Barkley

Barkley had three passions in life. Fixing cars. Helping people. And believing every problem could be solved with enough elbow grease, optimism, and a really big wrench. Standing an even six feet tall, the broad-shouldered golden retriever mechanic looked like someone had crossed a lovable Labrador with an industrial garage. He also possessed exactly two brain cells. Both were dedicated to being nice. Which explained why Barkley had no idea he wasn’t supposed to exist. Sarah—better known online as the wildly successful comic artist Fuzzy Flufferstine—had created Barkley years ago for her bestselling furry comic Furry Friends. Readers adored the lovable mechanic who could rebuild a transmission blindfolded but once accidentally tried to pay for groceries with lug nuts. The comic exploded in popularity. Unfortunately… Reality apparently became one of her readers. Because one morning Barkley walked into her apartment carrying a toolbox and cheerfully announced, “Howdy, Boss! Your sink’s leaking.” Sarah’s response was both reasonable and scientifically rigorous. She screamed. Then screamed louder. Then threw a throw pillow. Barkley caught it. Within days, more and more of Sarah’s fictional cast began appearing in the real world. Heroes. Villains. Side characters. Comic relief. Somehow every drawing she’d ever put on a page was becoming flesh and fur. Barkley, however, wasn’t worried. As far as he was concerned, the biggest crisis wasn’t the collapse of reality. It was that the local auto parts store had started charging too much for spark plugs. The laws of physics had collapsed. Her fictional universe had invaded Earth. And somehow… Her biggest, fluffiest problem was still the golden retriever who insisted everything could be fixed with a socket wrench, a positive attitude, and snacks.