Dog Man Unleashed

“In a world where evil cats wreak havoc on the innocent…and sinister villains poison the souls of the meek…one cop and one police dog had what it took to keep the peace.”

As Harold and George explain Dog Man’s backstory, their diction establishes the story’s tone and lays the groundwork for The Struggle Between Good and Evil. Words like “evil” juxtaposed against words like “cats” convey that the story will deal with absurd and comical ideas. Words like “sinister” and “poison” establish a dramatic tone of excitement. The repeated use of the word “one” makes it clear that the evil and sinister forces that menace the world can only be defeated by the singular forces of good represented by the story’s heroic police officer and police dog—the pair who will eventually be combined to create Dog Man.

“Will our hero be able to overcome his canine nature and be a better man? Or will his bad habits get the best of him?”

Harold and George pose this question in the Foreword, which is another example of the story’s absurdity and The Importance of Creativity and Silliness. The question sets up an expectation that Dog Man’s growth and change will be a focus of the story. Like the claim that immediately follows—that the story will contain “romance”—this is misleading. It is a metafictional strategy, commenting on the way stories are typically pitched to readers, not a serious claim that