What is "beasts of burden"

n. (plural of beast of burden English)

Beasts of Burden is a comic book series created by writer Evan Dorkin and artist Jill Thompson, and published by American company Dark Horse Comics. The title centers on an eponymous team of intelligent animals that investigate different paranormal events that occur in their small neighborhood of Burden Hill. The group consists of five dogs named Ace, Rex, Jack, Whitey, and Pugsley, and a cat named Orphan (later they are joined by another cat named Dymphna, a former witch's familiar). The group is often seen consulting with "Wise Dogs", local shaman-like elders of their community.

The characters made their first appearance in a story titled Stray (written by Evan Dorkin with art by Jill Thompson) in The Dark Horse Book of Hauntings. They made subsequent appearances in The Dark Horse Book of Witchcraft, The Dark Horse Book of The Dead, and The Dark Horse Book of Monsters.

Dorkin stated that he came up with the concept after being asked by Dark Horse editor Scott Allie to write a story for the horror anthology The Dark Horse Book of Hauntings.

In 2009 the characters appeared in their own 4-issue mini-series. In 2010 the characters appeared alongside Hellboy in a one-shot issue titled Hellboy/Beasts of Burden: Sacrifice. In 2011, three new Beasts of Burden stories appeared in the fourth, sixth and eighth issues of the relaunched Dark Horse Presents series, all of which were later reprinted in the Beasts of Burden: Neighborhood Watch one-shot.

"Beasts of Burden" is the fourth episode of the second season of the American science fiction series Defiance, and the series' sixteenth episode overall. It was aired on July 10, 2014. The episode was written by Todd Slavkin & Darren Swimmer and directed by Michael Nankin.