Early Reader Review: Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard Vol 2

Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard, Vol. 2 by David Petersen
Publisher: Diamond Book Distributors
Available: December 31, 2013

 

Format: Ebook
Source: Netgalley and Diamond Book Distributors
  
Goodreads Synopsis:

Inside the June Alley Inn, located in the western mouse city of Barkstone, mice gather to tell 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. With the winner getting his bar tab cleared, fantastic stories are spun throughout the evening! Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard collects the second volume of Legends of the Guard, a new Mouse Guard anthology series featuring the work of artists and storytellers handpicked by series creator David Petersen.

My rating:

Review: 
A few months ago I stumbled upon Mouse Guard: The Black Axe or Mouse Guard #3; I really liked it. The drawing was so detailed and I could not wait to learn more about the series. Recently, I saw that another graphic novel was available on Netgalley and did a little dance as I clicked the button to get it. This time it is Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard Volume 2; now granted I have not read Volume 1…so I am a little sad about that, but I was excited to see where this one picked up.

I am so happy that I did; in this volume, June the innkeeper offers to waive debt for the winner of the best story told while at her inn. The intermissions between the stories of the mice are all in the art of the normal artist, but each story told has creative adaptations done by various other artists. The creativity in this book is amazing; the tales are fun and some have morals, and some are just cute or romantic. The artists took their styles and adapted them into these tales and it came out beautifully.

My favorite story was Back and Forth art and story by Jackson Sze; this story was about mapping the river towns and two mice learning to be together as they did it. It was a longer tale, but the ending made it for me. My favorite art was The Thief, The Star-Gazer, The Hunter, and The Tailor art and story by Cory Godbey. It was an adorable story about a family and finding traits for themselves but the pastel like colors and textures of the drawings were wonderful to look at. Rich, bright colors really made this even better. I really liked this story too, and overall I think it was my very favorite. Other artists conveyed their tales without words and just art, and one even write theirs as a song. It was a very memorable graphic novel.

I would suggest anyone grab this installment.

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