Beasts of Burden: Wise Dogs and Eldritch Men #2 picks up where the last one left off. Dempsey injuries were worse than he’d led on, so Lundy leads the Wise Dogs to a friendly veterinarian. Through the pictures on the walls and some explanations to Miranda, a new trainee, Dorkin and artist Benjamin Dewey start to flesh out the world of the Wise Dogs, hinting at how the dogs learned magic.
Once they get Dempsey to the safe haven, he confronts Lundy. They’ve been friends long enough that he sees through Lundy. But Lundy and the rest of the Wise Dogs leave Dempsey with some guards to recuperate. It’s hard to tell if Lundy’s lying to save face or if there’s something more sinister. It’s part of what’s making this spinoff so good.
There’s more than one way to skin a cat, or in this case, tell a story about Wise Dogs. In Wise Dogs and Eldritch Men Evan Dorkin uses his characters secrets to drive the story forward. He doesn’t tell us why Lundy, the main character, spared a fire elemental salamander last issue. The third-person distant narration stops short of giving readers any thoughts or hints at Lundy’s motivation.
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Dorkin’s writing shines in other ways as well. The beginning of last issue felt like an isolated episode. Lundy encountered a salamander fire elemental, a monster he greatly overmatched. The way that Dorkin has weaved it through this issue, taking a small incident and magnifying it’s size, is remarkable.
Beasts of Burden: Wise Dogs and Eldritch Men #2 carries over the other things that are working from the first issue as well. There is some gristly, James-Bond-just-electrocuted-someone-by-throwing-a-toaster-in-a-bathtub-and-then-said-shocking style, dialogue. There’s another new monster that exudes creepiness thanks to Dewey’s art. It ends with another terrifying cliffhanger. If paranormal detectives that happen to be dogs aren’t your thing, it’s time to start living your best life. Get to your local comic book store and pick up a copy of Beasts of Burden: Wise Dogs and Eldritch Men #2.
Beasts of Burden: Wise Dogs and Eldritch Men #2 was released by Dark Horse on September 26th, 2018.
