Writer: Bryan J.L. Glass/Michael Avon Oeming
Artist: Michael Avon Oeming
Publisher: Image
Price: $3.99
Michael Avon Oeming and Bryan J.L. Glass open their tale of sword wielding mice with a peaceful moon, glowing softly upon the trees below. Unfortunately, it isn’t long before you realise that the light also brings with it shadows, and the remaining light can only add shine to the spears of battle. It was a bloody time, following from the rule of a noble warrior-priest.
Nowadays, though, this is but a story that is told to children. It is the story of the Mice Templar: defenders of justice, for creatures large and small.
While they may now be thought of as legend, some still remain to fight for such justice. It is a shame that it takes so much pain for the truth to come out…
Incorporating legends from as many cultures as I can think of, Mice Templar #1 is a real fantasy epic in the traditions of the masters. The story is told to us from the innocent perspective of the children in the woods, giving it a beautiful power that can only come from their first experiences of the world.
This is all thrown in with bloody battles and monsters and gods to give a terrifying take on the life of an anomorphic mouse. The dialogue is sharp, yet somehow overt in nature. It does feel like an old Disney cartoon translated onto the page and given a stabbing twist or two.
The pencilled artwork is beautiful, no doubt helped along by the spectacular colouring. Oeming really knocks it out of the park with this style. Beautiful may even be an understatement.
The only real problem I had with it was being confused about who was whom at first. The characters all being mice, it was a little hard to tell them apart in the darkness. This does get easier to grasp within a few pages, though.
I can’t wait for more!
- Danielle Lavigne is a teenaged writer who resides in Dublin, Ireland. She is passionate about writing, art, style, and nearly all forms of media, particularly comic books. She hopes to one day make a decent living writing comics so as to avoid the long-prophecised "actual work".