About one year after its premier, I've discovered a great "little" comic book/graphic novel -- David Petersen's "Mouse Guard", about a wonderful tiny world away from the real one that we live in. The books are tiny as well, about half the size of a regular comic, but printed on harder paper stock. The story is short on text, and that can be a good thing sometimes, but it is big on visuals. Set mostly out in the wilds of nature, medieval mice live their lives, draw vital boundaries, and battle their enemies to survive. The houses and holes that they abide in are as cozy as you would imagine a little mouse's house to be, like Wind in the Willows, for example.Drawings of the characters and scenery are perfectly rustic. The foliage is lush and the colors are rich. Although it does take a while to get to know the characters, because of the scant text, you learn about them fast enough I suppose. I missed buying all the original issues last year of the Fall series (I hear that they are hard to find how) so I recently bought the compiled book. The new comics of the Winter series have begun to be released, so you can buy them all separately, or wait for the larger collection book again that will surely be released next year.
For any parents who are tired of not being able to find decent storied comics for their children, this is a great one to introduce them to. While it does show that there are some bad mice (and hungry snakes) in the world, the main characters are full of honor and duty to each other and their kind, and are dedicated to being in service to save what's good in world.
The official Mouse Guard website is: http://www.mouseguard.net/
