Tear Jerker / Beasts of Burden

Warning: Spoilers Off applies to these pages. Proceed at your own risk.

• Are you an animal lover? Chances are very good you will want to hug your pets after reading one issue. Especially "Lost" (the ghost puppies story).
  • The ghost puppies, and what Hazel does at the end of the issue.
    "Come home with me, all of you. I'll stay with you until the Great Dog calls our names... I'll keep you safe and warm... And I'll sing to you in the dark, so you'll never be afraid again."
  • At the end, the gang drop flowers into the pool. The last panel shows them drifting down to the bottom, where Hazel rests with her pups and the bodies of all the other dead pets, Together in Death.
    Jack awoke two days later, howling as if the Black Dog herself was at his heels.
    They would never know what exactly happened, or why.
    They only knew they'd be haunted by that night for the rest of their lives.
    Perhaps even longer.
• The story with the boy who turns out to be a werewolf is bound to shed a few tears.
  That winter was the harshest anyone could remember on the hill.
  No one left home without their owners. Nobody spoke about the boy who could talk.
  And nothing howled save for the wind.
  • "Oh, Ace. I can't even understand you no more."
• The crossover with Hellboy. Oh my God, the look on Pugs' face in the last three panels he's in.
• The ghost sheep explain why they don't move on, and instead wander the lands with their guard dog Ben.
  Sheep: Let me ask you something. This cat is your friend, am I right?
  Whitey: The Orphan? Of course he is! We've been through everything together.
  Sheep: Ben's told us about the Great Dog, and about the endless fields in his heaven. He's never mentioned any cats there, or sheep, or humans. Only dogs. When the end comes, and you leave this place…Won't you miss your friend, if his path takes him somewhere else?
  [The others have nothing to say to that]
• The ending of "What the Cat Dragged In".
  • The cats and Hoke manage to escape the house along with Dymphna's two fellow coven cats who had been trapped inside in unending torment. Dymphna expresses her grief and remorse at the part she'd inadvertently played in them getting trapped there. They assure her that they're no longer in pain and fade away into skeletons, finally allowed to die. Dymphna stares at their remains with tears in her eyes and starts digging a grave for them, the others wordlessly joining in to help.
  • They call her Mother as they fade, and unlike the previously seen Den Mother, it's clear this isn't just a title.
  • Hoke, who'd previously acted bratty and complained about his family, returns home to find his mom singing a lullaby to his younger sibling. He curls up with them, letting his mom hold him and sing to him.

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