Review: Mouse Guard : Legends of the Guard Volume 2 #1

Mouse Guard : Legends of the Guard volume 2 begins at the June Alley Inn in 1155, three years after the events of the main Mouse Guard story. The premise of volume 2 is the same as volume 1: June offers to settle the bar tab of the best storyteller in the joint, and the competition ensues. There are three stories in the first issue. “Autumn Tale,” by Stan Sakai, is a fable with the moral that the just and the unjust both go hungry in their own ways; “Leviathan,” by Alex Eckman-Lawn and Nick Tapalansky, concerns the story of Tiernan the Brash, a young mouse whose vehicles of choice are feather and bubble as he travels by air and ocean; and “A Bone to Pick,” by Ben Caldwell, in which Lily and Pearl show us how we can have fun with puppetry.

While Legends of the Guard doesn’t advance the main Mouse Guard narrative, it is an adventure in world building. In Legends of the Guard, the Mouse Guard concept becomes a shared universe experiment, not unlike Thieves’ World, Wild Cards, or the DC and Marvel Universes. Seeing the world of Mouse Guard through the eyes of multiple, rotating, points of view, as well as from the voices of multiple authors, simultaneously grounds and expands the fantasy backdrop. Each open window has its own vista and vignette. David Petersen gets to show off his great taste as well, because it is no small feat to curate a collection of talent like this.

If you’re a fan of Mouse Guard, you’re already buying this. Or maybe you are a diehard comic collector, and you knew you were buying this when you heard “Stan Sakai.” But maybe you’ve never heard of Mouse Guard. Maybe you’ve heard of Mouse Guard, or have seen it on the shelves at your local comic shop, or have almost added it to your pull list once in the past after reading a Free Comic Book Day edition. For whatever reason you’re not reading Mouse Guard yet, you should know that Mouse Guard is one of the most satisfying all-ages comics on the racks. It is an eclectic fusion of fantasy and animal fiction, in the vein of Redwall or Tailchaser’s Song. After you’ve read these stories, they will call you back to them for a revisit, like the lands of Middle Earth, Narnia, or Earthsea. So buy these comics, read them, and then share them with your kids.

In recent news, Archaia was acquired by and will become an imprint of Boom Studios. Reportedly, Archaia will remain dedicated to high quality graphic novels and continue to leave its fine stamp on the comic book publishing world. Mouse Guard comics can still be found under the Archaia imprint on comiXology, and the digital edition of this comic in particular has been available there since May 29th. The print edition is released on June 26th and can be found at your local comic shop.

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