Last call.

In this fourth issue of David Petersen’s Legends of the Guard, we hear the final three tales from mice who are competing to erase their debt from June’s Tavern with the best story, and get to learn the winner.  So far, nine have been wonderfully explored, and Mr. Petersen has saved some of the best for last.

Becky Cloonan weaves more of a poem, giving a haunted, young bride her place in eternity after having met with an awful fate.  More chilling than the last ghost tale we read (with the thieving goose back in the first issue), it gives us a chill with the thought of lost love winding its way through the night.

“The Watcher’s Stone,” written and drawn by Ryan Lang, is, by far, my favorite of this issue.   With a hyper-realistic art style, he brings the Mouse Guard world to a relief I’ve not yet seen, and the story is incredibly fitting to Petersen’s world.  A twist on the legend of Balto, it’s a tale to strengthen the nerve of any who hear it.

Finally, Aaron Conley and Fabian Rangel Jr. close out with “Deep and Dark,” a Job-like tale that brings a mouse of leisure and poor decisions face to face with the bravery of heroes gone by and a situation he’ll need to fight like hell to get out of.  A sobering tale for sure, there’s a lot more to most mice than you may think at first.

June finishes the evening with a winner that makes a lot of sense and wraps the third volume of Legends up for us.  I look forward to the next time David Petersen asks folks to play in his world.

Share the stories that move you.