive and well, and is employed at the CDC worksite. Knowing his past and his violent tendencies, his presence does not bode well for the dogs currently being held by the CDC.
The way this story is included is rather inventive. Assuming that the Feral portion is read first, the Stray Dogs pages are printed upside down. Therefore, in order to read the Stray Dogs portion of the comic, the reader must turn their book 180 degrees. Good luck trying to manage that if you are reading the issue on a tablet or smartphone device.
This technique is similar to one used for Poison Ivy #30, which also contained two stories, one that followed Pamela Isley, and one that followed her friend and companion, Janet, with the stories and characters meeting each other smack dab in the middle of the issue. Much like Feral #22, the reader was required to turn their copy of Poison Ivy #30 180 degrees in order to read both stories. The use of this technique is quite innovative, as it forces the reader to engage with the work in a newfound way, and it fully embraces the wide range of possibilities for storytelling that is afforded by the medium of comics.
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