It's been a year and a half since Dark Horse announced they were producing a CG movie based on its superb Beasts of Burden comic; if you've been eagerly awaiting the cinematic adaptation of Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson's tale of the watch dogs who keep their neighborhood safe from the eldritch abominations that haunt …

Shane Acker's animated movie 9 features nine plucky ragdolls facing an army of beast machines after the human race has died off. We talked to Acker a while back, and he told us nine rules for great post-apocalyptic films.

In most post-apocalyptic movies, we bring destruction on ourselves with our advanced science, and there's a cautionary message about trusting technology. But the lyrical 9 may be the first film that shows good machines fighting evil ones, after we're dead.

This is the last chance to win your own 9 concept art book, featuring scads of amazing images from the making of the film. Give these stuffed warriors of the wasteland a good home!

Shane Acker's 9 isn't a kids' movie. The machines-gone-rogue actually wipe out humanity altogether. Check out the evil mugs behind the operation, and witness the carnage in a gallery from 9's tie-in book. And win free books and movie tickets.

This week, we're gearing up for 9, Shane Acker's film about nine animated rag dolls, each known only by their number. With that in mind, we list 16 other characters who have numerical monikers.

We've got 9's secret ragdoll-making mad science journal, complete with ink blots, sketches and doomsday prophesies. Flip through our exclusive pages, and check out your chance to win the concept art book.

We've got some exclusive concept art showing the evolution of the one-eyed number 5, from Shane Acker and Tim Burton's 9. Plus two new clips have been released — and they're pretty spoilery.

Shane Acker's post-apocalyptic rag-dolls-vs-robots epic 9 is already blowing our minds. So when we met him, we asked what's next, and he described two possible projects: one live-action, one animated. They're known franchises, but he wouldn't identify them. Can you?

Can you uncover the mystery behind their new viral site for the apocalyptic movie 9? We've got an exclusive piece of the puzzle, to help you uncover what the rag-doll people are trying to tell you. Check it out below.