Stray is the story of an aspiring actress whose life turns upside down the day she gets fired from her waitressing gig. We all know that adopting a stray dog on the day you get canned isn't exactly the wisest financial decision to make. But that's exactly what Catherine 'Cat' Denton does. Call her a softie.
Unknown to Cat is at that exact moment an alien life-form named Acturex is hurtling to planet Earth to stop a hidden menace seeking to conquer our planet. Acturex's plain is to merge into the body of Garrick, Cat's downstairs neighbor who's a prime specimen of strength, endurance and good looks. However, a slight miscalculation causes Acturex to merge into the body of the stray living with Cat. And there's no way for the alien to find a new host until his mission is complete.
Using her acting skills and various costume changes, Cat Denton now goes on casting calls by day and secretly saves the Earth from alien invasion at night with the help of Rex, her super-powered and psychically linked pooch!
I couldn't tell you where I got this book. I've had it for awhile. Probably came from a grab bag. Having an adorable animal as a main character, I still didn't take any chances before I read this book. Having been burnt before by the shocking and gruesome death of the dog in issue #1 of The Weather Man, I made sure that no animals were harmed or killed in the completion of this comic. Once I broke one of LaVar Burton's cardinal rules of book consumption from Reading Rainbow, I dug into the book and was pleasantly surprised.
The art looked a little bit off. I at first thought it was computer generated. Once I realized that Dustin Nguyen was behind the inking of Adam Polina's artwork, I knew that this wasn't funky CGI material; this was year 3000 illustrations! My puny human brain just wasn't able to comprehend the evolution of the artistic talent behind Stray.
I don't think the advanced penciling for this story was what has prevented there from ever being another story about Cat and Rex. Its been 23 years with bupkis. Though Stray was a joint DC/Wild storm production, the book itself was published by Homage Comics. I don't know about you, but I've never heard of this venture before(I think). A quick Google search reveals that they were the driving force behind Astro City and Leave It To Chance before Wildstorm quickly absorbed these Indy classics.
You go to the Homage Comics page on the DC Wiki and Stray isn't even listed as one of their publications. So I think this book might be all we get. Barring some miracle revival. Until then, if you ever come across this book in a bargain bin at your favorite LCS or a Con, you really should consider picking it up. It's a quirky, quick read that oozes heart and creativity.
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.
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