He varies the number and layout of the panels on each page - from the usual four panel to full two-page spreads - which adds visual interest and impact to the action. Petersen’s design and artwork are uniformly excellent. Gwendolyn, the leader of the Guard, is strong-willed and wise, and the villain … is villainous. Female Guard Sadie seems unflappable, even when she and crusty old Conrad face off against the aforementioned crabs. Lieam is somewhat impetuous, while his companions Kenzie and Saxon seem more seasoned. And, admittedly, they have a wealth of charming facial expressions at their disposal as well. The mice have a tendency to look the same (other than in their colour), so Petersen has taken care to dress or arm them differently, and has gone so far as to give one of them a peg leg. The same goes for the other animals represented: a snake, a passel of fierce crabs. It helps immensely that his mice look like mice - just bipedal, clothed, tool-wielding and intelligent. Petersen does a marvelous job of anthropomorphizing the mice without making them cloying or cutesy. And just so there’s no confusion, Mouse Guard isn’t a nickname or colloquialism - the protagonists really are mice, the small, furry rodent kind. So goes the basic plot of Mouse Guard: Fall 1152, a graphic novel collection of Petersen’s award-winning comic. The year is 1152, treachery is afoot, and the Mouse Guard, defenders of all mice, must suss out the traitor in their midst before the Guard is destroyed.
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