Patch has gone crazy. He’s attacking the rest of the strays. They’re going to have to get away from him...but are they really going to just leave him? There’s something seriously awful going around and it’s only a matter of time before a reckoning arrives inn Feral #5. Writer  Tony Fleecs ends the first major plot arc of his new series with artists Trish Forstner and Tone Rodriguez and colorist Brad Simpson. The darkness closes-in around the strays in a very bleak wrap-up to the first arc of the series that still shows considerable signs of hope around the edges of the story.

The door to the house has been slammed on Patch. The observation is that it’s not really going to do anything. Patch knows how to open the door. He’s not exactly bounding out of the house, though. Elsie doesn’t want to leave him behind, though. She’s already lost Lord. She doesn’t want to lose Patch too.  Patch is sick, though. And there are man in yellow hazmat suits who are coming to exterminate the entire  community and everything in it in order to contain the contagion. If the strays are going to make it out alive, they’re going to have to think of something. 

The tremendous darkness of the story is galvanized a bit by the heroism of the cats. This isn't a gleaming, golden look at heroism. It's basic survival. And basic survival requires decisions be made. Fleecs does a pretty good job of grounding the drama in and within the ensemble of characters. This is important as so much of the story of basic survival is something that has been echoing through fiction since the dawn of time. So it doesn't really feel fresh. There’s a real Watershed Down sort of a feel to a story that does this with wild, furry animals. Simply allowing the story to rest on the fact that that it's about our group of cats isn't going to be enough. Fleecs knows this and wisely focusses the concerns on the emotional lives of the cats in question. 

There continue to be issues with the fact that the cats aren't allowed to have traditional cat eyes. the anthropomorphize of the cats through their eyes feels a little disturbing on some basic level. That being said, the drama feels very palpable. And the art team doesn't excellent job of bringing in the full reality of just how awful things have gotten in the light of twilight that seems to catch everything in its final moments. Above all, the fact that they've anthropomorphize the cats as little as they have while still managing to maintain very human emotions on them is quite an accomplishment.

So the first major story arc is finished...and it’s done so in a way that maintains a very sharp and sweeping sense of adventure. Feral’s great strength lies in maintaining a very real sense of earthbound drama to a group of slightly anthropomorphized cats.  The ensemble of character and the overall setting of the series could lend itself to a great deal of potential for being QUITE long-running without the creative team having to resort to too much excess fantasy. 

Grade: A