Lost Dogs

by Jeff Lemire

Long out of print, Jeff Lemire's Xeric-Award-winning LOST DOGS now returns in a newly remastered edition, soaked with blood and ink. This 104-page mythic yarn follows a family man who's larger than life... but even he may not be powerful enough to prevent the loss of everything he's ever known.

Bold, brutal, and emotionally raw, LOST DOGS represents an acclaimed storyteller's first professional work -- an early exhibition of the gifts that have made his ESSEX COUNTY and SWEET TOOTH so phenomenally popular. -- A full-color 104-page graphic novel, 6.5" x 9"

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction, Comic Book, Canada, Horror

98 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

Jeff Lemire is a New York Times bestselling and award winning author, and creator of the acclaimed graphic novels Sweet Tooth, Essex County, The Underwater Welder, Trillium, Plutona, Black Hammer, Descender, Royal City, and Gideon Falls. His upcoming projects include a host of series and original graphic novels, including the fantasy series Ascender with Dustin Nguyen.

Reviews

[Sam Quixote · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspired by Scott McCloud’s 24-Hour Comic Challenge from his book “Understanding Comics”, Jeff Lemire set out to draw a 24-page comic in a day but gave up after 12 hours. The result was the first 12 pages of “Lost Dogs” which nonetheless provided Lemire with inspiration to continue drawing/writing what would become his first book.

This is the story of an 8-feet tall farmer who takes his family into the city to enjoy a day of entertainment only to wander into the wrong neighbourhood at the wrong time of day, and lose his family in one brutal instance and nearly die himself. Once recovered he discovers his wife is still alive but the only man who knows where she is won’t tell him unless he helps him out in a terrible favour…

This bleak drama has the feel of an old world fable crossed with the art of Goya. Lemire’s drawing style is instantly recognisable even if he uses thick, blotchy black inks rather than the wispy lines of later books. The book looks both amateurish, like a storyboard rather than a finished book, and highly stylised like the work of Victorian impressionists. Some of the pages which show crowd scenes from an indeterminate but much older time than now are really beautiful and the choice of limiting the colours to black, white and red really makes the red pop out of the page.

I’ve been a big fan of Jeff Lemire’s work ever since reading “Tales from the Farm” 5 years ago and his work in comics since then has only gotten better leading to more and more interesting books like “The Nobody” and “The Underwater Welder” as well as writing “Animal Man” and “Frankenstein” for DC’s New 52 and his own superb creator owned Vertigo series “Sweet Tooth”. It’s fascinating to read his first book and easy to see how he made the leap from this book to the monumental “Essex County” books shortly after. “Lost Dogs” is an enchanting and haunting comic book that Jeff Lemire’s growing readership will enjoy but will also appeal to all indie comics fans.

[Kim Lockhart · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story will wreck you. It's a (surprisingly engaging) tale of agony and despair. Even the moral of the story cannot be separated from its anguish. It's deep, dark, and very effective storytelling. Even the black and white with a touch of red adds to the symbolism.

[Jenbebookish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read on 03/20/24

This was simple. Not complex, or intricate, or layered, as authors and artist’s often aim to be, but yet I loved it & thought it was absolutely perfect,

The early work of a soon-to-be beloved comic book artist & writer, it’s sloppy, but detailed. Derivative, but heartfelt… devastating, but bittersweet.

The messy faces were my favorite part, they looked haphazardly & quickly sketched, but when you looked closely they had a tremendous amount of subtle-but-elaborate line work that created the most stunning faces full of creases and shadows. They managed to depict such lewdness, such sin & sinister intent, such pain. They were fascinating, & beautiful.

The writing & the story are very much secondary to his unique drawing style, and while it’s not as fleshed out as the rest of his later characters & series, it still reads like a punch in the gut & is a must read for all Lemire fans. I read this on comixology, but I’ve already ordered my physical copy.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Earlier work for him that he apologizes for in an intro, but this is powerful, brutal, shocking, humane in the way you care about his down and out characters. Violent tale told in red, black and white. Moving, in its way, certainly a hard scrabble, sad tale about family, love, loss...

