The eight-time Eisner/Harvey Award–winning comic book series returns this year. Beasts of Burden: Occupied Territorycontinues the adventures of the wise dogs in Dark Horse Comics’ unique blend of fantasy, humor, and horror. An elder member of the pack of recalls a harrowing World War II mission where a mysterious curse creates an army of crawling, disembodied heads threatening to overwhelm Japan. The dogs attempt to solve the mystery, coming into conflict with shape-changing tanuki, evil oni, and a horde of vengeful demons. Writers Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer and letterer Nate Piekos return with artist Benjamin Dewey to take fans of the long-running, episodic series where they’ve never encountered this anthropomorphic pack of brave sleuths before.
The book collects Issues #1-4 of the single-issue series in a hardcover compilation. Here’s a preview from Dark Horse Comics of Beasts of Burden: Occupied Territory:
It’s a comic book nearly two years in the making. Or maybe 27 years. And it may be the best single comic book issue of the year. But as strange as the tale between the covers, the story of its creators is stranger still. What you probably know is this: In 1984 Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird published a single issue comic called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Intended as a spoof-parody-mash-up concoction of Marvel’s Daredevil and The New Mutants, Frank Miller’s Ronin, and Dave Sim’s Cerebus, the book sparked something much bigger for readers, becoming one of the most popular franchises for a few generations of readers and cartoon watchers (not to mention the impact it had via toys and movie tie-ins). A couple unrelated–short-lived–parody spin-offs of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtlescame and went unrelated to Eastman and Laird, including Pre-Teen Dirty-Gene Kung-Fu Kangaroos and Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters.
What you don’t know is that eight years after the Turtles saw their first comic–in 1992–comic creators Shane Bookman and his brother Paul released their scrappy indie creation on the unsuspecting comic book universe: Radically Rearranged Ronin Ragdolls. Like Eastman and Laird, the Bookmans had their own share of ups and downs, tales of fame and fortune (evidently Eastman sold off his rights to the Turtles some 20 years ago, etc.). So in 2017 Eastman and writer David Avallone and artist Ben Bishop (with Troy Little, Brittany Peer, Tomi Varga, and Taylor Esposito) took the Bookmans’ story to Kickstarter, and nearly 1,200 backers brought in more than $100,000. Now it’s all done, first to tell the Bookmans’ story in a new monthly comic beginning this past week called Drawing Blood, and at the same time with a companion comic they created and discussed in their comic industry exploits, Radically Rearranged Ronin Ragdolls,Issue #1.
The result? Radically Rearranged Ronin Ragdolls is an idea as good as any Turtles tale you’ve read, and as finely crafted an origin story, full of action, top-notch writing, beautiful layouts, and exciting new characters: referred to as the Ragdolls (from the cat breed), they are three female cats who encounter gamma rays, cosmic rays, genetic mutagens, and who knows what other comic book superpower trigger was tapped, to become Tezuka, Otomo, and Miyazaki. Speaking, Ronin-trained, defender cats. Otomo is the most fearsome, Miyazaki speaks in Haiku poems, and Tezuka is a master tactician.
In the coming mini-series Beasts of Burden: The Presence of Others, Part One, writer Evan Dorkin and artist Jill Thompson are back again with their wonderfully realized Burden Hill gang, the canine paranormal investigators and a feline familiar that earned them a Harvey Award and multiple Eisner Awards. We’ve discussed previous Beasts of Burden stories before here at borg and the animal stories are among the best of the outgrowth of shorts from Dark Horse Presents, the best anthology series around.
This time we find the team defending Burden Hill again, but with the help of humans. A team of paranormal investigators poking around Burden Hill disturb the graveyard where the ”Master” lies, setting off a chain of events that will have serious consequences for the animal defenders of the haunted town. Dorkin’s animal stories coupled with Thompson’s watercolor painted artwork simply can’t be beat.
Take a look at some preview pages from Dark Horse Comics:
Named for legendary comics creator Will Eisner, the Eisner Awards saw their 29th presentation last night. Celebrities including Community star Danny Pudi, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Heroes’ star Greg Grunberg, and game show host Wayne Brady among several comic books greats were on hand to present awards for the past year’s best works in comics at San Diego Comic-Con 2017.
