3 out of 5

‘Cute’ is probably not the correct descriptor, here, since we’re dealing with animals and humans ripped to shreds by supernatural oddities, some foul-mouthed pups, some vomiting and spitting and the like, but I’d say it’s a driving force behind Evan Dorkin’s / Jill Thompson’s talking dogs (and cat) investigator’s club, stationed in Burden Hill.  (Hence that witty title.)

‘Animal Rites’ collects the early shorts that led to – given its popularity – a mini-series, which is also collected here.  And since there was a fairly routine turnabout between each entry, there’s also a nice sense of continuity that makes them all work well in one volume: calling in the senior detective dog for help in story one, getting drafted into the club soon thereafter, then going out in search of cases where they can help – raining frogs, voices from the sewer, etc. – thereafter.  Thompson’s watercolor art is the best possible way to visualize this: Dorkin gives each of the animals the generalized personalities we’d likely imagine going along with them (a heroic wolfhound; a crass pug…), but this wouldn’t work without the characterizations, which stay absolutely animalesque but allow them to have “human” voices without it seeing out of place.  Burden Hill is part of this as well, existing very much in the suburban normalities of our favorite 80s adventure flicks, a la Goonies.

But: it never quite surpasses the sensation of it being a lark, hence ‘cute’ being the driving force.  Evan does build to some larger concepts, but it’s very much a step at a time: a clue here leads to something next page or next issue; there’s not a truly long-term sense of world-building.  And although the series does admirably feature death and consequences, it again comes along with this case-by-case disposableness: “We’ll see you next week on ‘Beasts of Burden…”

The Dark Horse HC collection, slightly over-sized, is a nice set, with an afterword from Dorkin and notes from Thompson that encourage the gung-ho nature of the thing that’s kept it trucking along through occasionally appearing series hereafter.  I wonder if it had been designed as an ongoing from the outset if it would change the relative shallowness of it, but regardless – it’s a fun read, and one animal owners will no doubt enjoy, imagining their own animal involved in the dastardly business herein.