Dog Breath is a graphic novel blending dystopian noir and street-hassle grit.
To promote the series, in-universe animated content—such as TikToks, Reels, and comic-style posts—will expand the world while remaining separate from the main narrative. Music will also play a central-role, as there will be an original soundtrack featuring songs by the fictional band from the story.
PLOT:
In Scarlet Town—a lawless European seaport that feels like a dreamlike collision of Odessa and Berlin, if such a place could exist, a couple of misfits band together to defeat their common enemy - starvation.
The story’s timeline is deliberately vague, shaped more by the mix of crumbling societal norms and scattered cultural references than by historical fact. It’s generally understood to be a mashup of all things 20th century, placing it in a hazy aftermath of a major war, where order has long since broken down.
There are no cellphones but there are key-tars, and Lamborghini might whizz past a breadline.
Within the strange world of Scarlet Town we follow 3 major storylines…
STORYLINE 1: THE BAND…
Klaus was a musician before the war shut down the labels and all the records turned free. Now he doesn’t care about anything but old guitars and vintage American cars. He understands that music is 90 percent hair, of which he’s still got a full head, and if he wanted he could start a band like Brian Jonestown Massacre if they were good. Anyway, he usually listens to jazz. He drives fast for a living, crazy fast. Cause nothing matters anyway, right? But when he wrecks his GTO in a drag race, his opium habit politely suggests otherwise. He needs new wheels right away. Problem is he’s broke, and American cars can only be found on the black market where they sure don’t lease.
Lotte is an orphan who sings like Moe Tucker when she’s not selling infant formula and other scarcities for underworld boss Baby Swanson. She is a master of all things black market, but when she gets short changed on a major score, Swanson has an idea for a solution. Execution. Realizing that her mute little brother won’t survive a day in this corrupt world without her, she comes up with an idea of her own.
There's never been a shortage of fans of her looks, maybe she can work in Swanson’s nightclub until her debts are paid. Problem is there’s only two jobs available there, and she doesn't play any instruments.
When Klaus and Lotte meet at one of the city's many after-hours leather clubs, it doesn’t take long for her to enlist him in her scheme. Before he knows what’s happened they are performing at Swanson’s nightclub. Their sound and lyrics of life on the street instantly touch a nerve with the crowd.
As their residency builds momentum and word of mouth spreads our two heroes find themselves at the center of an avant-garde world of degenerates and socialites hoping to party one last night before the war breaks out and the whole world goes belly up. Despite their 20-year age difference, they quickly form a sibling bond that becomes a safe haven in a world spiraling toward all out destruction.
STORYLINE 2: THE PRIVATE DETECTIVE…
Howard Grant is a private detective with PTSD from the war. He’s looking for a missing girl who stands to inherit a lot of bread, if she would just turn up to collect. His disdain for psychiatry is only exacerbated by his client, Hildegard Von Frozen, the daughter of a renowned analyst and unfit mother of Misty, the missing girl.
In his search for the hard partying heiress he is quickly drawn into the world of shady characters that comprise the scene at Club Swanson. When he discovers that Misty might have been blackmailing her own mother, he begins to wonder if he has been hired for an entirely different purpose?
STORYLINE 3: THE KILLER…
“Blabber Mouth” is what the press call him because he leaves exceedingly long screeds literally attached to his victims by grotesque means. The entire city is on alert, but no one has any clue who he is. Is he a maniac killer with unknowable motives, or an extension of unseen political forces attempting to push the city’s angst level to a breaking point in order to promote the agenda of war.
ALL TOGETHER NOW:
Before long a robot who looks like Peter Lorre joins the band, Private Eye Howard Grant is asking questions about a missing girl at the bar, and Baby Swanson is offering a cash reward for anyone with information leading to the capture of Blabbermouth. After all, night stalkers are bad for business.
Problem is, there’s about to be a new chancellor in town, and he don’t party.
It’s Threepenny Opera meets Two Lane Black Top… with an indie soundtrack.
Viva las Vegas!
EXAMPLE OF ANIMATION STYLE (IN TIKTOK FORMAT)
EXAMPLE OF COMIC-BOOK STYLE CAROUSEL FOR SOCIAL MEDIA PROMO
