"Help! Somebody help me!" Archer yelled at the top of his lungs. "Please, anybody!" The wind continued to howl as nighttime had fully descended. He could no longer see his hand in front of his face. The intensified waves began to pull him under. "Heeeeeeellllllppppp!" he screamed as his head submerged underwater. Archer shot upward for a much-needed breath of air, only to be immediately smacked in the head by a powerful wave. Disoriented, he drifted down into the depths of the pitch-black waters. Archer came to his senses underwater but couldn't tell which direction was up. Panicking, he blew air from his mouth, attempting to decipher which direction the bubbles floated. Bubbles scattered, and he could not tell. A feeling of doom swept over him. He tried again but gained no vital information. Hypoxia was rapidly overtaking Archer's system. His muscles relaxed, and his body became limp. Archer's body bobbed with the gentle movements of the water. Please...somebody...rescue me, he prayed as he began to lose consciousness. Teenager Archer Coleman faces this and many other adventures as he challenges authority in a nation where government has banned spiritual thought and belief. Despite pressures to cease and desist, Archer dares to ask the question that would bring the new regime to its knees: does universal truth exist? Using his wits and some good fortune along the way, he begins to understand that there may be more to life than meets the eye. Unfortunately for Archer, adults start to take notice.

In Beasts of Burden, Ron Broglio examines how lives—human and animal—were counted in rural England and Scotland during the Romantic period. During this time, Britain experienced unprecedented data collection from censuses, ordinance surveys, and measurements of resources, all used to quantify the life and productivity of the nation. It was the dawn of biopolitics—the age in which biological life and its abilities became regulated by the state. Borne primarily by workers and livestock, nowhere was this regulation felt more powerfully than in the fields, commons, and enclosures. Using literature, art, and cultural texts of the period, Broglio explores the apparatus of biopolitics during the age of Adam Smith and Thomas Malthus. He looks at how data collection turned everyday life into citizenship and nationalism and how labor class poets and artists recorded and resisted the burden of this new biopolitical life. The author reveals how the frictions of material life work over and against designs by the state to form a unified biopolitical Britain. At its most radical, this book changes what constitutes the central concerns of the Romantic period and which texts are valuable for understanding the formation of a nation, its agriculture, and its rural landscapes.

2018 American Book Award Winner A beautifully written, deeply provocative inquiry into the intersection of animal and disability liberation—and the debut of an important new social critic How much of what we understand of ourselves as “human” depends on our physical and mental abilities—how we move (or cannot move) in and interact with the world? And how much of our definition of “human” depends on its difference from “animal”? Drawing on her own experiences as a disabled person, a disability activist, and an animal advocate, author Sunaura Taylor persuades us to think deeply, and sometimes uncomfortably, about what divides the human from the animal, the disabled from the nondisabled—and what it might mean to break down those divisions, to claim the animal and the vulnerable in ourselves, in a process she calls “cripping animal ethics.” Beasts of Burden suggests that issues of disability and animal justice—which have heretofore primarily been presented in opposition—are in fact deeply entangled. Fusing philosophy, memoir, science, and the radical truths these disciplines can bring—whether about factory farming, disability oppression, or our assumptions of human superiority over animals—Taylor draws attention to new worlds of experience and empathy that can open up important avenues of solidarity across species and ability. Beasts of Burden is a wonderfully engaging and elegantly written work, both philosophical and personal, by a brilliant new voice.

I write this to a boy of four. I write this to a boy whose future I have seen. I want him to know that soon the fear will descend. The chaos of his mind will manifest itself in his life. The rage and hate that are planted in h is heart by the god of fear will begin to choke him and tangle him in vines only he can cut. I write this to a boy who must decide if he will have the heart to survive it. I write to a boy who must accept his own thoughts before he can tell them to others. I write this to a boy who must weather the storm to lead to the light.

In _Beasts of Burden_ #4, a four-legged friend is found disoriented and traumatized, and Pugs, Red, Ace, and Whitey call in the troops to investigate. Something has gone awry at the local cemetery, and it's up to a gang of cats and dogs to unravel the paranormal mysteries of Burden Hill. This fourth issue marks the conclusion of Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson's first four-issue arc of _Beasts of Burden_, chronicling the adventures of these heroic characters first introduced in _The Dark Horse Book of Hauntings_ and the other _Dark Horse Book of__ anthologies, for which they won coveted Eisner Awards for Best Short Story and Best Painter.

Welcome to Burden Hill — a picturesque little town adorned with white picket fences and green, green grass, home to a unique team of paranormal investigators. Beneath this shiny exterior, Burden Hill harbors dark and sinister secrets, and it's up to a heroic gang of dogs — and one cat — to protect the town from the evil forces at work. These are the Beasts of Burden Hill — Pugs, Ace, Jack, Whitey, Red and the Orphan — whose early experiences with the paranormal (including a haunted doghouse, a witches' coven, and a pack of canine zombies) have led them to become members of the Wise Dog Society, official animal agents sworn to protect their town from evil. This turns out to be no easy task, as they soon encounter demonic cannibal frogs, tortured spirits, a secret rat society, and a bizarre and deadly resurrection in the Burden Hill cemetery — events which lead to fear and heartbreak as our four-legged heroes discover that the evil within Burden Hill is growing and on the move. Can our heroes overcome these supernatural menaces? Can evil be bested by a paranormal team that doesn't have hands? And even more importantly, will Pugs ever shut the hell up? Adventure, mystery, horror, and humor thrive on every page of Beasts of Burden — a comic-book series that will capture readers' hearts and haunt their dreams. Award-winning comics creators Evan Dorkin (Milk and Cheese) and Jill Thompson (Scary Godmother) first introduced these very special investigators in The Dark Horse Book of Hauntings and the other Dark Horse Book of . . . anthologies, for which they won coveted Eisner Awards for Best Short Story and Best Painter. Those first tales are collected here, along with the comic series Beasts of Burden issues #1–#4.

'Only God can rescue you now. You are trapped until he sends someone to free you or he decides to do it himself, which I doubt, so you may be here for a while.' Satan replied,'I am not done by a long shot, we will meet again, and next time I will destroy you.' Marion Garfield made the ultimate deal with God. In return for release from jail, he would do anything the Lord instructed him to do. Although he had not been a religious man before, God chose him to carry out his plan to save mankind. Now Marion has been given the alter-ego of The Warrior, and he has the Lord's power to bring Satan's rampage to a fiery end. But Marion isn't sold on his conviction to become The Warrior. He meets the beautiful Pamela, and now risking his life for mankind doesn't seem as important as surviving to be with her. God has granted each man the blessing of free will, which means Marion has a choice. He can reject the Lord's employment and run away with Pamela, or he can risk his life by fulfilling God's plan. Should he risk his life and lose the one he loves? Or risk the rescue of mankind, hoping God will find another? Authors Mike and Paula Dixon take you on a wild ride through the garden of Eden and the flaming furnaces of hell in this magnificent story of what it truly means to be a superhero— The Beast's Burden.

Adventure, mystery, horror, and humor thrive on every page of the Eisner Award-winning _Beasts of Burden_. The four-legged occult-investigating teama heroic gang of dogs and one catare doing their best to protect their home, Burden Hill, from a chicken-stealing goblin, a frightful basilisk, and a strange lost herd of sheep! * This special one-shot reprints three stories from _Dark Horse Presents_! * Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson return to the characters that won them the 2005 Eisner Award for Best Short Story!