The search for the Black Axe continues as Em and Celanawe recruit a captain of
a boat to take them to the next shore which is further than most are willing to
travel. Celanawe tricks the young captain into doing so by making the challenge
public and a way for the captain to prove himself to the pirate-esc guild. They
begin their travel and soon begin to run out of food and water. Em and Celanawe
continue to operate in secret as Em explains how the axe ended up so far away
to begin with. It seems her brother was the last mouse put in charge of it and something drove him to take the axe far away. Just as they begin to become desperate a storm hits and sinks
the ship throwing all three mice into the ocean.
This issue is
very solid and basically builds Em and Celanawe as characters. It becomes very
obvious that Celanawe might be the only one to make it out of this alive. Em is
clearly just here to groom him for his responsibilities and make sure he
understands the importance of the axe. The captain is under used and really a stereotype seen in any movie. Unfortunately not much else happens in
the story. Everything follows a pretty standard format. Trick the captain, get
a boat, set sail and the storm that pushes them past the point of no return.
What this issue
offers are some beautiful pages from Peterson. Set on the sea he’s able to draw
animals that have never been seen in Mouse Guard previously. Mainly octopuses
and fish; it was nice to see his talents not limited to just furry creatures.
Peterson does a great job of keeping the scenes on the boat interesting and
uses a variety of angles to keep it from getting boring.
Overall this is
a solid issue of Mouse Guard and continues the story of the Black Axe. It’s not
anything special like the last issue, but it’s good and a fun read. Fans of the
series will continue to be pleased and new readers should definitely pick up
the first issue of the Black Axe before getting lost in this issue. Peterson
continues to be one of the strongest Writer/Artists in the world of comics and
Mouse Guard continues to be great as usual.
Overall Score –
8.0/10
*Great for Long
Time Readers of the Series*
Be sure to check out the preview for this issue as well.