The most beautiful Mouse Guard book yet. David Petersen truly blew me away with this one; by far my favourite Mouse Guard book.

Well. This is it. The final read book of the year for me. This three volume adventure series was a good run, complete with compelling mouse characters, secret carrying mice, and the coming and fall of certainly brave heroes. The black axe, respectively a prequel to Fall and Winter 1152, was nothing short of amazing. It’s as if David Petersen kicked it up a notch with story development and panel design. The story journeys you back to the time of 1108 (I think) when Celenawe goes on a daring adven...

Easily the best entry in the series to date. A simultaneous prequel to the main series and a follow-up to Mouse Guard: Winter 1152, it is also both the most emotional and the most engaging story I've read this year. I was literally moved to tears more than once while reading it.

Review to come :)

Bullet Review:Who said that mice were wimps? One mouse (whose name is impossible for me to remember) is approached by his cousin, Em, to hunt down the family "Black Axe". It's a cute little fantasy story with mice. The art was pleasant, the story was pretty typical but decent, the text was a pain to read - but overall, I had a good time reading this.

The cute and brutal Mouse adventure continues or lets say expands and I am glad! You gotta love the art and detail put into this, sure the writing is a bit shallow but we are talking about mice here. There are some blatant references (or some might say ripped off elements) from the lord of the rings, to the point where the black axe becomes more than just an axe… but I guess that it's hard to avoid that trap in this genre.If you don’t want to read something overly deep and complex this is perfec...

Well, the story gets better and better, writing too. The prequel about the mythic weapon and how it was found was really well-written. But what stands out is the lore, which is given in full at the end of each volume with great visuals and texts.

I really enjoy the whole package Petersen puts together, a great little adventure story surrounding the legendary Black Axe and a fantastic realistic art style combined with a fairly somber color palatte.

I read this one first even though it's listed as #4, it actually starts the story. And what a fine story. And fuck me, the illustrations are absolutely stunning.

The Mouse Guard universe gets expanded slightly. This is the story of The Black Axe, which really is the entire story of the three Mouse Guard books. I enjoyed the characters but the plot is lacking quite a bit. As a library rental, this was worth it, but I couldn't justify spending money on the book.The font used for the text was horrible. I found it hard to read.

Think of Lord of the Rings, mixed up with a bit of Game of Thrones with maybe even a dash of The Odyssey...with mice as the main characters. It sounds silly, but let me assure you, it's not nearly as silly as it sounds. This is a pretty serious fantasy adventure, and using mice, ferrets, and other animals as characters enhanced rather than detracted from the story. This serves as a prequel to the very first Mouse Guard series, and we get to see a great quest. The quest is a time honored traditio...

ARC provided by NetGalleyThe Mouse Guard has faced one of it’s greatest challenges, treason from within, and managed to survive thanks to the actions of other brave mice of the guard…and the Black Axe a lost hero. In this prequel Celanawe, the Black Axe, tells the story he promised to tell Lieam...the story of how he came by the Black Axe. Celanawe is a one of the guard, one of the bravest there is, and is happy to serve for as long as he is able. Until a relative, Em, comes to take him on a jou...

The best book yet in the series, fantastic illustrations and an engaging story.The book can be read as a standalone.The story itself is straightforward but does have good plotting, pacing and emotions. If you are interested in a fantasy book with medieval theme and adventures, look no further. Even thou it centres around mice, it is not silly but serious. I have always loved the artwork in this series and it only seems to be getting better, Peterson's art is cleaner and more detailed from before...

I've waited a long time for all the issues to be out so I could read them in succession (two years and three months for six issues!). It was worth the wait, I think The Black Axe is possibly the best Moust Guard story yet. The art is much improved since Mouse Guard: Fall 1152. David Petersen's work is much cleaner and more detailed now and that makes the story even better. Personally, I loved the foxes that appear in this volume, they're stunningly beautiful (and such a sad part of the story). T...

Tempted to give only four stars, but my reservations are kind of nit picky--Some of the hand lettered text is tough to read, as is the "narrator" typeface, which has a bunch of uneccessary lines over various letters.But overall, the story is just wonderfully imaginative. And the illustration is amazing.

Everything really came together with this volume. Great storytelling, fantastic art, vibrant colours.

Celanawe is a mouse and a trusted guard in the medieval world of Mouse Guard. The world is populated by many intelligent animals, including the dangerous ferrets and foxes. When Celanawe is sent on a quest with the elder Em, it takes him on a journey over land and sea that will leave him forever changed.This is my first exposure to the world of Mouse Axe, but I was struck by such a well written story. This book works as a stand alone. There are references to previous stories, but I was able to j...

This is the third graphic novel by David Petersen which I have read. There are a total of eight planned for this series, but also other series within the same world. It is exceptionally rare to find a graphic novel where just one person does all the art and story.Peterson has combined the best elements of Redwall and Dragonlance, creating a very real world, deep with rich history, and one very much dangerous to the characters involved. Like other works I've read which emloy anthropomorphism, suc...

The third and final entry in the traditional Mouse Guard graphic novel series is a prequel story telling the tale of how the mouse Celanawe became the Black Axe. Like the preceding volumes, the highlights here are the artwork, characters, worldbuilding, and storytelling. It's all so dang good. Two things caused a bit of a struggle here, one new and one old. The new frustration was one of the font choices that made some dialogue difficult to read. The old frustration is the difficult and numerous...

The Black Axe acts as a prequel to Fall and Winter, detailing how the fabled weapon came into possession of Celanawe. While I didn't enjoy it as much as Winter, it is still a gripping tale of a mouse's odyssey to reclaim his birthright and set history into motion.