For several years now David Petersen (creator, writer, and artist of the award-winning Mouse Guard series) has annually been putting together an illustrated fable from the Mouse Guard universe for Every hero was once a child, listening to stories of the heroes who came before them. It is the same with the Mouse Guard. Six mouse fables are spun to a few familiar young furs, reminding us all to be brave, stay true to ourselves, and follow our hearts. Brand new stories include ‘Service to Seyan,’ set in the land where Mouse warriors travel after death, and ‘Oh Day Away,’ a tale of the insect faeries of the Mouse world!” Archaia have an interview with the creator himself over on their web page. Baldwin the Brave comes out this November.

image c. 2014 Archaia Comics

Previews for May featured an interview with Stan Sakai; he’s finishing up 47 Ronin soon and looking forward to getting back to Usagi Yojimbo. Before that, though, he mentions that he wants to do a non-canonical mini-series featuring the ronin rabbit versus the Martians from The War of the Worlds. So that’s something to look forward to.

Also, remember Free Comic Book Day is Saturday, May 4.

One of the most famous furry comics out there at the moment is Mouse Guard by David Petersen. This sword-and-sorcery tale (tail?) has already spawned collections, role-playing games, and a devoted following. Now and then, Mr. Petersen allows some of his friends to try their paw at the Mouse Guard characters and situations — and some of the best in the business came calling. After the first go-round’s success, Archaia Entertainment have announced that Volume 2 of Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard will be released as a full-color 4-issue miniseries, starting this May. “Contributors to issue #1 include Stan Sakai (Usagi Yojimbo), Ben Caldwell (The Dare Detectives!), and the team of writer Nick Tapalansky and illustrator Alex Eckman-Lawn (Awakening). Subsequent issues will include contributions from Christian Slade (Korgi), Rick Geary (The Adventures of Blanche), Jemma Salume (Unicorn Life Cycle), Jackson Sze (concept art on films like The Avengers and Iron Man 3), Cory Godbey (Fraggle Rock, the upcoming Jim Henson’s Labyrinth), Eric Canete (Fear Itself: Spider-Man), C.P.

Free Comic Book Day 2013 is May 4; stop by your local comic book store and pick a few up. (And maybe buy a few other things while you’re there. That’s the general idea, anyway.)

Free Comic Book Day coming up! Wahoolazooma. Herewith FCBD furriness for which I have no order numbers, though they're presumably in the range JAN110001-JAN110041.

I'm unfamiliar with most of the stuff so I rely on quoting the blurbs more than usual.

Not much this month, and nothing special in what there is. But what there is, is . . .

The best news this month is that Carla Speed McNeil has moved to Dark Horse so she can spend more time creating and less publishing, and if you are not rejoicing you don't know what you're missing.

Now that the Warner Brothers comics aren't being done by huge committees, the practice has moved to the Arch* companies. For better or worse, I can't say. Also there's a huge selection of non-pamphlet items this month, including three huge pricey bargains from Fantagraphics that I'd go for if I didn't have everything already. If you rely mainly on a standard pull list at your comic shop, you need to read this month's selections.