[Nihan Alak · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lemire’in ilk dönem işlerinden ve önsözü okuyunca da kendi tarzını bulmaya çalıştığı bir iş olduğunu öğreniyoruz zaten. Herkese göre değil, çizmler çok kaba ve hikâye de oldukça kısa.

[Nouru-éddine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick Impression:

What the heck is that? The pictures are so brutal, vague, savage.. The dialogues are barbarian, violent, tough..
It's a shocking art! It narrates about the lost love, love family, lost meaning of life.
Lost dogs? Who are they? Are they those barbarian men without wives? A man with a wife and family never likes fighting and blood.
In black-white-red story, Jeff discusses this humane topic with such a simple storyline but deep. Yeah, Jeff pours his gut out in this story.

***

Scenes


This preface means we are before a great artist with a brush of his own soul!





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Once upon a time, there is a happy family..





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A daughter wants to be sailor..





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But, God has another plan





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None's fault..





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Barbarian dogs..





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What's the meaning of life without a wife?





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Where's she now?





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Once upon a time, there WAS a happy family...





***

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nasty, brutish, and short fits this first graphic novel by Jeff Lemire perfectly. A sailor takes his wife and daughter for a walk along the wharves. They are attacked. He is beaten and left for dead and his wife raped and daughter murdered. But he survives and what happens next . . . well, you'll have to read for yourself. The art is raw, brutal, and expressionistic. Nice introductory essay by Lemire describing how he got started and the genesis of this novel and how it launched his career.

[Heather V ~The Other Heather~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was given this book for my birthday, and before that moment I’d had no idea it existed, even though I’m a hardcore Lemire stan. This was a wonderfully bittersweet addition to my library, although I recognize that it will mostly be fellow Lemire stans who will enjoy it. The artwork is (purposefully?) rough, the story simple and raw, and it won’t be to everyone’s taste.


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But for those of us who have followed Lemire’s work for some years now, it’s actually fascinating to see some of his early stuff, to pick out the forms and faces and styles he would be bringing forward in his more modern books. There’s also the dark and painful storytelling that has become the lifeblood of many of his non-mainstream titles; rarely has it been more raw and gut-punchy than it is here.



Prepare to ugly cry if you have a soul.


(Thanks for the gift, Lis.)

___
Some of my favourite Lemire books:

[Vojtěch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lemirova prvotina a je to poznat, neberu to ale jako mínus, je fajn vidět jak začínal můj nejoblíbenější autor. Celkově je Lemirova kresba dost drsná, ale tady je to zesílený tím, že je celej komiks černobílej (s trochou červený). Není tady moc textu, přecetl jsem celej book asi za 30 minut, možná ani to ne. Posledních stránky jsou fakt smutný, málem ukápla slzička.

[John Elbe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sheer raw beauty in such a tragic tale. Jeff Lemire is top-shelf talent, and seeing the man do the work to get there in this this his first printed comic work is a treat. The art is not his main strength here, but it all pulls together in a short, disturbing story.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartbreaking and lovely.

[47Time · Rating 4 out of 5]

This comic is a quick read to fill time. The artwork is as sketchy as they come, but there is still plenty of emotion in its rough lines. It's what I perceive to be the ultimate tragedy for a husband and father - to have those roles taken from him by force.

The story starts off cartoony enough with a not-too-bright sailor and his family visiting the docks where the daughter wants to see the big ships. They get attacked by sailors who cut up the sailor and throw his limp body in the sea, rape his wife and kill his daughter. An old man who calls himself Jack sews up the sailor's wounds and wants to have him fight Walleye Thompson, a bare-knuckle fighter, in exchange for information on the sailor's wife.

The fight goes well for the sailor and Jack reveals that the sailor's wife is in hospital. The sailor is haunted by his daughter's image accusing him of not protecting his family. He loses all hope when his wife also dies from her wounds.

