Mice Templar #6 (Image – Glass / Oeming)
As dissension is revealed within the Templar priesthood, Lord Wotan makes a powerful public declaration regarding Karic’s destiny, and Cassius is entrusted with a secret mission and a sacred task he no longer believes in.
I think Mice Templar will go down as one of those books that almost worked. It certainly has nothing to do with the talent. Bryan J.L. Glass is an exceptional writer and Michael Avon Oeming’s art is unique and competent enough that he has his own niche in the industry. It has nothing to do with the concept; everyone knows epic mythological tales of adventuring sword-weilding mice rock! So what is it that makes this such a hard book to get into?
We could start out with the fact that this is the 6th issue in 14 months. The world of comics, nothings make the heart grow more dim than bi-monthly books that run late. Then we have the “verbage” factor as a structural issue on the page, a single page might have four frames but have caption upon word balloon upon caption upon thought bubble and so forth and so forth. In some parts of this latest issue, there was way more reading than viewing here. I am an avid reader and enjoy my novels as much as my comics. But I can see where Templar lost of it’s fans in the gray area between comic and illustrated story. Along with that is the “verbage” factor as a barrier to the story. The plot went from being about a peasant hero on a quest to being about a need for a societal mythical savior way too quick and with that rapid succession was the needed explanations in this fictious world of visions, omens, destinies, religious structure versus belief, etc. And the bottom line is the story got weighed down by the details of the “epic”-ness of the tale.
There is a lot here worth saving, I hope the second volume goes in a much more streamlined fashion. It’s needed if this gem of a story is ever going to shine.
Issue Grade: C
Series Grade: B-
