Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 #1

In Mouse Guard, mice struggle to live safely and prosper among all of the world's harsh conditions and predators. Thus the Mouse Guard was formed. They are not simply soldiers that fight off intruders; rather, they are guides for commonmice looking to journey without confrontation from one hidden mouse village to another.  The Guard patrol borders, find safeways and paths through dangerous territories and treacherous terrain, watch weather patterns, and keep the mouse territories free of predatory infestation. They do so with fearless dedication so that they might not just exist, but truly live.  In this first issue of Mouse Guard, titled The Belly of the Beast, Saxon, Kenzie, & Lieam are dispatched to find a missing merchant mouse that never arrived at his destination.  In doing so they stumble onto much more than they had bargained for.

Written and illustrated by Russ Manning Award winner David Petersen, Mouse Guard has quickly become a critical and fan favorite, including citations such as Wizard Magazine's Best Indie Adventure Book of 2006; IGN.com's Best Indie Book of the Year; Canada’s Metro News' Best Mini-series of 2006; placing in the top 10 lists of 2006 for The Oklahoman, Logan (West Virginia) Banner, Derek Ash's ComicReaders.com, and Guy LeCharles Gonzalez’s Comic Book Commentary; and from Broken Frontier awards for David Petersen as Best Artist—Independent, Mouse Guard as Paper Screen Gem—Best Debut Book of 2006.

“Petersen's full-color comics so deftly capture the essence of the mouse world and its inhabitants that they'll hook readers 10 and older. The artist's attention to detail in his animal characters and their emotions, and the intriguing perspectives in the woodland setting are breathtaking.”  — Deborah Abbott, Chicago Sun-Times

“Petersen's art in Mouse Guard is…stunning. Lush and stippled, it's sublimely colored and profoundly beautiful.”  — The A.V. Club at The Onion