Thompson's manager captures the sailor, wanting to exact revenge for his fighter's loss. The sailor is stabbed and left to die next to Jack who also fatally wounded. His last thoughts are of his family. He sees himself reunited with them as he draws his final breath.

[Moe · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Lost Dogs" ist Jeff Lemires erstes veröffentlichtes Werk, das in dieser Neuauflage wieder zu lesen ist. Sein Zeichenstil konnte mich schon bei "Sweet Tooth" begeistern und in dieser kurzen Graphic Novel sieht man durchaus, dass sein Stil so in etwa schon immer da war und sich seitdem stetig entwickelt und verfeinert hat. Im Vergleich zu seinen neueren Werken wirken die Zeichnungen in "Lost Dogs" wesentlich kruder und roher, doch genau das hat diese für mich besonders wirkungsvoll erscheinen lassen. Jeff Lemire nutzt in dieser Geschichte nur Grautöne und verschiedene Rotstufen, für das Shirt des Protagonisten und für Blut. Passend zur Thematik wirkt das Rot viel eindringlicher, denn die Geschichte selbst geht unglaublich ans Herz, so hoffnungslos ist sie. Sie kommt mal mit mehr, mal mit weniger Worten aus, durch die Zeichnungen fließt die Trostlosigkeit aus jedem Pinselstrich.

[Václav · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lemire's early stuff, the Lost Dogs. I can clearly see the direction Jeff picked here, but I'm not convinced this is anything actually good. A simple story with not really creative parts. Like why going to pier/boardwalk/harbour at night (with wife and kid) is instant deathwish? This abundantly used stereotype started to annoy me and actually spoiled the rest of somewhat touching (but trivial/shallow) story for me. Lost Dogs reminds me of contribution to student's comics anthology book. Both with the level of art and quality of the story. And it kind of is.

The funny thing in the description of the book: "A full-color 104-page graphic novel, 6.5" x 9" - full-colour actually means black and white and sometimes a bit of red, in the case of Lost Dogs.

[Andrew Rockwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.0 stars—-

Another hard graphic novel to rate, I don’t think this one is meant to be entertaining. It’s brutal, powerful, and honestly just sad. I had to double back a few pages and reread the end to fully understand.
This is not a good graphic novel for people wanting to break into the genre, but it is still a story I’m glad I read.

[Dimitris Papastergiou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the artwork and the story had me locked in right away.

I like Lemire's stuff most of the time and this one was one of the good ones. Amazing story and you can pretty much feel it all the way to the end.

[Etienne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy shit! That was dark from start to finish!!! Really dark! Hard story but a good one for sure. The illustration are in the older years style of Jeff Lemire, not the prettiest, not that neat, but a blurry, almost sketchy kind of style that I like very much from this artist! Excellent!

[A Fan of Comics · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!

One, if not Lemires first comic. The art is really raw and reminds me a bit of Picasso with a story just as raw and emotional. Bitter sweet as usual. Would definitely recommend to a Jeff Lemires fan, maybe not so much for someone's first Lemire book.

[Valéria. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Little beginnings of Jeff Lemire.
The drawings are kinda rough, but you get pretty clear image of what is happening. I liked it even more than some if his newer stuff. The ending was predictable, but still kinda sweet.

[Mathias Ravnholt · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5

[Mohamed Ahmed · Rating 4 out of 5]

didn't expect this to be that good
a powerful and brutal tale from Jeff early days.
the art was sketchy but somehow it fits

[Oneirosophos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Be patient with the first part, it's his first work!

[Jakub Karda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nádherná jednohubka - velmi silný

[Eric Mesa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This originally appeared at http://www.comicpow.com/2016/03/09/lo... - images there.
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The world can be a pretty tough place and in Lost Dogs we see the worst of it. We know there are bad people out there, but we want to believe in the good of folks or that perhaps bad things won’t happen to us because we’re good people. Lost Dogs shatters all those illusions. Jeff Lemire’s first published comic book is a very fast read, but a very impactful read.

