Writer, Colorist & Letterer: David Petersen
Artist: Gabriel Rodriguez
Cover Artists: Kevin Eastman & David Petersen; Gabriel
Rodriguez; David Petersen
Editors: David Mariotte & Bryce Carlson
Publisher: Boom!
Price: $4.99
Release Date: May 7, 2025
Bardrick enjoyed his life as a Guardmouse in Lockhaven. But
he and his fellow guard captains never saw eye to eye. Nor did he agree with
Matriarch Siobhan's defensive strategy to protect All That Is. Instead of
safeguarding the merchants and field workers, Bardrick thought the Guardmice
should seek out the snakes that enclose their lands.
When Blacksmith Farrer brought the Black Axe to Lockhaven,
Bardrick exchanged one way of life for another. He left his home and pledged to
eradicate the great snakes and their kin. The spirit of a dead elk helped him
find Gammeltann. But after battling the great snake of the north, Bardrick and his
guide parted company. Can Bardrick fulfill his ambitions without the ghostly
elk’s help? Let’s grab our weapons, leap into Mouse Guard: Dawn of the Black
Axe #2, and find out!
Story
The regions controlled by the snakes far outstrip All That
Is. Those lands are far too vast to search. So Bardrick patrols the shrinking
borders of All That Is. He engages in battles. He kills many offspring of the
four great snakes. He even wounds them. Yet the great serpents always escape to
fight another day. But then, they are not blind. And, after quarreling with the
dead elk, Bardrick lacks a guide to lead him to the next sleeping serpent.
Bardrick may have left Lockhaven, but Matriarch Siobhan has
not forgotten him. The Guardmouse she struck from the rolls has caused no end
of trouble. Angered that a mouse killed one of their elders, all the snakes target
all the mice in Mouse Guard: Dawn of the Black Axe #2. They attack the mice
harvesting the fields. And they cut off supply routes, preventing convoys from
delivering food to towns.
The years are not kind to Bardrick in David Petersen’s story.
The exile travels alone, knowing many mice have died because of him. Bardrick
wonders if, in swearing genocide on the snakes, he has signed the death warrant
on Mousekind. Perhaps his fellow Guardmice were right about him. Or maybe
Blacksmith Farrer created something evil when he poured his anger and loss into
forging the Black Axe.
In Mouse Guard: Dawn of the Black Axe #2, Bardrick yearns
for help. He misses the only person who aided his quest. He also doubts his
abilities. But then, the great snakes dwarf Bardrick. And, unlike the exiled
Guardmouse, Skalaknute, Streikrask, Dodfare, and Langtspyd have a vast network
of agents to monitor the crusader’s movements.
Art
Gabriel Rodriguez shows snakes slithering through the grass
like shark fins rising from the waves. In the barren fields, workers gather the
harvest. The snakes wash through the workers like a tidal wave, overturning
bags, barrels, and wagons. Little moves in their wake. In Lockhaven, Matriarch
Siobhan confers with her Guardmice. While she still looks regal in her purple
robes, a scar on the captain who called Farrer’s plea a fool’s errand glows.
In Mouse Guard: Dawn of the Black Axe #2, Bardrick strains
to pull up his tattered russet-and-ivory tent. Yet the russet fabric looks
faded, and the ivory sections have yellowed. The encroaching lavender-gray
night awakens the lonely mouse's memories of the elk spirit. But when Bardrick
hears movement and looks away from the yellow and orange campfire, he sees only
a firefly, its bioluminescence ivory like the crescent moon.
David Petersen opens Mouse Guard: Dawn of the Black Axe #2
with a medieval frontispiece. The fire-breathing green snake, streaked with
gold and maroon, crawls atop the similarly colored capital G. Large white
letters locate us in space, and black, typed uppercase letters fill beige
balloons and boxes. No sound effects accompany Bardrick as he battles green
snakes amid brown leaves or as dark shadows against gray earth. Instead,
punctuation marks convey hope, fright, and an existence stripped of meaning. Thanks
to Boom! Studios and Archaia Entertainment for providing a copy for review.
Final Thoughts
Years pass while Bardrick searches for the great snakes in
Mouse Guard: Dawn of the Black Axe #2. After achieving his first great victory,
Bardrick wonders if he overestimated his abilities. The elk spirit warned
Bardrick that it would not fight his battles for him. And the oversized axe,
forged from all of Farrer’s sorrow and malice, weighs as heavily in Bardrick’s
hands as it did in the Blacksmith’s.
Rating 9.4/10
For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.
