Beasts of Burden

Beasts of Burden
Cover to Beasts of Burden #4 (Dec 2009) by Jill Thompson
Publication information
Publisher	Dark Horse Comics
Creative team
Writer(s)	Evan Dorkin
Artist(s)	Jill Thompson
Creator(s)	Evan Dorkin Jill Thompson

Beasts of Burden is a comic book series created by writer Evan Dorkin and artist Jill Thompson, and published by American company Dark Horse Comics. The title centers on an eponymous team of intelligent animals that investigate different paranormal events that occur in their small neighborhood of Burden Hill. The group consists of five dogs named Ace, Rex, Jack, Whitey, and Pugsley, and a cat named Orphan (later they are joined by another cat named Dymphna, a former witch's familiar). The group is often seen consulting with "Wise Dogs", local shaman-like elders of their community.

The characters made their first appearance in a story titled Stray (written by Evan Dorkin with art by Jill Thompson) in The Dark Horse Book of Hauntings. They made subsequent appearances in The Dark Horse Book of Witchcraft, The Dark Horse Book of The Dead, and The Dark Horse Book of Monsters.

Dorkin stated that he came up with the concept after being asked by Dark Horse editor Scott Allie to write a story for the horror anthology The Dark Horse Book of Hauntings.

I wanted to write a haunted-house story, but not along traditional lines. After a few false starts I hit on the idea of a haunted doghouse, which became my pitch for Stray. Scott liked it and wanted me to draw it. I draw animals about as well as I breakdance, but Scott believed in me. Which was really nice. Luckily for us all, I convinced him to approach Jill Thompson instead.

In 2009 the characters appeared in their own 4-issue mini-series. In 2010 the characters appeared alongside Hellboy in a one-shot issue titled Hellboy/Beasts of Burden: Sacrifice. In 2011, three new Beasts of Burden stories appeared in the fourth, sixth and eighth issues of the relaunched Dark Horse Presents series, all of which were later reprinted in the Beasts of Burden: Neighborhood Watch one-shot.