2025 marks the 20th anniversary of David Petersen's Mouse Guard franchise. It's only right that BOOM! Studios should have a new Mouse Guard series to mark the occasion. That's where Mouse Guard: Dawn of the Black Axe comes in.
Written by Petersen and drawn by Locke & Key artist Gabriel Rodríguez, Mouse Guard: Dawn of the Black Axe serves as the earliest story in the series, chronologically. It chronicles the exploits of Bardrick, the very first mouse to wield the legendary Black Axe.
Check out the slideshow gallery below for an exclusive first look at Mouse Guard: Dawn of the Black Axe #1:
“Getting to write this Mouse Guard lore of the forging of the Black Axe and it being handed to Bardrick (first of eleven wielders) while getting to do so with the brilliant Gabriel Rodríguez drawing Dawn of the Black Axe has been a thrill,” said Petersen in a statement. “He's going above and beyond with his inked pages and storytelling while I'm just trying to keep up coloring them and still do them justice. Gabe was top of my list when we started pitching names for this spin off project, and I postponed it for a long time until his schedule opened up––I didn't want to do this first one with anyone else.
Petersen continued, “I'll continue to work on the next volume in the main Mouse Guard series: The Weasel War of 1149, but I also hope this is first of many more Mouse Guard books like this one, where I get to explore the other past wielders of the Black Axe with exciting and extremely talented collaborators like Gabe.”
“I’ve been a fan of David Petersen’s work since the first time I saw a volume of his astonishing Mouse Guard books. We became friends as soon as we met,” said Rodríguez. “Almost a decade ago we started daydreaming about working together on the story of the first wielder of the mythical Black Axe. That dream finally came true, and I’m humbled, grateful and excited to share it with the faithful legion of Mouse Guard readers.”
Mouse Guard: Dawn of the Black Axe #1 will be released on March 19, 2025.
For more on what's coming up in the comic book world, check out a preview of Invincible: Battle Beast and find out more about the upcoming Star Wars: Legacy of Vader.
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