Animal Pound #2: For Democracy!

Animal Pound #2 picks up with the animals in the pound discovering the trials and tribulations behind their new found independence. Continuing this modern retelling of the classic George Orwell novel Animal Farm, Animal Pound seeks to use the framework of that original story to comment on the state of the world today. This issue sees the dogs, cats, and rabbits struggle with law and disorder as a lack of leadership causes disarray and chaos within the confines of the pound.

The instigating factor in the need for leadership is the murder of one of the rabbits while the food stock starts to run out. Much like humanity around them, the animals go straight into survival mode when the situations get dire. This seems to be commentary on the state of the world during the Covid 19 pandemic, as people desperately went to great lengths to ensure themselves and their family’s will be ok. This kind of real world commentary is what makes this series so topical today.

This inciting event leads the animals to identify a leader within their ranks, someone who would act upon the will of all. The way they go about this is very interesting, as then different species discover that voting one by one would simply not be fair. Each species has their own opinions on how their laws should be written, and there was no equality amongst the numbers of dogs, cats, or rabbits. Instead, writer Tom King thinks up an alternative in which the animals vote based on weight. This both literally and figuratively shows that the votes are holding an equal weight, a clever piece of writing. 

The vote ends in the top dog, Titan, becoming the leader of the pound, with his first action being a law that prevents the animals from killing one another. The irony behind this is that Titan is acting directly in opposition to his own dogs as they are the ones that advocated killing the rabbits for food. This is emblematic of Titan’s leadership capabilities, with the rest of the animals learning to respect him and fall behind everything he stands for. This is more commentary on the state of America today, with leaders jumping on popular opinions and topics that sometimes go against their own self interests. This is all done with the intention of keeping the power in one area. While this tactic is likely to backfire in the long run, this logical starting point for leadership is emblematic of the times and is definitely something that may cause contention later on.

Without going too much into the topic, the issue ends with the animals attempting to post cute videos online to generate income so they can purchase food. This is the beginning of the animals discovering the core aspects of capitalism, revolving around the need for workers to generate income that can be taken in part by the leadership to serve the people. This is definitely going to be the topic of the following issue so it will be interesting to see how this creative team tackles it.