MORE ON THE MICE TEMPLAR FROM OEMING AND GLASS

[MattBrady]

We’ve talked to Mike Oeming and Bryan Glass about the Setpember-debuting The Mice Templar before, but now, a little bit closer to the bi-monthly series’ launch date, we figured it might be time to hit the creators up again and see if there was anything new.

Sure enough – the first 16 pages of issue #1 were ready for viewing pleasure, and the creators were up for a few more questions. Click on the link above for the background of the characters, concept and story, and click on the images for larger versions.

Newsarama: So where are you guys production-wise on the book? Issue #1 is September, and it's bi-monthly. What's the work schedule like?

Bryan Glass: The fifty story pages that make up issue #1 have been scripted since January; Mike just turned in the last scene over the weekend; the colorist is moving along; and the lettering is just about finished. I've become a sort of de facto traffic manager along the way, trying to keep all facets of the book on schedule, even as I'm scripting several issues ahead. There were quite a few personal bumps while we were trying to get this more than double-sized issue through to completion, and if it had been a normal 22-page issue then we'd have been finished months ago.

Mike Oeming: Right. The first issue is a monster, coming in at just over a double sized issue of 50 pages of story. The arts all finished, we are just putting the book together at this point, production stuff so if all goes well, and we’re on track to have it hit stands first week of September.



NRAMA: With this much of a head start, why not go monthly?

BG: Bryan: Simply not possible at this time. We'll just have to wait and see what the future brings.

MO: Monthly is hard, and don’t forget that despite the slow down on Powers, I’m still drawing that at the same time. We are working hard to get Powers back on track and monthly again. The last year of my life was pretty much turned upside down and that really contributed to the scheduling problems. Templar is refreshingly fast to move through, because despite the heavier detailed style, its abstractness makes it much faster to get through pages than Powers.

NRAMA: You said before that your main character is Karic - can you give us a fleshed out idea of who he is? Why does he do what he does?

BG: When issue #1 begins, Karic is truly a child, a kid who just loves to listen to fantastic stories and play epic adventure games with his friends... But by issue #1's conclusion, however, the child must make a serious choice: to allow himself to be broken by tragedy or to take his first steps toward becoming an adult, on his way to becoming a hero and quite possibly a legend to his own people. Everything Karic loves is taken from him in issue #1, and he is forced to accept that, in a world that has lost its heroes, it is up to him to become the very hero he needs to rescue his family from a horrific fate.



NRAMA: And the enemies of the mice? Who are they?

BG: The mice have many traditional enemies, as one would expect in a tale such as this. A wide variety of natural predators will each play their expected part: cats, weasels, spiders, scorpions, mole goblins despise the surface world dwellers. The bitterest enemies in the story, however, are rats, twice the size of your average mouse, and they represent a culture that has fully embraced their role as vermin: dirty, brutish, and tyrannical.

Following the collapse of the Templar order, rats have subjugated mouse culture, allowing many mice to live and work as normal, while others are taken as slaves or worse, as sacrifices to the snake gods of the cabalistic rat druid order. One of the mysteries of the series is why the rats prop up and support the insane mouse king, Icarus the Great, upon their throne.

MO: What he said. Bryan’s created a pretty complicated yet fleshed out world for the Mice to struggle through.

NRAMA: How much Mice do you have planned out? If this takes off, are you willing to go all the way with it?

BG: The saga of Karic comes to a very specific conclusion that has been planned out for several years, and that adventure will play out over roughly 25 issues. If the fan base warrants, however, we have both an equally ambitious sequel in development, as well as thousands of years of mice history that precedes Karic's tale. The life story of legendary Templar founder Kuhl-En would also make a sprawling saga in its own right. So, if things do indeed take off, then we are only too willing to produce Mice Templar stories in one form or another for the next ten years or more.



MO: If this book hits big enough, Id like to get to a point where I’m only working on Powers and Mice Templar. I could slow down and enjoy the day to day life a bit more. Keep Powers monthly and Mice Templar bi-monthly. As Bryan said, we’ve got years of Mice Templar story lined up.

NRAMA: Obviously, you're modeling this on high fantasy in many regards. For both of you, how does that affect your work? Bryan, for example, are you writing in "high speech" of thees and thous, Mike, what kind of influences are coming through in your designs?

BG: I am doing my best to avoid "high speech," yet I'm definitely scripting in an intentional melodramatic style—and I mean that in the best possible use of the word, melodramatic. The Mice Templar is a tale of high fantasy, magic, war, the ongoing struggle between good & evil, light & dark, order vs. chaos. Such adventures require dialogue that is larger than life because the stakes are so high, and our epic heroes are so small.

MO: Design wise, I’m drawing very much on two sources, Celtic and Greek mythology and society. Most of the names I come up with are of Celtic or Greek descent, as well as the designs. The fantasy aspect comes out mostly through mythological ties as opposed to traditional fantasy.



NRAMA: Let’s end this with a tease – we’ve got the pages here, but in your words – in the first issue, what gets set up?

BG: You're being treated to the first 16 pages of a 50-page issue #1...
By this issue's conclusion, every character you meet, however old or young, is either dead, wounded, or enslaved, and the beautiful town of Cricket's Glen that you see on page 8 is burned to the ground. The excited mouse child you meet on page 6 will ultimately lose much, risk everything, tackle impossible odds, find romance and face genuine horrors in order to save those he loves. The saga of Karic and the Mice Templar is only just beginning...

MO: Right – and actually, issue #1 ends on the first act. Issue one originally would have ended a little more than halfway through the first act, but we decided to give readers a real big meal and double on it, and this nicely ended us right at the end of the first act so we set up our world, what’s at risk, our heroes and villains and the journey begins. So we're really excited about this first issue. Hope you like it.

