Okay, you got me. I love Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson's "Beasts of Burden." You know this by now. It's been firmly established. I've done my best to justify my ongoing affection for today's newly-released "Beasts of Burden: Animal Rites" hardcover and now I want to pass some of it on to you. Thankfully, Dark Horse Comics is happy to oblige my ongoing frenzied advocacy with a 22 page preview culled from their own eComic library.

If you've never sampled the first two BoB shorts "Stray" and "The Unfamiliar," (from "The Dark Horse Book of Hauntings" and "The Dark Horse Book of Witchcraft," respectively) then now is the time. The two tales quickly establish the book's suburban setting in Burden Hill, introduce its unwitting canine and feline defenders and lets loose all the horror, heart and hilarity that will leave you hooked.

Read both stories in full after the jump.Stray

The Unfamiliar