The story then takes a turn from the dangers and how one can earn the title of Black Axe to the pain and suffering that comes with being the Black Axe. The voyage of Celanawe with his kin Em and shipmate Conrad leads to an adventure with ferrets and a battle with a massive fox. The previous stories focused on the guardmouse trio of Lieam, Kenzie and Saxon and this serves as a flashback within that series. With great visuals and a solid story, Mouse Guard: The Black Axe is a welcomed continuation to Mouse Guard series…with one slight drawback.
Mouse guard the black axe series#
Mouse Guard is a great series and it is a series that you can tell takes a lot of work, and Petersen puts that effort into each page. The collection follows Mouse Guard Volume 2: Winter 1152 and was released to critical acclaim. Written and illustrated by David Petersen, Mouse Guard Volume 3: The Black Axe is a fantasy adventure comic book collection. The Black Axe must endure and the mouse that carries the Black Axe carries a heavy burden. From Celanawe’s life as a guardmouse to his path to discovering and becoming the Black Axe, the story is told of a quest and the price of the quest. Celanawe the Black Axe is dead and now Lieam the new Black Axe is tracing his history. Those contributing pin-ups this time include Duncan Fegredo and Mike Mignola.Reprints Mouse Guard: The Black Axe #1-6 (December 2010-February 2013).
Mouse guard the black axe full#
It’s unlikely that anyone who’s enjoyed Petersen’s previous work will be disappointed with The Black Axe, and he always ensures his books come with a full package of extras. The oddest choice is to include a prologue revealing much of what follows.Īs in the previous books, there’s a stunningly illustrated battle with another creature, but on this occasion it’s central to the story, and involves a cleverly considered conclusion. That’s just the storyteller’s choice, though, and The Black Axe is none the poorer for it. The plot is relatively straightforward, and there’s the occasional point where Petersen sacrifices what might be an interesting interlude to ensure it remains that way. An example is his reaction to eating fish for the first time, or a comment coming back to haunt him later in the book. It’s Celanwe who narrates the story, and Petersen packs his narrative with all sorts of fine details accumulating to build a bigger picture of the man. With the introductory Autumn/Fall 1152 it was only Petersen’s art that charmed, but his progress as a writer has been rapid. Over the remainder he constructs new constellations, and assorted other decorative wonders. Petersen illustrates a rickety warren of houses jumbled together and connected by boarded walkways that fascinate. The second chapter has our protagonists arriving at a shoreline community where bartering and exchange is a way of subsistence. Surely any imaginative child will be besotted by his depictions. Petersen’s art is as fascinating and detailed as ever. Locating the axe is fraught with danger, but being able to return with it to Lockhaven is far more testing.
Em has one extremely useful talent, an ability to communicate with birds. She is the last of her line, is determined to locate the legendary black axe, which has been missing for thirty years, and Celanwe’s help has been instructed by the Queen.
In 1115 Celanwe lived in a remote location and trained recruits, one of their tasks being to locate him, but his proposed trip back to the main community is forestalled by the arrival of Em, an elderly mouse. In the established continuity that’s an honorary title given to a legendary protector and the man who trains the Mouse Guard recruits, and in this tale we learn how that came about. Having set his previous two volumes in 1152, David Petersen jumps back to 1115 for the tale of the Black Axe.
0 kommentar(er)
