IGN
Don't let the fact that Wes Abbott was a runner-up in Tokyopop's Rising Stars of Manga contest fool you into thinking he's only second best. The guy's worked with Comicraft's Richard Starkings, so the chances are pretty good that you own a comic right now that he's had his hand in helping to create. He was also the penciler, inker and colorist on one of the hardest-to-find comic books on the planet, The Second Stage Turbine Blade (with Coheed and Cambria's Claudio Sanchez on writing duties), which as of the end of May was fetching about $110 a copy on Ebay. This guy has a pedigree, solid chops on almost every aspect of producing a comic book, and has now produced one of the best OEL manga to come out this year in Dogby Walks Alone.

Welcome to Happyplace, the "World's Happiest Theme Park". But the murder of one of the park's stars, known only as Princess, replaces the merriment with chaos, as mascots, employees and attendants all scramble to pick up clues. In the middle of all this comes Dogby, a mascot of few … okay, no words. He's had a bit of a past with the Princess and he wants answers, even if he has to step on every pop-culture reference in the book to get them. At his side is Snack Girl, a faithful and perhaps infatuated…snack girl, and a host of other mascots and park employees both helping and hindering him along the way. There are moments of laugh-out-loud spit-out-your-Coke humor as well as some dramatic and serious moments... well, as serious as you can get in a theme park.

If a book about a bunch of theme-park mascots solving a Scooby-Doo type mystery doesn't sound like your usual five-dollar hot dog, Dogby is still worth your time if you're any kind of pop-culture fan. In this first volume alone references are made to Star Wars (naturally), Chinatown, Twin Peaks, the Blues Brothers, Mario, Almost Famous, the Beatles, Metal Gear Solid, G.I. Joe, the Adam West Batman series…nothing is sacred. Heck, I probably haven't even scratched the surface, so chances are very good that you'll find a reference or three that I've missed, and one of your friends will see something you've missed. I'd love to let you in on some of the jokes that had me laughing out loud, but you're better off finding them on your own. Take heart, geeks, Abbott is one of us, and it shows in this book.

If there's one thing manga and anime can do well, it's the ability to give a giant animal costume some amount of "life". Anyone who's had the giant teddy bear nightmare after watching Akira knows what I'm talking about. Abbott manages to find a way to take people in giant mascot outfits and, by simply angling the head or providing the right spacing in a panel, show us what they're thinking. This is particularly effective with the main character, Dogby, who doesn't say a word the entire book. No, the artwork isn't as flashy as what you might find in other manga, but budding artists would do well to study this book and take note of how you can show emotion even if your subject is unable to show his or her face. How can you show sadness, happiness, or anger when your subject's face is concealed by a giant cartoon dog head? The answer lies within the pages of Dogby Walks Alone.

You're going to have a good time reading this book, and you'll most likely look forward to future Dogby adventures. Fortunately, this first volume contains one complete story. You'll have no fear of a long wait while Abbott creates the sequel, and chances are you'll be re-reading this first adventure several times while you do. Dogby Walks Alone is well worth your time, particularly if you've ever been to a theme park and wondered just what goes on in the minds of those people in the mascot costumes. And it's cheaper than most theme-park concessions, too!

~A.E. Sparrow, IGN
http://comics.ign.com/articles/710/710941p1.html

ComicCritique
Dogby Walks Alone is quite possibly the most hilariously entertaining book I’ve read this year.

Writer/Artist Wes Abbott, a winner of Tokyopop’s Rising Stars of Manga Vol. 2, spins a delightfully ridiculous tale about a theme park mascot and his exploits while searching for the murderer of a friend.

No description I can give here would do the story justice, as Abbott’s Dogby is a masterpiece of absurdity almost too eerily close to reality. Dogby is wildly original, yet Abbott still manages to reference various sources from Star Wars to Disneyland, and I absolutely lost it when Dogby dropped the People’s Elbow (read it and weep with laughter). Dogby is a story I love so much I wish that I had created it, and that is about the highest compliment I can give to a book.

Abbott perfects the manga style, not only in the way he draws characters but in the pacing and layout of the pages. Every panel draws your attention along and maintains a breakneck pace throughout the book, entertaining

readers with wonderful style while dropping in-jokes and homages throughout without being forced or derivative. Dogby himself proves a dynamic yet laconic hero, with a permanent look on his mask that makes everything even funnier as the story goes along. Every piece of art, every line in this book serves Abbott’s flawless creation of crazy comedy mixed with mystery and topped off with a dash of romance.

Dogby Walks Alone “totally reeks of awesomeness,” and you would be a fool not to read this book. Tokyopop has really discovered America’s hidden treasures as far as creators go, what with this, Riding Shotgun, and a host of other offerings in the last year. Wes Abbott has also solidified himself as a top-notch creator, and I cannot wait to see more work from him. The only bad part about all of this is that I now have to wait until next year for the sequel, Dogby Walks Tall.

~Adam White,ComicCritique
http://www.comiccritique.com/st/grevSt473.html