Beasts of Burden Omnibus by Evan Dorkin, Jill Thompson, and Benjamin Dewey
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.”
Evan Dorkin
The Beasts of Burden Omnibus (2025) brings together all the stories of the supernatural investigators of the town of Burden Hill as written by Evan Dorkin and illustrated by Jill Thompson and Brian Dewey. What separates the protectors of Burden Hill from others in their field like John Silence or Carl Kolchak is that they are animals. Dogs, in fact, mostly, with a few cats enlisted along the way.
Let me start by providing several warnings for this review. First, I love psychic investigator stories. I watched the Kolchak tv show with my mom when it premiered and I was 8, and Manly Wade Wellman’s John the Balladeer is one of my absolute favorite series of stories. Second, I’m very fond of talking animals, from Wind in the Willows to Rita Mae Brown’s Mrs. Murphy books (well, at least the first half-dozen or so). Third, and finally, I’m friends with Evan Dorkin. We’ve known each other for, well, a very long time. Nonetheless, before I go any further, let me say, while I might have been predisposed to enjoy Beasts of Burden, there was no guarantee I’d like it as much as I do. It also means I got to ask him a couple of questions about the his stories and the series’ evolution.
