Beasts of Burden: Wise Dogs and Eldritch Men (Evan Dorkin)

Beasts of Burden: Wise Dogs and Eldritch Men
The Beasts of Burden series, Issues 1 - 4
Evan Dorkin, illustrations by Benjamin Dewey and Nate Piekos
Dark Horse Books
Fiction, MG? Fantasy/Graphic Novel/Horror
**** (Good)

DESCRIPTION: When unusual happenings disturb the quiet Pokano Mountains, the Scottish Terrier Lundy and his companions set out to investigate. These are no ordinary housepets: they are trained mages, from a long and storied lineage of wise dogs who have defended humanity against occult darkness for generations. What looked to be an ordinary forest fire turns out instead to be the work of a salamander, a fire elemental... but the poor creature was only trying to free itself from a cruel trap, one laced with crude but powerful spells the likes of which the dogs have never seen. Who in their right minds would want to trap a salamander - and do they have anything to do with the rise in mutated beasts and attacks in the area? The wise dogs are on the trail, as team novice Miranda gets a trial by fire - in more ways than one.

REVIEW: For those who see the dogs on the cover and think it looks like a cute, harmless little tale for young readers, beware: there is plentiful gore and some violent deaths, not to mention some rather scary monsters and men. (If they can't handle the Watership Down movie, they may want to take a pass on this one.) Beyond that, this volume sets up an interesting world, where pets can speak and be protectors against dark forces. The dogs make a decent team, though not without tensions; Lundy's handling of the salamander runs at odds to his teammates. Their world is a dark and lonely one, though it was not always so, as hints are dropped that dogs used to work with human partners and only recently had to go it alone. (Mostly alone, that is: they do have one friendly contact among men.) Their investigation of the salamander trap leads them to a secret hidden deep in the Pocano Mountains and a danger they've never encountered before, but a wise dog never turns their tail on a challenge, no matter the cost. The story moves fairly fast - a little too fast to establish more than broad-stroke personalities in the dogs, of whom Lundy and Miranda are the most fleshed out - and wraps with several dangling threads leading to even more trouble on the horizon. The illustrations lend the concept a sense of realism and weight, not veering into cutesy or stylized territory... though this realism also applies to the gore, as another warning for sensitive readers. In the end, aside from a nagging sense that a few elements weren't explored or explained enough (even given this is just a first volume), I enjoyed it enough for a solid four star rating.

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