The Stranger (Housepets!)

Evil-doer
Full Name	Unknown
Alias	The Stranger Stranger Sir Crazy Person (both by Maxwell)
Origin	Housepets!
Occupation	Registered felon Fluffy's owner (formerly)
Powers / Skills	Persuasion Gunmanship
Hobby	Caring for Fluffy Abducting animals
Goals	Feed his pet alligator, Fluffy (presumably succeeded for a while) Feed Fox and Maxwell to Fluffy (failed)
Crimes	Animal cruelty Kidnapping Illegal pet ownership Driving without a license plate Drug possession
Type of Villain	Enigmatic Kidnapper

“	Yes Fluffy, I have all sorts of new toys for you. But no peeking until your birthday!	„
	~ The Stranger preparing to feed Fox and Maxwell to his pet, Fluffy.

The Stranger is a minor antagonist in Rick Griffin's webcomic Housepets!. He appeared in the flashback in the comic's 50th chapter, "Housepets Babies!", and acted as the main antagonist.

He was a sketchy individual in a conspicuous trenchcoat and fedora who roamed the streets of Babylon Gardens in search of animals, both strays and pets, to kidnap and feed to his beloved pet alligator, Fluffy.

Unlike most Housepets! antagonists, who are either mere jerks or serious threats that, nevertheless, have a lot of played-for-laughs moments, as the comic is a light-hearted comedy for the most part, the Stranger, much like Mr. Hartford and The Forgotten, was taken very seriously, as he was a grimly realistic kidnapper and potential serial killer and was pretty much never comedic in his limited screentime.

He first appeared in the strip "Stranger Danger Exchanger".

Biography

The Stranger was a mysterious resident in the US town of Babylon Gardens who, at an unknown point, got himself a pet alligator that he named Fluffy. He drove a car with no license plate and built fences that completely obscured his house from the outside, so that his shady activities would go unreported. The Stranger, as a matter of fact, was a serial pet-napper who abducted pets and strays so as to give them to Fluffy as playthings and later meals.

In the present time, When the cat and writer, Res Auburn, visited Babylon Gardens to hang out with his friend, the cat Grape Jelly Sandwich, her dog pet-brother, Peanut, told Res his and Grape's first encounter as cubs to kill the time and how, later, the kitten would face the Stranger.

When Fluffy's birthday was near, the man kidnapped the husky puppy, Fox Lindberg and locked him in his basement so as to make him Fluffy's "present". The next day, word spread of Fox not returning home and Maxwell, Grape's future boyfriend who was a kitten as well back then, was glad that Fox had disappeared, as back then, the dog was a racist bully towards cats. Despite this, Grape was still worried about Fox, but Max dismissed the kitten's worries and prepared for the neighborhood's "new golden age".

That's when the Stranger approached Max, as the kitten didn't like wearing his collar and the man thought he was a stray, and, even though Max recognized him from the neighborhood watch sign, the stranger gained the kitten's full trust by offering him catnip and lured Max to his basement, where he bound him and put him alongside Fox.

Max was ready to be killed or possibly tortured by the evil-doer and bid Fox one last, not-so-loving goodbye, but that's when Grape entered the basement through the window. The kitten had not alerted the police, as the Stranger's car had no license plate for her to report, so she had, instead, held onto the car's underside. She freed Fox and Max but, when it was time to escape, the husky got cold feet. Max berated Fox as, for all his bravado, Grape, who was younger, was braver than him and tried to talk some courage into him, but the black kitten got cold feet as well when he saw what type of animal Fluffy was.

The Stranger prepared to give Fluffy their "birthday gifts", but Max braved his fear and told Grape and Fox to run for it while he distracted Fluffy. Max briefly wrestled the alligator, to their owner's outrage, but was quickly overwhelmed. Grape grabbed a broom and immediately went to the rescue, snapping the broom-stick in Fluffy's mouth to keep it open. The Stranger confronted the escaped pets with a rifle, as they were "ruining Fluffy's birthday", but quickly realized his mistake as Grape used the other half of the broom to beat him senseless, to Max and Fox's amazement and feeling of inadequacy.

The police later arrived to finally arrest the Stranger, while Fluffy was taken in by Animal Control officers. Fox and Max were reunited with their owners and friends and the husky, who had learned his lesson, tearfully apologized to Grape for having been a bully and Grape hugged him. Having heard of Grape's bravery against the villain, Res was even more amazed by his friend.

Trivia

• The Stranger, Mr. Hartford, and Keene Milton are, so far, the only three pet owners in the comic to be villains.
  • Ironically, while Mr. Hartford is a villain because he was uncaring and abusive towards his pet, Sasha, the Stranger is a villain because he cares for his pet, Fluffy, but harms other animals to make them happy, while Keene, on the other hand, just happens to be the legal owner of the ECP animals, but was a villain for reasons unrelated to his treatment of them.
• The Stranger kidnapping Fox was foreshadowed all the way back in the arc "A Sinister Shadow", as Fox shouted "Not again!" when kidnapped by PETA.
• The Stranger, so far, is one of only two Housepets! characters to wield a real firearm on-screen, the other being Keene, who wielded a flame-thrower in the strip "...And Ice And Fire".