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Graphic Novel Review


Book Cover

Mouse Guard
Legends of the Guard (Hardback)

 

Author: Various
Artists: Various
Titan Books
RRP: £14.99, US $19.95
ISBN: 978 1 85768 142 3
Available 28 January 2011


Inside the June Alley Inn, mice gather to tell fantastic tales, each trying to outdo the other. A competition, of sorts, begins. The rules: Every story must contain one truth, one lie and have never been told in that tavern before...

Legends of the Guard is a new Mouse Guard anthology series featuring the work of artists and storytellers handpicked by series creator David Petersen. The individual stories are tied together by a linking narrative that sees a group of mice in an inn telling tall tales.

These stories range from good to poor - there seemed to be a few too many that were retelling of old, familiar stories that we've all heard before, while some of the original tales start well and then end poorly.

Personally, the only tale I really enjoyed was Katie Cook's 'A Mouse Called Fox'. This was fun, cute and well handled. To be honest, none of the other tales I particularly enjoyed, although I did find Bowen's Tale (by Karl Kerschl) to be both interesting and well realised.

I think the main problem is that most of the stories aren't given enough pages in which to blossom. Maybe if some of these tales had been a little longer then more of the writers would have managed to create something a little more appealing.

Bonus content includes an all-new Epilogue illustrated by Jono Lemos (Avengers Fairy Tales), cover gallery, character lineup, floor plan of the June Alley Inn and creator bios.

While interesting enough, it's not a collection I can really recommend.

4

Darren Rea

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