We previewed the nominees earlier this year here at borg.com. One of our favorites, artist Jill Thompson, took all three categories she was nominated in this year–for Best Painter/Multimedia Artist for her Wonder Woman: The True Amazon and Beasts of Burden: What the Cat Dragged In, for Best Graphic Album-New for Wonder Woman: The True Amazon, and for her Beasts of Burden: What the Cat Dragged In for Best Single Issue/One-Shot (with Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer).
Sonny Liew and his The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye (Pantheon), was the big individual winner, for Best U.S. Edition of International Material–Asia, Best Writer/Artist, and Best Publication Design. Saga also took multiple awards, earning its creators four awards. Archie Comics received multiple wins for Erica Henderson and Ryan North for Best Publication for Teens for The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, and Best Humor Publication for Jughead.
One of the best world-building series and some of our favorite comic book characters are making a brief return to Dark Horse Comics this May. Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson’s fantastic Beasts of Burden will make an appearance at your local comic book store in the one-shot story Beasts of Burden: What the Cat Dragged In.
When curiosity gets the best of Burden Hill’s cats (and one reluctant raccoon), sleeping demons are awakened and black magic is unleashed on the town of Burden Hill.
This is the same series that garnered Eisner Awards for Best Short Story and Best Publication for Teens. Dorkin and Thompson first introduced their animal sleuths in The Dark Horse Book of Hauntings and made regular appearances throughout the “Dark Horse Book of” series, earning them Eisners for Best Short Story and Best Painter. In 2009 the beasts of Burden Hill received their own miniseries,Animal Rites, and in 2010, they met up with Hellboy. And Beasts of Burden: Hunters and Gatherers won the Best Single Issue Eisner in 2015. Sarah Dyer joins the creative team for this latest story.
We here at borg.com will brag up the Beasts of Burden series whenever we can. It’s simply among the best writing and artwork that comic books have to offer. Do yourself a favor and check out what we had to say here about the past stories in the series.
Another banner year for comic books has come and gone. You can find something for anyone and everyone at your local comic book shop, and the diverse selection of winners of this year’s Eisner Awards illustrates that better than ever. The latest round of winners were announced this weekend at San Diego Comic-Con.
What’s better than to see winners that you would have selected yourself were you on the judging panel? Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson can’t publish enough of their Beasts of Burden stories, and we previewed this year’s winner for Best Single Issue, Beasts of Burden: Hunters and Gatherers, last year here at borg.com. We couldn’t agree more with this win. Are you listening, Hollywood? It’s time for an animated movie from this series.
We also like to be in sync with the critics. Remember when we picked Greg Smallwood as our Breakout Artist of the Year here at borg.com back in 2013? Greg was given the Russ Manning Promising Newcomer Award at this year’s Eisners. We’re glad others want to see more of his work, too.
It’s also fun to see the rare repeat winners. Our own borg.com writer Elizabeth C. Bunce shared a panel at Comic-Con with Raina Telgemeier, winner this year as Best Writer/Artist, when she won her first Eisner Award back at SDCC 2011. Raina won this year for her book Sisters.
And our own local comic book shop couldn’t seem to keep the new Lumberjanes series on the shelves this past year. Lumberjanes was a multiple winner this year, scoring Best New Series and Best Publication for Teens.
Here is the full slate of 2015 Eisner Award winners:
Best Short Story: “When the Darkness Presses,” by Emily Carroll
Best Continuing Series: Saga, by Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples (Image)
Best Limited Series: Little Nemo: Return to Slumberland, by Eric Shanower & Gabriel Rodriguez (IDW)
Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson are back again with their expertly realized Burden Hill gang, the canine paranormal investigators and a feline familiar that earned them a Harvey Award and multiple Eisner Awards. We’ve reviewed previous Beasts of Burden stories before here at borg.com and the animal stories are among the best of the outgrowth of shorts from Dark Horse Presents, the best anthology series around.
This time ’round we find the team defending Burden Hill from a giant monster. Real or a specter? A plan is hatched and the whole town of furry ones plays a part.
Here’s a preview of a few pages:
Look for Beasts of Burden: Hunters & Gatherers in comic book stores everywhere March 12, 2014.
Dedicated to Rusty, borg.com’s mascot, Krypto of my avatar, and my cosplay conspirator, whose smarts and curiosity would have fit right in to the Burden Hill pack.
