Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard, Volume 1

I have to confess that I was a little disappointed, after reading and enjoying David Petersen's Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 and Mouse Guard: Winter 1152 - both volumes contains six individual comic issues, and relate the epic story of the eponymous Mouse Guard, a corps of murine warriors and guides who protect the Mouse Territories from diverse dangers - to discover that this volume does not continue the story begun in those titles, but rather, offers a series of short stories set in the Mouse Guard world, written and illustrated by a variety of other comic book practitioners. The connecting art and concept - a story contest at the June Alley Inn, in the mouse city of Barkstone, gives patrons the chance to clear their outstanding tabs, by show more relating the best tale - are provided by Petersen himself, while the thirteen stories (fourteen if one counts the epilogue) are contributed by various authors and artists.

Once I got used to the idea of an anthology, however, and accepted that I wasn't going to discover what "happened next," I began to enjoy this collection. I'm not very well read in the world of comic books, so only one of the guest artists - Ted Naifeh], creator of the Courtney Crumrin comic books, which I have enjoyed - was familiar to me, going in. It was interesting to get some more background information on this world, and to see it through the eyes of other artists. Kudos to Petersen for letting others play a role in its creation! The stories I tended to enjoy most here, were those that built the history up a bit: The Battle of the Hawk's Mouse & The Fox's Mouse by Jeremy Bastian, with its story of the formation of the proto-Mouse Guard, and how it came to have a Matriarch; Crown of Silver, Crown of Gold, by Mark Smylie, with its tale of two warring mouse kingdoms, and how both were brought low by treachery. I liked Craig Rousseau's The Lion and the Mouse because of its Aesopic references, but The Raven, adapted from the Edgar Allan Poe poem by Jason Shawn Alexander, didn't work as well for me. Naifeh's A Bargain in the Dark was engaging, but too short to really draw me in.

Still, despite my varied reactions - I didn't really enjoy this one, overall, as much as Mouse Guard: Winter 1152 - this is definitely a book that Mouse Guard fans will want to pick up: for the stories, the artwork, and the June Alley Inn ambiance! Now, if only the next installment of the actual story were coming out sometime soon... show less

Summary: Mice are small, and although they are safe in their cities and settlements, the lands between are wide and perilous with predators. Luckily, a mouse's courage, steadfastness, and sense of duty is not proportional to their size, and the Mouse Guard stand ready to protect travelers, defend the borders, safeguard the paths, and the defend the interests of mice.

Legends of the Guard is an anthology that centers around a tavern contest in which patrons compete to tell the best story, in the hopes of having their bar tab cleared. The framework story is written and drawn by Petersen, but the individual tales are written and drawn by a variety of artists.

Review: I enjoyed the Legends of the Guard volume as much as - if not maybe a show more little bit more than - the main series volumes. It was reminiscent of some of the parts I liked most about House of Mystery, and I really enjoyed seeing all of the authors' takes on the Guard's world. I particularly liked that the stories had different tones, some funny, some tragic, some from the distant past, some staring characters with which we're familiar, some text-heavy, some entirely in pictures - but all feeling true to the world. 4 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: It's got a kind of medieval, Robin Hood-esque feel to it, but honestly, I think even people who aren't fans of that sort of thing will be charmed by this series. show less

My 6 year old son and I are huge fans of the Mouse Guard series. So for a present on his first day of school I got him this book and then we slowly read through the stories together. Like any anthology the stories are hit and miss, but overall it’s a good collection of Mouse Guard related stories by various authors.

The premise behind this book is that a whole bunch of mice are gathered in a tavern and they all owe the proprietor money. The proprietor, June, proposes a contest. The mouse that tells the best tale will have his/her tab paid for and everyone else who participates has to pay their tab within 7 days. As the contest proceeds where hear a variety of tales from a variety of mice. All of them involve either lore of the mice or show more the hardships the Mouse Guard face in their daily lives.

The illustrations and stories range widely. Some are about old mice who went on great adventures, some are about the daily trials of the Mouse Guard, and one is even about a mouse who thinks he is a fox. Most of the stories are very well done and have beautiful (if varied) styles of illustration.

However, there were a couple that fell short for me. One story in particular was done a very sketchy cartoonish way and had no dialogue. As a result both me and my son were a bit confused about what was going on. The artwork definitely wasn’t good enough to convey a cohesive story and there was no dialogue.

I enjoyed the interludes between stories that took place in the tavern, these were all done by David Peterson and were beautifully illustrated and written.

Overall a solid collection of graphic novel stories that all tie in with the Mouse Guard theme. As with any anthology some are spectacular and others not so much. The majority of the stories were beautifully illustrated in a range of styles and very well written. There were a couple I had trouble following. I would definitely recommend this collection to Mouse Guard fans and to fans of fantasy graphic novels in general. show less

As with any anthology some tales are better than others, but there's nothing bad here. It's always interesting to see any comics series where art is always provided by one artist interpreted by a variety of new talents.

Not as good as the regular Mouse Guard books, but a very interesting way to handle having other authors write in your world. It was nice to see the different styles and interpretations of the various artists of the Mouse Guard world.

Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard is the third book in the series. This book is a series of stories by different artists. The stories are a little uneven, but some were excellent : The Hawk's Mouse and the Fox's Mouse, The Raven, and Crown of Silver/Crown of Gold. The story set up is that the mice are telling tales in an attempt to pay off their pub tab and Petersen illustrates the pub scenes between the stories. Although I missed not seeing more Petersen's artwork, some of the guest artists were fantastic

While this volume is based on a great idea (allow other comics artists to contribute short pieces set in David Petersen's Mouse Guard universe), the results are mixed, and overall the package is not as interesting as the preceding volumes which were built on Petersen's work alone. There is some very decent artwork in these pages, but most of the stories are banal, a situation not helped by the fact that each contributor has a very small number of pages with which to work. Nonetheless, the Mouse Guard milieu is charming enough to shine through the weak moments, and in the end Legends of the Guard is an entertaining read.