Reepicheep, level 15 Fighter. (103)
Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard: Volume One by David Petersen, et al.
"Weave me the future,"
said the mouse to the spider.
& the spider did.
This is a collaboration between Mouse Guard's David Petersen & a large group of admirers-- a collection of apocryphal tales told by different writers & artists. I adore Mouse Guard stories, & even went through & re-read the first two volumes on Thanksgiving. That being said, anthology collections can often be lackluster-- other artists or authors might "miss the point" & create something that just isn't up to snuff. Luckily for us, that isn't the case here; this is a gorgeous volume by a host of creators that fully deserves to be shelved next to Fall & Winter 1152. The frame story is a group of travelers & barflies swapping yarns-- when has Canterbury Tales every steered you wrong? In the end tally, I agree with the bar owner & judge on two of her three picks-- Nigel's story is "The Battle of the Hawk's Mouse & the Fox's Mouse" by Jeremy Bastian; Carver's story is "Crown of Silver, Crown of Gold" by Mark Smylie. Those two are my favorites, though honorable mention goes to Haggen's "The Raven," adapted from Edgar Allen Poe by Jason Shawn Alexander-- the scale of mouse to raven lends it a wholly original air. Also due props to João Lemos' epilogue for the Voynich Manuscript style illustration. Hooray for the Guard!