Maybe it’s because I dig that Rolling Stones song but, for whatever reason, the throwaway line where Shrek says, “Begone, you beast of burden!” to Donkey stuck with me. Call it that the most tenuous of connections, but it’s still the first thought I had while reading this news from THR that Andrew Adamson, the director of the first two SHREK flicks, will be making a big screen version of BEASTS OF BURDEN. You maniacs will recall that the comic, by Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson, is about a gang of house pets (five dogs and one cat) who investigate paranormal phenomena in the town of Burden Hill. The series actually has a gently surrealistic bent as it’s told through the perspective of the pets’ own sub-culture - - I do recommend seeking this Eisner winner out.
While HELLBOY, SIN CITY and THE MASK are well-established hits, this CG toon feature is part of a recent surge of Dark Horse titles coming to screen that includes R.I.P.D., EMILY THE STRANGE and THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY. I’ve always thought that the Martha Washington stories would make for easy adaptations, but are there any other DH titles you maniacs would want to see make the page-to-projector leap?