Dawn of the Black Axe is Amazing
Dawn of the Black Axe is amazing By Dan Brown David Petersen’s Mouse Guard: Dawn of the Black Axe is a superlative series that will make for a must-read graphic novel come January. The three-issue title debuted and wrapped from March to June this year. The collected version lands on store shelves January 20. Do yourself a favour and pre-order your copy now. Although I initially felt trepidation that another comic creator – Gabriel Rodriguez – handled art duties, instead of Petersen, my skepticism soon melted away when I got a closer look at the individual issues, which are gorgeous. As Mouse Guard fans know, Petersen is the Michigan writer/artist who originated the idea of a medieval mouse society protected by the members of the Guard, forest rangers who serve to keep the far-flung mouse communities safe. Petersen’s art in the main title is amazing, which is what I’m used to. But Rodriguez’s lines are just as expressive, in their own way. There are fantasy/sorcery elements to the story – mostly in the form of a ghostly elk, who guides Bardick, the first-ever bearer of the black axe, in his quest to kill five giant snakes who are tightening their grip on mouse territory by raiding villages and breeding more young. The blade itself was fashioned by the blacksmith Farrer, whose own wife and children were slain by one of the serpents. “I’ll take all the pain forged in this weapon and protect mouse kind,” Bardick vows, perhaps not realizing he will be in the forest for many a season before he can rest. I was able to enjoy Rodriguez’s art on its own terms. He can do action just as well as he can render scenes in which the characters are static. He is also so good at evoking a sense of time – the reader sees Bardick grow weary as his adventures drag on over years. And that mysterious ghost elk is ethereal, except when he’s material, in one panel helping Bardick ford a stream. Each image rewards repeated attention, as the reader absorbs more detail and is drawn deeper into the Mouse Guard world. Nor is it a foregone conclusion that the slithering death threatening mouse communities will be vanquished. Bardick lives to see some of the mice thrive, but Petersen has a twist up his sleeve that will force readers to re-think what they thought they knew about the enemies of the mice, who have a “seething fury . . . boiling in their collective cold hearts.” What I know for sure about Mouse Guard is how Petersen is not interested in telling the same old stories. In a previous adventure, some mice rebelled against the mouse matriarch – but instead of taking the side of the rebels, a tale we’re all familiar with, he told it from the vantage of those trying to keep order. Another way of saying it is, Mouse Guard comics remind me of the spirit of the 2000 film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, as well as the Lord of the Rings books and the best Star Wars movies/TV shows. I’m already excited for 2026. Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 33 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
