Glass has a lot to deliver with the resolution to this series and he knows it. This issue is just he and Santos upping the ante over and over. They already have a difficult setup and they try for more.
Cassius meets up with his men as he invades the palace. It gives him a bunch of Templar on his side, but it also give Glass more opportunities for swashbuckling and plot twists. Speaking of plot twists, the resolution to the one from the previous issue has a lot of unexpected turns–Glass excels at never taking the predicted route but always taking the more sensible one. Even if the sensibility isn’t clear.
There’s also Karic’s attack with the zombie cat and his friends and family’s side of the story. Not to mention the evil king’s plot coming together with everything else.
It’s awesome; I just hope the finish succeeds.
A
CREDITS
The Festival of Samhain I; writer, Bryan J.L. Glass; artist, Victor Santos; colorist, Veronica Gandini; letterer, James H. Glass; editor, Judy Glass; publisher, Image Comics.
It’s hard to know where to start with this one because Glass comes up with a monster cliffhanger. Big twist and some interesting ramifications for what Glass has already revealed, not to mention whatever his explanation will be. It sort of overshadows everything else.
Glass continues the series on its way, with some subtle observations from Karic about his lot in life. Having Karic the more mature, thoughtful one–especially as he finds himself amongst old Templars–is still a bit of a surprise. It’s a fine transition, it just changes the series more than I was expecting. With it, Mice Templar loses a number of its similarities to other works.
It’s a strange issue. There’s this romantic interlude between Karic and a girl mouse; they go swimming together. Glass writes the heck of the scene, showing Karic as a youth while simultaneously establishing his maturity. Not to mention Santos gets to draw a fight scene between the two mice and attacking crayfish. It’s an awesome sequence.
Just before the issue ended, I realized Glass had finally delivered what I’ve been waiting for on Destiny–the full forward motion. He’s done with the exposition–even his third person narration is sparse; it immediately informs the reader of the setting. The scenes and characters do the rest.
There’s some awesome art from Santos this issue. He gets to do not just the regular action, but also the flashbacks detailing the origins of the world. Glass has been doing a lot with the supernatural angle of the series and, for the first time, it feels like Mice Templar might not even take place on Earth. It’s way too soon to tell–and it might not even matter; this issue has a myth about two suns and one going out.
There’s a lot of material this issue. Plot developments, character developments, but Glass still tries to deliver a somewhat action-packed narrative. The opening–the A plot–has the heroes held captive by moles; there’s humor from Cassius who mocks the moles, a fair amount of suspense (the moles are apparently under siege) and then some payoff on that suspense.
As this issue begins, with some flashbacks to the big battle ending the Templar, Glass also establishes the relationship between Cassuis and Karic. It’s a dysfunctional mentor and student relationship. Karic thinks Cassius hates him and Cassius hates Karic.
It’s a short but not sweet zero issue for the second Mice Templar series, which picks up almost immediately where the first series ended.
What an issue. In hindsight, it should have seemed unlikely Glass was going to be able to wrap anything up while setting up for the next Mice Templar series.