My wife, Elizabeth C. Bunce, and I stumbled across a very good Dark Horse Comics anthology series several years ago all beginning with “The Dark Horse Book of…” These nicely presented hardcover editions included a Hellboy story, other ghost or horror stories by the best writers and artists at Dark Horse, and ended with a story about a group of dogs and an orphaned cat. The collections were each brilliantly drawn, brightly (or darkly) colored, and included exactly the right kind of tale for fans of ghost stories over gore. The anthologies included contributions from the likes of Mike Richardson himself, P. Craig Russell, Keith Giffen, Kurt Busiek, Mike Mignola, Eric Powell, Brian Horton, Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson. Each anthology had a separate nice-and-creepy theme, including The Dark Horse Book of Hauntings, The Dark Horse Book of Witchcraft, The Dark Horse Book of The Dead, and The Dark Horse Book of Monsters.
My favorite story in each anthology was by writer Evan Dorkin and artist Jill Thompson, focusing on the dogs and the cat. The dogs, Ace, Rex, Jack, Whitey, and Pugsley, and the orphaned cat (who they call Orphan). These qualify as quiet stories, in that they were snuggly hidden in the back of these anthologies and meekly waited in the shadows of the louder and more mainstream stories in the front of these books. But Evan Dorkin knows how to convey compelling story via animals like few others have mastered. Likewise, Jill Thompson’s characters are expressive and animated, and leave readers begging for more. Her watercolor style reminds me of Mike Grell’s work on Green Arrow, Warlord, and Jon Sable, and she probably has a more accessible style than someone like Alex Nino, whose God the Dyslexic Dogseries is one of my favorites.
In The Dark Horse Book of Hauntings, their 2003 story “Stray” focuses on a the group exorcising a doghouse that has become possessed in a somber and gulp-worthy series opener. This of course was not initially intended as a series, yet Dorkin and Thompson continued their contributions to future books. In The Dark Horse Book of Witchcraft, the band of animal friends encounter a witch cat in the 2004 story “The Unfamiliar.” In 2005’s The Dark Horse Book of The Dead story “Let Sleeping Dogs Die,” the merry band confronts the witch cat again, this time allowing her the chance to become part of the team. In 2006’s The Dark Horse Book of Monsters, the animals encounter a werewolf in “A Dog and his Boy.” Each of these stories is endearing and clever in a way you’d only find in the Dark Horse universe.
So last week at the comic book store I stumbled on a new Dark Horse one-shot Beasts of Burden: Neighborhood Watch. I did a quick flip-through and knew it looked good and familiar and so I added it to the pull-list stack. It didn’t click until I started reading the three new stories to realize what I had: more great Dorkin and Thompson, and the animal pack has a name now as the Beasts of Burden. This new one-shot is actually composed of three stories from Dark Horse Presents issues #4, 6 and 8. Two other compilations exist that I have yet to get my hands on, a Beasts of Burden four-issue mini-series and a crossover one-shot in 2010 with Hellboy called Hellboy/Beasts of Burden: Sacrifice. Another edition, Beasts of Burden: Animal Rites (2010) collects the stories Stray, The Unfamiliar, Let Sleeping Dogs Lie, A Dog and His Boy, and issues #1-4 of the mini-series.
In Neighborhood Watch, the story “Food Run” follows our group protecting the neighborhood from a golem-like green goblin. In “Story Time,” an old sheepdog called Wise Dog recounts the epic story to three local pups about a brave dog in battle with a “Weeping Angels” twist. In “The View from the Hill,” Orphan has encountered a lost herd of sheep and although we hear no “bah-ram-ewe” uttered, Dorkin and Thompson enter the realm not of Babe but of the X-Files. Will little Jack ever be the same?
Last year there were rumors that Beasts of Burden may have been optioned for an animated movie. So long as Jill Thompson is illustrating and Evan Dorkin is writing this could be a great idea–a dark, but not too dark, animated animal tale to take on the same old animated offerings we get each year. But the real challenge will be getting the human voices to match the inner thoughts of Dorkin’s dogs and cats as well as he writes it.
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(2010) collects the stories Stray, The Unfamiliar, Let Sleeping Dogs Lie, A Dog and His Boy, and issues #1-4 of the mini-series.
