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The Mice Templar 3 (January 2008)

The Mice Templar 3 (January 2008)

The Mice Templar #3This issue is a little busy. First, Glass showcases a rat battalion as they return home. They’re hunting. Nasty guys, these rats. It turns out some of the cast from the first issue has survived and are now prisoners of the rats, so Glass turns the focus to them for a while.

Of course, he had a cliffhanger to resolve with Karic and Pilot–Luke and Obi-Wan–and he gets to it nearly halfway through. They have a lengthy resolution to their problems and it’s a rather neat one but then Glass proceeds to work towards another cliffhanger.

If I’m counting right, the issue has one cliffhanger resolution, one soft cliffhanger for the prisoners and another hard cliffhanger for Karic. It’s just too much, even if Glass does pace it all beautifully. The emphasis on revelation and action means not enough character development.

Still, Glass and Oeming have momentum.

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CREDITS

The Prophecy, Part Three: Black Aniaus; writers, Michael Avon Oeming and Bryan J.L. Glass; artist, Oeming; colorist, Wil Quintana; letterer, James H. Glass; editors, Judy Glass and Will Swyer; publisher, Image Comics.

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One response to “The Mice Templar 3 (January 2008)”

  1. Bryan J.L. Glass Avatar
    Bryan J.L. Glass

    As the overall story was being constructed, I advised such a tale needed to be monthly with breaks between arcs. Yet as solicitation drew nigh, realities in Mike’s life forced the bi-monthly schedule. But as early as issue #3, the delays began. 3 months after #2, and 5 after the debut, this issue printed dark & muddy. I’d already labored on the series 4 years by this point, so I was exasperated that we were still working out kinks.

    Content-wise, this issue marked the first expansion of Captain Tosk’s role inspired by how Mike designed him in #1. Tosk was simply “Rat Captain” in the outline, serving only 2 story purposes. But when the time came to script him for # 1, I dubbed his “Tosk” and described him as having an overgrown tooth like a tusk. But Mike gave him an iron gauntlet as a homage to the influence of Mike Mignola on his work. That gauntlet set my own creative gears rolling, so by the time issue #1 came out, Captain Tosk’s role was expanding beyond the original outline due to Mike’s design.

    Thus, opening with the deer served to illustrate: imbalance of our world, give Tosk gravitas, and show Mornae’s strength.

    Reply

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