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Since Dark Horse Comics is gearing up to announce the new Beasts of Burden series, Occupied Territory, I decided to toss out a preview image of the variant cover I drew for you folks. Shhhh!

These are the raw inks, Sarah did the final colors and clean up. I'll be doing a full process post for this cover when it's solicited. Went through a lot of steps getting this one done.

I think this is going to be the variant for the second issue. I drew it so long ago I don't remember when it was I turned it in, exactly, most of the series was completed before the pandemic. The release was scheduled for last year but the project was frozen when the industry shut down for a time. 

Occupied Territory takes place after the events of Wise Dogs and Eldritch Men, although mostly it's a flashback adventure following Emrys the sheepdog in post-war occupied Japan. We'll meet Emrys' late human companion Jonathan, mentioned in the series here and there, his gravesite was visited in Hunters and Gatherers. We'll also meet a few new characters that help Emrys in his fight against an occult plague, cursed crawling corpses and the local Yokai creatures, not all of whom are indifferent to the situation. 

There's also a stray dog named after a comic strip that ran in Stars and Stripes at the time. He's become one of my favorite characters to write, kind of like a smarter Whitey. A motormouth like Pugs, but not cynical or obnoxious. Hopefully he's going to be a fun character for the readers. Heartstrings will be reached for, if not plucked, regarding the little guy.

I believe the series is being solicited for March, but for all I know I've got that wrong or it's been pushed to April. Whatever, whenever. I cannot wait for folks to see it. Benjamin Dewey did a beautiful job on the interiors and main covers. Nate Piekos is our letterer, and I co-wrote the script with Sarah. We have some cool folks doing the other three variant covers, including series co-creator Jill Thompson. 

I'm extremely happy with how everything came out, and it's exciting to know that by the end of the year we'll have a fourth collection.