While in Chicago, at the C2E2 Comic Con, I had the fortune of stumbling upon David Petersen’s booth in Artist Alley. I kept hearing such wonderful things of the little mice with swords that defended their villages from weasels and snakes and such, that I just had to grab both hard covers. They did not disappoint. The story is intriguing, engaging with fleshed out characters and a rich history as a backdrop, and the artwork is fantastic. Note that both story and art are done by David.
I read both books on the flight back to Portland and I can’t wait to get my hands on the third book, ‘Legends of the Guard’ an anthology (a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler) where, “A group of mice gathered in a tavern are given a challenge. Whomever can produce the finest story will be freed from his bar tab, while the rest will be required to pay within one week. With that, the stories start flowing and the various creators dive into their tales.” – IGN.
Mouse Guard is about mice struggling “to live safely and prosper among all of the world’s harsh conditions and predators. … they are not simply soldiers that fight off intruders; rather, they are guides for common mice looking to journey without confrontation from one hidden mouse village to another. The Guard patrol borders, finds safeways and paths through dangerous territories and treacherous terrain, watch weather patterns , and keep the mouse territories free of predators. ”
The story starts off with three Guard, dispatched to find a grain mouse “peddling grain” between cities, that never arrived at his destination. The three Guard mice are:
- Kenzie; an older, “calm, levelheaded mouse who has led patrols for over twenty seasons,” he is cloaked in purple and carries a staff.
- Saxon; “One of the greatest swordsmice the Guard has ever known. … his red cloak offers him little camouflage. but Saxon would rather not hide in the leaves. But instead strike his opponent down.
- And Lieam; having recently joined the guard, “a young mouse… enthusiastic about his role with the Guard. His green cloak is a symbol of he himself being ‘green’ in years and experience.
The search for the lost grain mouse causes the three mice to inadvertently stumble upon a secret plot that threatens to destroy the entire Guard from within. They battle weather, intrigue, betrayal and dangerous animals that want nothing more than to stuff a fat, unwary mouse into their mouths for dinner. If you have ever had the fortune to read Watership Down, a wonderful story of rabbits looking for a new home, then I highly suggest you pick up Mouse Guard as you will fall in love with a very cool universe.
Mouse Guard; the first 11 pages
David has been so kind as to let us scan the first 11 pages of the first book, Fall, just so you can experience his wold. Note: the flaws in the pictures are due to our lame attempts at scanning a hard cover book, they are not flaws in the original artwork.
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E-Mail Interview w/David Petersen
When explaining to friends about Mouse Guard, I use Watership Down as a reference point, “but with mice, and they are guards for the mouse community in a world where there are no humans.” Would you say this is a decent explanation?
That’s pretty good! I shorten it to “mice with swords” most of the time.
You are the illustrator and writer, but what would you say might be the inspiration of your ideas?
I have always loved animal stories, things like Aesop’s Fables and Wind in the Willows. I also played a lot of Roleplaying games as a kid, so Mouse Guard is a mix of high fantasy adventures and talking animals. I draw inspiration from firends, the natural world, and other artists & storytellers I admire.
Are you going to do a prequel of the Weasel War of 1149?
Yes, that is the plan. I am working on Black Axe now, after that we will do another Legends series, then I’m back to ‘regular’ Mouse Guard with that prequel.
I haven’t read Legends of the Guard yet, but I know it’s a storytelling contest that the mice have at the June Alley Inn as a backdrop; can you give us a little background on how this came about?
When some of the pinup artists turned in their work fror Fall, I thought “It would be great to offer them a Mouse Guard story to do someday.” I build the storytelling anthology framework up around them so that I could get artists to fit a Mouse Guard story into their busy schedules, while still allowing me to do some work on the series to give readers confidence that this was not a throwaway/passing-the-buck project.
When will Legends of the Guard Vol.2 come out, and is there anything different from Volume 1?
It’s looking like the end of this year or the beginning of next will see the start of Legends Volume 2. The setup will be the same, but we have a totally new crew of contributors doing stories.
As we saw in both Mouse Guard Fall and Winter, you’re not afraid of killing off non background characters. I can’t help but respect writers with the balls to do this, who force me to experience several feelings of shock, sadness and disbelief at the same time (George R. R. Martin’s “Song of Ice & Fire” series comes to mind) dare I ask… how far will you take the axing of characters?
I kill characters when their deaths have meaning. Even if a death seems senseless, it’s weight of senselessness can weigh on another character in a poignant way, So I never want to be afraid of killing them off, but only so long as I have a reason beyond “just because” or “to shock the audience”. If I carry the stories far enough ahead in time, we can assume all the main characters will die either due to Guard duties or ripe old age.
You have gotten a lot of support from the podcast community, how much do you think that helped to increase readership of your book?
There is no clear way of telling, but I know it was an effective help. With so many offerings every week and month, comic fans look to podcasters to give them that tip of what was cool, or what may be a next big thing. So, I know that podcasters putting the bug in their fans’ ears saying that Mouse Guard is something worth trying increased my sales.
What are you reading currently?
I just finished a re-read of Blacksad. I also just picked up and quickly digested Order of Tales: The City of Shells by Evan Dham. And I always keep up with Hellboy.
What do you think of the digital trend in comics?
I think that weekly comics in print are getting to be pointless. They are too expensive to produce, they are too expensive for the average consumer to try out, they need too many sales to justify the title continuing. I’m not saying print is dead, but for the serialized bits of story floppy comics offer, print is cost-ineffective. Digital is the key there. It will widen the audience. People will try new titles. Titles that couldn’t survive before can get a chance at finding an audience. Print will live on in the form of collections. We still like to own and display things. We like to prove how much of a fan we are by supporting the creator and/or publisher that made a title we like. The more of an art object collections become, the more secure their place will be in the expanding digital world.
Where the best place people can go to get the books?
- Amazon,
- Things From Another World,
- Graphic.ly,
- Your local comic book store.
You can meet David and maybe even get him to autograph your books at one of the following conventions for 2011. You can visit the official Mouse Guard site here.
- Phoenix Comic Con: May 26-29
- Cherry Capital Con: June 12-13
- San Diego Comic Con: July 20-24
- Baltimore Comic Con: Aug. 20-21
- Detroit Fan Fare: Sept. 24-25
- New York Comic Con: Oct. 14-16
Be sure to keep an eye out for our Indie Spotlight every Tuesday.
Tags: Mouse Guard
