Kinski - Seriously Dude Thats Not Your Dog.

Kinski - Issues 1-6 complete series

Kinski is written and illustrated by Gabriel Hardman and published by Image. Kinski is a crime thriller about a man called Joe who decides he will rescue a dog from what he thinks are neglectful owners. Personally I wouldn't classify Kinski so much as a crime thriller so much as I would just a story about a guy going through a mental breakdown.

The cutest puppy in comics

Joe is on a business trip with his company when he finds an adorable black lab puppy and decides that he is going to keep him and names him Kinski. An animal control officer turns up and takes the puppy away, despite Joe's objections. The animal control officer says that the owner has five days to claim the dog before he goes up for adoption, Unfortunately Joe doesn't have five days to wait as his flight leaves in the morning. Joe lies to the pound saying that the dog is his and goes to retrieve him learning that somebody had already claimed the dog. Joe quickly checks their address when the receptionist isn't looking and sets off to find Kinski. When Joe reaches the address he sees a little boy playing with Kinski whose real name is Bosley, Joe thinks that Kinski will only escape again if left with these owners so he decides to whisk Kinski away in the night. Joe puts a collar on Kinski with a tag and his phone number deciding that he is now his. Joe doesn't end up taking his flight back because he refuses to put Kinski in cargo so his work mate, Frank, offers to drive the 12 hours back with Joe at the annoyance of their boss who gives Joe this one last chance to shape up or he's fired. On the way back Joe bumps into a waitress he met the night before who gives him a missing poster for their dog saying her son is incredibly upset. as Joe drives back he starts having second thoughts about what he has done and decides to take Kinski back to his owner but when Frank finds the lost poster for the dog he realises that not everything is exactly as Joe said it was.

DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUN!!

The art in Kinski has a wonderful noir feel to it with great facial expression and just the happiest little puppy you've ever seen. Kinski has some really fantastic panels some with great scenery, others using shadows to really communicate the tone of the current situation. The facial expressions of the character's are so good this comic could almost be printed without words and still be have a very clear story.

I just love the look of this panel

Personally I find Joe a really unsympathetic character, he seems to be completely normal on the first page and even starts to look for the lost dog's owner and then suddenly decides the dog is his to keep because it is friendly and cute. Joe seems to have a complete mental breakdown over this dog that he has only spent a few minutes with, Joe gives up his job, loses friends all of which begins huge ripple of negative impact on his life. We are given no prior evidence that Joe is having trouble in his life or that he has some previous issues with lost dogs, he simply seems to lose it out of nowhere. I have a hard time feeling sorry for a man who literally sneaks into a child's yard at night and steals his puppy when he had absolutely nothing to go on that the owners were neglectful other than the fact that the puppy got out once, he even witnessed the child playing lovingly with the puppy but still decides that he would be a better owner. In defence of the comic all of the other characters in the comic have the general attitude of "what the hell is wrong with you, Joe?" attitude, his boss says to him he may be taking some body's dog and Frank even flat out tells him that what he is doing is wrong.

This puppy is apparently like the one ring

I may be slightly biased with this story because professionally I am a veterinary nurse and have actually dealt with similar situations where people find dogs, have them for a few hours and decide that they are theirs. This is not only illegal (technically this is stealing the dog) but the owners, 99% of the time, will be looking for their much loved member of the family.  So if I were to rate this story on art alone it would be getting a much higher rating but taking into account the story and main character I give Kinski 2 out of 5 lost dog posters.

Find out more about Kinski here.

If you do find a lost dog or cat take it to your local vet clinic and they will take care of them, they will scan them for a microchip (a legal requirement in Australia for not only owning but selling a puppy or kitten) and get them home before dinner. On the off chance that the vet clinic cannot find the owners they will be taken to the RSPCA the owner's have 8 days to claim their pet then the pet will be assessed for adoption. People do not work as animal rangers/control officers and at shelters because they enjoy euthanizing animals and they will always do their best to take care of all the animals that come through their doors. You can put in an application when dropping a lost animal at the vet for you to be contacted if the animal does come up for adoption.