Publisher: Archaia Studios
Writer/Artist: David Peterson
Mouse Guard is David Peterson’s first book for Archaia Studios, and you can really tell; it is a true labour of love. It smacks of the intensity and rawness that only comes with someone’s first book. Its premise is simple. The world is a harsh place, and the mice have struggled to live in peace among the forest’s many predators. The “Mouse Guard” was formed to protect the mice from those that would do them harm. After defeating a weasel warlord during the Winter War of 1149, the land is now a far less dangerous place. The need for an elite Mouse Guard has passed. They are now made up of Escorts, pathfinders, weather watchers and body guards for the mice that live around the territories. Whilst not being an elite force, there are many things these mice must do to keep their borders safe. They must find new safe routes from village to village, lead shipments from town to town and of course, guard against the evil that may threaten their way of life. This is the story of just three of these “Mouse Guards,” Lieam, Kenzie and Saxon.
Mouse Guard exists in an extremely lush world, thanks to the beautiful illustrations of its creator, David Peterson. You can really feel the texture of the forest from the pages. In away, the book sort of reminds me of Dave Sim’s Cerberus, with its relatively simple characters and intensely detailed and rich background. This gives the book an almost animated cartoon feel, which I’m sure was Peterson’s intent. The idea of a bunch of mice who are knights is ripe for a children’s film. The mice are really brought to life with Peterson’s simple lines and rich water colours.
We start off with a unnamed mouse transporting grain, only to disappear. From there, the action really doesn’t let up, as the Fierce Saxon, the wise Kenzie and the relatively inexperienced Lieam, try to find out what happened to this missing mouse. Their respective traits are clearly mapped out from the offset, which helps the reader identify with the mice straight way giving us a good grasp about who these characters are. This a self contained issue and it uses its 22 pages very economically. There is not a wasted panel to be had.
There is one main action sequence where the mice encounter and engage a fully grown snake. The action is swift and brutal, which surprised me greatly as on first impression, this looks like a children’s book, but the brutality of the engagement really shocked me for such a sweetly illustrated book.
That I suppose, sums up my main concern with the book. It doesn’t know what exactly it should be. It starts off being a children’s book, but then features some swift and brutal violence, which I would think makes it unsuitable for young children. Also, its dimensions are strange too. It is not published in the standard, 7 inch by 10 inch format of most books, but a rather cute, but awkward 8inch by 8 inch format. Surely if they were going to publish this in this manner, why not wait until all the stories (issue two is out in April according to the back of the issue with this being part one of a six part series) are done and publish it in book format, where that layout really makes sense? Being published as a book first would allow Peterson and Archaia Studios Press a chance to hit both book stores and comic book shops simultaneously.
All gripes aside, this is a unique little comic, from what might prove to be an unique studio.
The book is out now and for more information, please visit www.aspcomics.com with a preview available at www.aspcomics.com
When Adam Murray was five years old, his grandmother gave him a box of crayons simply to shut him the hell up. It all went down hill from there. He is currently studying Production Design and occupies his free time telling cheap jokes about bodily functions at Drastic Comics