About Heroes

Author and Artist: Doug Petersen
Publisher: Archia Studio Press

As a child one of my favorite book series was Brian Jacques' Redwall. So when I saw the cover to Mouse Guard #1 at my local comic store, I just couldn't resist. The story is pretty basic; in the mid-12th century mice struggle to live safely and prosper among all of the world’s harsh conditions and predators. The Mouse Guard 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, find safe ways and paths through dangerous territories and treacherous terrain, watch weather patterns, and keep the mouse territories free of predatory infestation. This reminded me of all those Samurai stories I used to read that were set during the age of Meiji.

Originally Petersen self-published the first issue of Mouse Guard as a black and white comic. That version certainly had its own strengths and Petersen brought a lot oft that texture and strong, thin ink lines to these pages. The artwork, to put it lightly, looks absolutely beautiful. From the character designs, it looks like an excessive amount of time went into drawing each character. The scenery is not over looked either; every leaf to tree branch is given time and detail. Petersen brings a certain richness to this book; he is a fantastic storyteller by making the action really easy to follow. After reading this book in color, I don't think I could go back and read it in black and white. The colors look like they were actually painted.

What really intrigued me about this first issue was the way it could serve as a stand-alone story; an introduction to this wonderful world. This is a rarity these days in comics, with every issue being part of a six issue story arc. In this issue Saxon, Kenzie and Lieam are dispatched to find a missing merchant mouse that never arrived at his destination. In doing so they stumble onto much more than they had bargained for. By the end of the book I wanted to know what was going to happen next. I can not wait for the next issue to come out. This was a nice little surprise; it's one of those rare treasures you just can't put down. A+