David Petersen’s Mouse Guard: An Appreciation

Furry literature features no shortage of smaller folk standing up for their own existence. Watership Down, Mrs. Frisby And The Rats Of NIMH, or some of you may even recall The Roquefort Gang from its animated appearance on CBS Storybreak. It’s a safe bet that these works, and so many like these, inspired David Petersen in the creation of Mouse Guard, which heads into its 20th Anniversary this year.

The two-time Eisner Award and one-time Harvey Award winner focuses on its central A-Team: forward Lieam, calculating Kenzie, and gung-ho Saxon. They are three examples of the Guard’s finest, doing their part to protect the smaller and sometimes innocent travelers from the world’s dangers, often stationed along the popular paths. I’m sure you can see it from the sample, but this ain’t no Redwall. Animals in this particular universe treat each other the way animals do in our own. Survival is valued over honor, and the food is likely not nearly as good.

The simple yet stunning art style recalls the classic style of Oriental art, successfully establishing overall scale. It strengthens an atmosphere where EVERYTHING is a predator. It’s truly a jungle out there, which fine-tunes the need for this guard. Survival bleeds into the narrative, since even among the smallest creatures are slime-balls ready to throw neighbors under the nearest speeding cart for another hour of life. The Guard finds themselves solving mystery after conspiracy to weed these lowlifes out as well.

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