We’re introduced to a simple farmer, his wife, and daughter. He’s a gigantic man of few words – so few that, other than “uh-uh” a couple pages before the major event of the book, he doesn’t speak the entire time, even as his daughter is peppering him with questions. His wife ends up answering nearly all of the questions before he can say anything. The farmer takes his family to the city to go see a puppet show and the boats in the docks. There his family is attacked and he says his first words “Stay away…from my family!”

The darkness and helplessness comes from the fact that he cannot protect his family, despite his enormous size. There are too many against him and they have knives while he only has his bare hands. As the gang takes his wife away to rape and his daughter to kill, he’s tossed into the water to die. I don’t know if I’m alone or rare in this, but even before reading this I have often wondered what I would do if my family or just my wife ended up in a bad situation. On the one hand, we tend not to frequent bars, clubs, and other places where people get rowdy. On the other hand, we do go to Baltimore and Washington DC and there are pretty bad elements there. I’m often at a loss for anything I could do. Someone who’s already in the mindset to mess you up is probably experienced or at least cares not about his own life and safety. Having grown up in a non-chaotic society, I doubt I’d have the instincts necessary to overcome the overthinking in such a situation that could potentially save us.

Continuing the theme of the worst in folks, the sailors that fish him out of the sea agree to sell him to an old man for just 50 pence each. Then, the man who bought him forces him to fight in a bare knuckle boxing match for him in order to learn where his wife is – for she is alive following the ordeal. Although he doesn’t want to fight, he is forced to win the fight in order to find out where she is. He knocks out his opponent in one hit. Although he’s able to find his wife, she is dying from the beatings. As if to underscore the futility of life, the man whose boxer lost murders him in a cell.

Lost Dogs is so hard to read because it goes against what we want to believe – that only the bad are penalized. It’s why we treat the poor so badly – we assume they must have done something to deserve being poor – even if that something is just being lazy. But Lemire reminds us with this gruesome tale that even the purest of heart can have everything go horribly wrong for no reason at all.

Questions? Comments? I love discussion – feel free to comment wherever you read this.

[Dominick · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is pretty much a curio. It was Jeff Lemire's first published comic and it shows; it's rough and ready and lacks the finesse of his more recent works. Lemire has written an introduction for this new edition that puts the book firmly into context and gives some interesting background details into his creative process for Lost Dogs and how he got it published. I think having this context makes the actual comic more enjoyable but it's still not a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination. So, as I said, it's a curio, it's certainly worth a read but will only earn a permanent place on the bookshelves of hardcore Lemire fans and completists but it may also give amateur cartoonists a little inspiration.

[Zedsdead · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. Lost Dogs is simply a chain of horrific injustices. A revenge tail where nobody gets--or even seeks--revenge. I guess it's also supposed to be the story of a man holding on to his humanity through all that the world can throw at him, but for me that paled against how badly I wanted to see the bad guys get what they deserved.

[Danushka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short, quick read by an author I've come to enjoy quite a bit. This is his first publication, reissued. A sad and tough story.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lost Dogs is Lemire’s first comic book. He was inspired by Scott McCloud’s 24 pages in 24 hours challenge. This was the result (well, the first 10-12 pages).

The story is brutal. A giant of man takes his wife and daughter into town. As they walk by the docks, a group of men kill his daughter, assault his wife, and stab him, leaving him for dead in the sea. At this point, I thought the story was going to become a Monte Cristo/Sweeney Todd revenge story. Instead it goes quite the other way.

Lemire himself describes the book by saying “The art is blocky, messy and unrefined. The characters are muddy and ugly. The storytelling is raw. It's a far cry from how I draw now.” Those things are all true, but there’s a beauty in the rawness and the simplicity.

[Ryan Lowery · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dark...

It was interesting to see some of Lemire's early work. While his art has changed pretty drastically over the years, his storytelling chops are still very evident.