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 Written by Evan Dorkin
Art by Jill Thompson
184 pages, color
Published by Dark Horse
Beasts of Burden: Animal Rites is a book that might trick you at a glance. You might see an image or two and think, "Oooh, Jill Thompson is painting dogs and cats! I’ll get this book for my favorite pet-loving friend!" It’s an honest mistake to make. But if you take a look a little closer at Beasts of Burden, you’ll quickly realize that while Thompson is indeed painting some adorable animals, the scripts by Evan Dorkin are ones that start a little sad and dark and depressing, and then rapidly grow horrific. I say this as a complement, mind you. But Beasts of Burden is not for the faint-hearted.
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 Written by Jim Shooter
Art by Dennis Calero and Bill Reinhold
32 pages, color
Published by Dark Horse
If you were reading comics in the early ’90s, you almost certainly knew about the last time Jim Shooter revamped Magnus, Robot Fighter and Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom. The first two titles at the now-defunct Valiant Comics, Shooter had bought publishing rights for the old Gold Key characters from the ’60s and turned them into the cornerstone of the Valiant Comics line. After Shooter left, the characters got revised several times at Valiant and then new-owners Acclaim, but soon after Acclaim’s publishing division folded the rights reverted back to Random House. Dark Horse has now signed up for publishing rights for the characters, and has brought Jim Shooter back to take another crack at the characters. But can lightning really strike twice a second time? So far, I’d have to say no.
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 Written by Mark Crilley, Jackie Kessler, Graham Annable, and Ananth Panagariya
Art by Mark Crilley, Paul Lee, Graham Annable, and Yuko Ota
26 pages, color
Published by Dark Horse Comics and MySpace
I’ve come to the grim conclusion over the past year that if your website doesn’t have an RSS feed, I am more than likely going to forget it exists. It’s nothing personal, I just have so many things going on in my life that sooner or later I’ll start forgetting to check for updates. That’s been the case as of late with MySpace Dark Horse Presents, the return of Dark Horse’s original anthology title now running monthly issues on MySpace. When a pair of cartoonists mentioned on their website that their new story had just gone live on MySpace DHP (something I heard through their RSS feed, of course), though, I decided it was time to sit down and catch up.
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 By Larry Marder
224 pages, black and white
Published by Dark Horse
Beanworld has always been billed as, "A most peculiar comic book experience" and I’ve found it to be the perfect tag line to the series. When the series went on hiatus back in 1993 (after 21 issues), it was a sad day in comics. There’s nothing quite like Beanworld in comics, a mixture of adventure, fantasy, and tribal roles. Last year, though, Dark Horse announced two hardcovers collecting the entire series, plus a holiday one-shot and a brand-new graphic novel to come. The last of those has finally shown up in the form of Beanworld Vol. 3: Remember Here When You Are There! and it really did turn out to be worth the wait.
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 Written by Mike Mignola
Art by Ben Stenbeck
32 pages, color
Published by Dark Horse
At the end of the first issue of Sir Edward Grey, Witchfinder: In the Service of Angels, editor Scott Allie mentions that Sir Edward Grey himself first showed up 13 years ago in Hellboy: Wake the Devil. That’s a long time to be planning a character turning from a cameo to a star. I feel like I need to give credit where it’s deserved, though. I might not remember Grey’s appearance in Hellboy: Wake the Devil, but this was a good enough first issue that I’ll certainly remember it down the line.
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 Written by Gerard Way
Art by Gabriel Bà
32 pages, color
Published by Dark Horse Comics
I will be the first to admit that if you’d asked me what comic would be the spiritual successor to Grant Morrison’s acclaimed Doom Patrol run, my answer probably wouldn’t have been, "A comic written by Gerard Way, who’s better known as the lead singer for My Chemical Romance." As soon as the first issue of The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite was released, though, I learned just how wrong I was. And with each new issue of the follow-up mini-series, The Umbrella Academy: Dallas, Way is proving over and over that he’s not a one-hit wonder. If anything, he just keeps getting better. Now how great is that?
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 Written by Jane Espenson
Penciled by Georges Jeanty
Inked by Andy Owens
32 pages, color
Published by Dark Horse
I actually feel bad for most people who have worked on other licensed comic books in the past, or plan on doing so in the future, because they’re almost certainly going to be compared to Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight. It certainly doesn’t hurt matters that tv show creator and front-runner Joss Whedon has written some of the issues and is "executive producing" the rest, but it’s been more than just that—the comic is showing such a nice freedom to do anything and everything that it’s hard for a fan of the show to not get sucked into its pages.
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 By Eric Joyner
184 pages, color
Published by Dark Horse
Art books are my weakness. Seriously, I could buy nothing but art books and be one very happy person. I used to say that I had one entire bookshelf of nothing but art books, but I have to be honest that it’s actually expanded beyond that shelf. And that was even after, regretfully, giving away some of the books that I just didn’t have room for. I think my partner is at times a little bemused by the number of graphic novels and trade paperbacks that line my bookshelves, but recently I was informed that I really shouldn’t ever give away any art books if I’m looking to pare down the collection. All of this is a long, round-about way of saying that a good art book is worth its weight in gold for me, and while I’d never heard of Eric Joyner before Dark Horse published his book Robots & Donuts, this is a book that isn’t being given away any time soon.
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 By Dean Motter
32 pages, color
Published by Dark Horse
Mister X is one of those comics that I’ve heard so much about, but never actually read. Its reputation is certainly pretty stellar; written and created by Dean Motter, and some of the art provided by the Hernandez Brothers, Paul Rivoche, and Seth. With Dark Horse re-issuing Mister X in a deluxe hardback archive, it certainly makes sense that it would also be the right time to debut a brand-new mini-series to help stir up interest for new readers, as well as a lure for older readers. But now that I’ve read Mister X: Condemned #1, I’m not so sure that’s going to work.
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 By Stan Sakai
24 pages, black and white
Published by Dark Horse
One comic that I think the industry takes for granted is Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo. Running since 1984, Sakai’s shogunate era samurai drama is so consistently well-written and drawn that I think people just automatically expect and assume that it will be great as always. Reading the latest two issues, for instance, is a strong reminder of just how Sakai’s series is able to remain so creatively strong.
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