Luke Healy
Drawn & Quarterly
$22 / 272 pages

“If Brad’s the balloon, Bernie’s the string. Love is real. And Luke Healy will prove it, one joke at a time.”

So reads the publisher’s tag line and one would be hard pressed to write one more fitting. Dogs On Dates was one of quite a few graphic novels and comics released during Pride month this year so the title may have escaped your notice. Luke Healy’s premise for his graphic novel is straightforward: take two anthropomorphic dogs and set them on a collision course for a disastrously funny meet cute which finds them sharing an ambulance ride to the emergency room. What follows their fateful ambulance ride is a series of dates that run the gamut from incredibly sweet to comically bad.

Dear reader, I was unprepared for Bernie and Brad’s tale to be such a wonderful story! Allow me to tell you why. First of course are Bernie and Brad the canine couple whom Healy has taken great care to make into interesting and nuanced characters. Bernie is chill, has a circle of friends, likes to be prepared, and works at his father’s deli. At the beginning of the story Bernie has just dropped out at the local community college citing that sitting through two months of conceptual art classes at Dog City Community College was more than enough for him. Brad is just a bit neurotic and comes from a wealthy family of overachievers who tend to view things as either tax deductions or commodities like Brad’s father’s art collection. Brad, who works at an environmental non profit, finds himself being rooked (once again) into donning a silly mascot costume as part of a seminar at the same college.

While I found Bernie’s disdain of conceptual art and Brad’s embarrassing costume incident very relatable on personal grounds there is so much more here for readers to enjoy. The real magic happens when Healy starts exploring their relationship and gives readers an in depth look at Bernie and Brad’s personalities, quirks, and insecurities. Since I mentioned comically bad dates here’s one example. A spontaneous invitation from Bernie to Beach Day (a tradition in Bernie’s family) finds Brad ditching his stodgy brothers for a carefree outing with two of Bernie’s friends. Bernie’s extreme planning skills are put to the test when they find themselves swept out to sea and then rescued by an eccentric billionaire who can’t stop herself from spouting lunatic right wing ideas. Another date where anything that could go wrong does go wrong involves a relentless pursuit of a trendy food truck, a film crew, an accidental plunge into a stinky river, and more costumes before finally at last feasting on sandwiches from the elusive vendor. At the end of the day though Bernie exclaims how much fun he had simply because it was spent with Brad.

While doing a little research I discovered Healy has worked as a standup comedian and those skills are a great asset here. My purely anecdotal proof is that I genuinely laughed out loud several times while reading Dogs On Dates. Bernie and Brad’s story isn’t just all laughs though. There are sweet and tender moments between them. We see them learn and grow from each other such as when Brad’s optimistic attitude wearing off on Bernie and Bernie trying to help with Brad’s “horrible photos” curse. Brad shows unflinching and unconditional love upon learning Bernie is trans. Every love story brings challenges and Bernie’s and Brad’s is no different. A case of mistaken identity by Brad’s pretentious family leaves Bernie questioning his life choices. Dogs On Dates concludes with the most romantic finale for Bernie and Brad proving that love wins in the end.

Dogs On Dates with its humor, sweetness, and sincerity is the gay romance story that I didn’t know how much I needed to read.

Visit Luke Healy’s site to view sample pages and a look at his other books and short comics.

Look for Dogs On Dates at your local comic shop or bookstore. Can’t find a copy? Give this ISBN to your bookstore to order one. You can also order from Bookshop which supports indy bookstores.

If all else fails or you prefer, purchase from Amazon.