The Mice are Marching

The past few weeks we've seen two new books come out featuring mice as the protagonists. And I'm sure you're thinking, do I really need TWO mice books? Well, yeah. Mice Templar, and Mouse Guard: Winter 1152, while appearing to be pretty similar, stories about fighting mice, they really do take different approaches.

Think of the Mouse Guard alot like the Green Lantern Corps. They are the protectors of mouse society, charged with protecting the innocent from everything from maurading snakes, hungry owls, to open rebellion. In the current story, a follow up to last years Mouse Guard: Fall 1152, the Mice are trying to recover from the deadly blow they were dealt in the fall. The Guard has never been in such dire straights, and is seeking help the neighboring communities to recover. Mouse Guard is a slow moving book, so it remains to be seen what the larger challenge, beyond mere survival, will be for this arc. I don't mean to say the book is boring, it just doesn't use the conventional pacing. It reads more as if it was one large book that then got chopped down to individual issues. Maybe not so good for the single issues, but when you read the series as a whole, well, it's really well done.

Mice Templar, on the other hand, is written much more like a regular book, with highs, lows, and twists aplenty just in the first issue. The Mice Templar story follows certain parts of the Temple Knights story, while at the same time replacing other parts. For ten thousand seasons (thats 2500 years for the seasonally challenged) the Mice Templar had been the guardians of not only the mice, but of many of the creatures who resided in the Dark Lands. Think Jedi Knights without the voodoo. These mice were not betrayed by greedy kings as the Templars of our world were however. The Mice Templar betrayed themselves and went to war with each other. Now many seasons after, the few remaining Templars are in hiding, sheltered by some, shunned by others, unwelcomed by most. But now, in the small town of Cricket's Glen, a young mouse by the name of Karic has been entrusted to rebuild the legacy of the Templars. Very Luke Skywalker-ish. That's not to say it's derivative, it just has a lot of elements in common. Did I mention it's huge? Even at 3.99, the first issue just seems to go on and on.

Which one is better? I can't really say. Mouse Guard is fantastic, with rich storytelling and fantastic art. Mice Templar is a well crafted "coming of age" action story. They each have their good points, but based on just the first issue, the Temple Mice look to be pulling ahead just a bit. It remain to be seen though if they will be the hare to the Guard's tortoise.