It's one heck of a finish for the volume. Oeming's back for some of the dream sequences, with Glass finally getting around to explaining what's been going on with Karic. Sort of.
The issue's Karic's battle with the evil druids on a psychic plane. Glass doesn't over explain and he doesn't have to–Templar's sort of biblical in terms of the reality of the mysticism. It's just there and Glass doesn't give the reader any chance at misinterpreting. Here, he doesn't have time to convince, he's got to get Karic through.
It works beautifully because Glass is resolving the unsure young Karic with the now legendary warrior Karic, which has been one of the series's big transitions through the volumes. Glass handles it subtly too.
Some of the issue's events are predictable and it's sort of the ultimate in bridging issues (and series), but it's successful.
Templar's an epic poem now.
A
CREDITS
The Dream of a Midwinter’s Night; writer, Bryan J.L. Glass; artists, Victor Santos and Michael Avon Oeming; colorists, Veronica Gandini, Serena Guerra and Oeming; letterer, James H. Glass; editor, Judy Glass; publisher, Image Comics.
Glass sets another few pieces into place for, presumably, the next volume. There simply isn’t enough time for him to get any of these plot threads resolved in the final issue of Midwinter Night’s Dream.
It's an all action issue. Glass does spend some time setting up the lengthy action sequence with a rat commander out to redeem his lost pride (during the previous volume), but not a lot. It's all distinct, because Glass is showing more of the rat culture than he's shown before–and hinting at one aspect of Templar culture never before discussed (the mice abandoning their elderly when moving camps).
Glass is even more expansive in terms of subplots this issue. There’s more with Pilot training his new protege, there’s the whole movement of Templars believing in Karic’s holy status (for lack of a better description), there’s how that movement is playing out in the capital and how the rats and weasels are getting on without the king. There’s even stuff with the Templar priests and a possible insurrection in their future.
Glass finds another unexpected direction for Midwinter–a much wider look at the world. He still checks in on familiar cast members, with Pilot’s return being simultaneously unwelcome and narratively strong. The reader knows the character to be villainous, yet one hopes for the sake of Pilot’s newest marks he’s changed.
While the issue is dedicated to Brian Jacques (of the Redwall series), Santos spends more of his time in homage to M.C. Escher. Mice in mazes and Escher–it’s fabulous. But Santos’s art isn’t just great for that playful and intricate composition, it’s everything this issue. He’s been building up with Midwinter and here he just lets loose.
Glass is having some real problems with cliffhangers in Midwinter, if this second issue is any indication. After not just going through the main plot, but also introducing the supporting cast back from the previous volume, Glass quarantines these first two issues (for protagonists Cassius and Karic, anyway). He’s moved the players from point A to point B and now he’s ready to get started again.
Besides the cliffhanger, which is too manipulative, A Midwinter Night’s Dream is off to a great start. Glass has a lot of territory to cover just getting the story going–there’s lengthy expository narration at the beginning, along with some fantastic art by Santos. For the flashbacks, Santos only gets a few panels to make his point and he does every time.
As a zero issue introducing the new Mice Templar volume, this issue isn’t effective. There are some really effective things about it–Bryan J.L. Glass and Victor Santos retell the finale of the previous volume from a different perspective and Santos gets in some wonderful pages–but the comic itself is too slight.
A couple quick observations. The first I should have made a long time ago–I wonder if having templar in the title and it being the name of famous knights affects people’s initial impression of Mice Templar. I see it as being a dismissive thing and, after reading Glass’s amazing success here… no one should be dismissing this comic.