Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Mice Templar #3
Image Comics
Glass & Oeming
Three issues in and the story is finding its level. The first issue had wall to wall carnage, while the second had a lot of background information and slow moving trust building. This issue brings the balance of battle, training, background and plot threads. It shows the strength of this story and how it has many paths to take us down. This issue is excellent and shows that this story isn’t just going to be a simple “little mouse save the world” type bit.
For starters, this issue as a whole contains a full recap of the mythology and the story to date on the inside of the cover. No reader will be lost picking up this issue whether they read the other two or not. The first scene of this comic has the rats stalking a herd of deer. I know what you think, “Say what?” But seriously, the deer never see it coming. One of the deer survives but can’t bring itself to fight back, so it runs off. This is an excellent scene and it joins in with the rat’s camp, where we see some of the mice have survived, only to be taken prisoner. One of the main mice from the first issue almost gets it from the rat captain before his attention is called away. This shows the mice aren’t going to take this rat-crap lying down.
We then rejoin Pilot and Karic fighting the rat zombies and the red ants. Also hovering around is the scar-face mouse with the hood, who may be a Templar or may be a rat-mouse hybrid. In any case, he is following Pilot and Karic. Karic ends the threat by using his magic pouch he got from the fish. It’s an odd thing but he basically creates a tidal wave to kill off the ants. The hooded mouse also gets flushed too.
Pilot trains Karic some more and then he leaves Karic alone in the dark. This is a bad thing because Karic doesn’t follow instructions too well. He gets scared, drops his sword and fights with a ghost who doesn’t exist. All of which Pilot told him not to do. Well, he is just a kid after all. We end with Karic in the layer of the witch who seems to eat mice.
Doesn’t sound like much does it? Well, its great. We get more relationship building with Karic and Pilot, but at a slower pace than last issue’s steroid-accelerated trust building interaction. We also get to see the other side of the story with the rats, as well as their captives. This story has some mystery, as well as a sense of lost in the wilderness feel that you might find in the Lord of the Flies. This story is excellent on all fronts.
The art is good and seems to work best when dealing with a smaller core of characters. Although, for me, it is still hard to tell apart the rats from the mice. The art does portray one mean group of mice or rats when it has to. It is also worth noting that the entire comic is set at night. In that regard I guess it should be tough to tell friend from foe.
Now about the book itself. For the regular cover price we get a recap page, 25 pages of story, a letters page, original art and a story chronicling the comparison of Merlin, Arthur, Kenobi, Luke and this story. Plus, we get a write-up of the next issue. Wow! Marvel or DC would have charged us $5 for this amount of stuff. Outstanding work on the part of Image on this front.
Now about the comparison of master and apprentice, the story in the back talks about how Kenobi did have his own agenda and manipulated Luke’s father to fit with that agenda. Essentially training him because he was supposed to rather than because it was the right thing for Anakin. I found this revelation interesting. Is Pilot training Karic because he believes it is right for Karic, right for the mice or right for his own agenda? As a side note I would say that in the Lord of the Rings Gandalf also takes Aragorn under his wing and manipulates him to the throne. Sure, they were life long friends, but Gandalf pushes Aragorn into leadership roles, alliances and battles that will lead him back to being the King, regardless of how much he really wants the title. Just some food for thought on this subject from my humble observations.
In all, this issue is exactly what I look for in a comic. More story for your buck, good artwork, a solid story, some action and plot advancements on multiple fronts. I’m in!
5 out of 5 geek goggles.
 Mice Templar #3 |