[Spaz_Monkey]

How about the theory that the cover is subliminally sexual?

[RockLeefan]

Thanks for the generous preview! Looks cool, i thought it would remind me of Redwall a lot and it does, especially with the kids playing (not saying it's a rip off - just similar tone). Maybe it's just me but the first few pages reminded me a little of 300. That's a hell of a high concept Redwall meets 300!
I will check it out!

[RockLeefan]

I just read the interview, as i went head on into the preview, and i'm pleased to see the first issue is 50 pages and the first arc. That's what first issues should be, and if it takes 2-3 issues to tell the first arc it should be double/treble sized. That way we as buyers know whether we want to continue buying, rather than being strung along. Nice move guys!

Cant wait to see some of the Rat-magic and the designs for the Mole goblins.

[Mr_Punch]

Originally Posted by Spaz_Monkey

How about the theory that the cover is subliminally sexual?

Hilarious

[HouseStark]

Hmmm. I'm not sure about that "female parts" stuff. I think it a bit of a reach -- but who knows. You can see just about anything you want if you try hard enough. I look forward to reading this. Oeming's great.

[nickmaynard]

Originally Posted by Spaz_Monkey

How about the theory that the cover is subliminally sexual?

hahahahahaha.

[Oeming]

Originally Posted by RockLeefan

Thanks for the generous preview! Looks cool, i thought it would remind me of Redwall a lot and it does, especially with the kids playing (not saying it's a rip off - just similar tone). Maybe it's just me but the first few pages reminded me a little of 300. That's a hell of a high concept Redwall meets 300!
I will check it out!

Thanks man, this first section we get to see the characters as kids, see their lives and such before the threat comes into place, so we can see what is at risk- after that, its much more 300 as you say than Red Wall. Glad your digging!

[Oeming]

Originally Posted by Spaz_Monkey

How about the theory that the cover is subliminally sexual?

The retailer who freaked over this is bizarre! If I want to draw that sort of thing, I have Powers to do it in

[johnchrist]

I've had this on my pull list since the first article premiered. Can't wait to read it!

*edit, wow! look at all those poor lil mice being engulfed by that giant vajayjay

[Omega Flyer]

Originally Posted by Oeming

The retailer who freaked over this is bizarre! If I want to draw that sort of thing, I have Powers to do it in

Yeah i just saw yours and David Mack's Bendis interview over on Wizard, I'd think you've got more than your share of graphic imagery to deal with

[Oeming]

and heres our official website!
M!
http://hiddenrobot.com/MICETEMPLAR/

[Charlie Hustle]

sexy stuff. The golden/bucky o'hare/yojimbo fan in me says we need a lot more stuff like this in comics.

[Nate Palm]

So is this a follow up to Mouse Guard or something separate?

[EmeraldGuy32]

Originally Posted by Nate Palm

So is this a follow up to Mouse Guard or something separate?

Completely separate. Not even the same publisher. You should buy it.

[Spaz_Monkey]

Originally Posted by Oeming

The retailer who freaked over this is bizarre! If I want to draw that sort of thing, I have Powers to do it in

Awesome! I got the actual creator to comment!

Yeah, I never even would have thought about that until I read on CBR about some guy complaining about it. Just screwy as hell.

[Oeming]

Originally Posted by Nate Palm

So is this a follow up to Mouse Guard or something separate?

Its simular on the surface, but really different in execution- both were developed separately at about the same time. Mouse Guards a great book, the first trade is out
M!

[Shoeface]

I'm really looking forward to this, it's been on my pull list for months already. I even managed to convince one of my friends who hates comics but loves fantasy stuff to check out the previews, and now he can't wait for it either. The preview looks fantastic.

[dpg]

This reminds me of the Secret of Nimh. I loved that movie as a kid.

I took a mouse of my cat before he killed it that looked just like these guys. I nursed him back to health in my tub then took him to the park. He had really little feet.

Already pre-orded the book.

[dpg]

Originally Posted by Oeming

and heres our official website!
M!
http://hiddenrobot.com/MICETEMPLAR/

Man, I never get to design cool sites like that. I have to do crap for restaurants and hospitals. bah.

[Oeming]

Originally Posted by dpg

This reminds me of the Secret of Nimh. I loved that movie as a kid.

I took a mouse of my cat before he killed it that looked just like these guys. I nursed him back to health in my tub then took him to the park. He had really little feet.

Already pre-orded the book.

Secret of Nimh and Watership Down are the major influences for MT!
Great story about the mouse!

[dpg]

Originally Posted by Oeming

Secret of Nimh and Watership Down are the major influences for MT!
Great story about the mouse!

I couldn't get enough of Watership Down in my youth either. That's great!

Looking forward to the book even more now.

[ShinAkuma666]

Looking good, the colors are so pleasing to the eyes (love that red !) and the layout is just awesome.

Looks like another winner from Image, best of luck with this title.

[darthdad]

i have to admit when i first saw the previews for this i was kinda upset that someone was "borrowing" the succesful idea with Mouseguard, but the more articles i read and the more previews that i see it's obvious that these are two seperate works. I'm defiently on board for the first issue for the 50 pages of story, and i'll see after that.

Everyone that has been plugging Mouseguard let me echo that sentiment here. If you haven't read it yet do yourself a favor and pick up the hardcover. this is an absolutely fabulous story. One of the guys at the comic shop gave it to me as a birthday present and I've read it 5 or 6 times since getting it. Alot of fun and one of those books that just make you happy you are a comics fan.

[Batfreak]

This looks very good. But what do you expect from Michael Oeming.