An important comic has been released this week. It’s called Mouse Guard: Legends Of The Guard.

For years now, I’ve been a fan of Mouse Guard, a creation of David Petersen. In many ways, it is a shame to call it simply a “comic book” because it communicates information about so many different sciences, including history, natural biology, and ecology. It really should be called “literature” because it does so much more than just tell a great story. I consider this title on par with Maus, one of the most literate and “adult” in the good way comic stories every told. I truly love these books!

Here’s the description of the Mouse Guard series: “The mice struggle to live safely and prosper among all of the world’s harsh conditions and predators. The Mouse Guard, a selfless group of cloaked mice, keep the common mouse safe from predators, weather, and the wilderness. They patrol the Mouse Territories to allow mouse civilization not to just survive, but to thrive. In the wake of a tragic fall and winter, Gwendolyn, their leader, must focus on serving the mice of the territories to the best of the Guard’s ability.”

The artwork is always stunning, the scripts always engaging. Petersen has managed to capture the feel of a middle-ages type of setting and storytelling that still appeals to today’s reader. What I particularly enjoy is the fact that Petersen doesn’t draw the mice as if they were really human mutants who somehow resemble rodents. Instead, they indeed look like common mice who have managed to dress themselves and fight with swords and other implements. No Mickey Mouse here, as much as I enjoy that character as well.

Here’s Petersen’s description of the Legends Of The Guard series from his announcement last year: “Mouse Guard will have an anthology spin-off mini-series starting next year called Legends Of The Guard. The handpicked creators will be getting to tell their own stories in the Mouse Guard world. The list of creators on-board so far is very hush-hush, but a few names that I can mention are Jeremy Bastian, Nate Pride, and Mark Smylie.” And here’s the updated info on the first issue released this week: “I’m thrilled to share this cover and the info that Jeremy Bastian, Alex Shiekman and Ted Naifeh have stories in this issue. I’ll be handling some interior pages and the covers. The covers have stories associated with them as well. The legend the cover refers to will be printed on the inside front cover of each issue.”

I appreciate that Petersen is doing his best to maintain the quality he normally provides in Mouse Guard in this title. And it is well worth the money and support. The stories are much shorter than the ones Petersen normally tells, some just a few pages, and that’s actually a nice break from the ongoing comic.

If you haven’t bought any Mouse Guard titles yet, I heartily recommend the series. You can start with this title for now, but I guarantee you’ll want to catch up on the previous stories and be anxious to pick up new issues as they become available, just like I do! Check out the official website here.

You can check out a brief video interview with David Petersen here:

Did you like this? Share it:

« »