The Doe of Deadwood is a webcomic by Songdog, spinning a story of a doe that does not wish to die and so makes a deal with a devil, a gnarled tree in a haunted forest called the deadwood.
An animal fairy tale featuring no humans, only talking animals. The titular Doe is a strange, red eyed solitary creature. At the beginning of the tale she comes to the attention of a newly arrived flock of deer who are curious about this lonely stranger.
In exchange for prolonging her life, curing her illness and making her immune to injury the tree devil demands to be fed with bodies of dead animals, which the doe must procure. Unfortunately the best source of bodies nearby happens to be the herd of deer that lives next to the forest… setting up the major conflict and moral quandary for the protagonist.
A comic that probably would not have been created outside of the online medium, the Doe of Deadwood is a very unusual tale for anyone used to Disney style talking animals. You won’t find any musical numbers or happy hijinks, these talking animals live in a very real world of predation and suffering, and react accordingly with their human-like intelligence.
