Dog Gone It
BEASTS OF BURDEN is a howl and a half
I am a sucker for two things in life: ghost stories and stories told from the perspective of animals. It’s a wonder, then, why it took me so long to read BEASTS OF BURDEN, a comic book series written by Evan Dorkin and illustrated by Jill Thompson and Benjamin Dewey. The comic began as a series of short stories published from 2003 - 2006 in Dark Horse Comics’ annual horror anthologies.
Each story - written by Dorkin and illustrated by Thompson and progressively lengthier with each year’s installment - follows a group of dogs (and a cat who insists on hanging around) as they investigate supernatural happenings in their seemingly not-so-quiet neighborhood. From ghosts to witches to zombies to werewolves, the suburban pack’s familiarity with the things that go bump in the night grows to the point where no mere short story can contain their adventures. Soon, the Beasts of Burden (they don’t actually refer to themselves by this name - they aren’t the X-Men or anything) would star in a progression of mini-series and one-shots. Eventually, Thompson’s schedule would cause her to hop in and out of the series, tag-teaming with new artist Dewey.
Besides the gorgeous painted art by Thompson and Dewey, what makes BEASTS OF BURDEN so fantastic is how Dorkin blends genuine humor with unexpected darkness throughout the series. It’s a talking animal book and with that kind of structure, there are certain expectations regarding the quips per panel quota for the four-legged heroes of BEASTS OF BURDEN. But, just as there is a proud history of funny talking animal comics, there is also a long lineage of critter-starring comics that are sad AF. The BEASTS OF BURDEN books use the doggy door of tone to shuffle back and forth between humorous banter between the dogs and their feline friends and the grief that comes with naive creatures learning how to reckon with death. Because that’s the thing, isn’t it? In a world where ghosts dogs exist, a canine must come face-to-face with the fact that one day they too will die. That’s some real existential heft for a pug to sort through.
Thompson and Dewey’s artwork adds to this tightrope walk of tonal balance. Thompson in particular is incapable of drawing a cute as a button pet, but she also draws downright gnarly zombies, monsters and ghouls and never backs away from showing the bloody carnage of a supernatural crime scene. Everything just works so perfectly together to put the reader at unease. The 0 to 60 ramp-up from “aw” to “ah!” is inspiring.
Dorkin and his artistic collaborators have, to date, published 24 BEASTS OF BURDEN comics (recently collected in a nifty Omnibus edition). A new comic in the series hasn’t been published since 2021’s OCCUPIED TERRITORY mini-series, which is structured as a flashback to a World War II-era supernatural tale starring one of the series side-characters, a mysterious and seemingly ageless sheepdog who mentors the series’s main characters in all things paranormal. As the series progresses, so does the complex mythology. Elder Dogs, a group of canine guardians who protect the world against incursions from the world of the dead, not only have been working for centuries, but they also have a history with Hellboy. This increasingly complex mythology does rob from the simplicity of the early stories. Still, it’s worth seeing Dorkin and his collaborators stretch their muscles and explore different regions’ myths - such as OCCUPIED TERRITORIES’ wonderful bouquet of Japanese folklore.
My only complaint is that the abrupt pause in new BEASTS OF BURDEN stories makes reading the omnibus a weird experience as the collection sorts the stories with its two mini-series starring the Elder Dog ending the omnibus. In other words, the series’ main characters are MIA for the second half of the collection - long enough for you to really start to miss Ace, Orphan, Dymphna and the gang.
Dorkin recently shared on social media that he is writing more BEASTS OF BURDEN stories, specifically ones focusing on the main cast of pooches from the series. This is the only good news I needed to bury my criticisms in the backyard like a bone. I’m glad I finally dug into BEASTS OF BURDEN, and I can’t wait for more adventures to be unleashed on audiences.
No apologies for the puns. I will never apologize for a pun.