The Mice Templar is a heavy book. This first issue is double-sized, which is both good and bad. It’s good because Michael Avon Oeming and Bryan J.L. Glass are able to get the whole story done, but it’s bad because it’s too much at once. Glass has time to introduce the cast–maybe not make them all familiar to the reader, just because there are so many–and make the reader enjoying spending time with the cast.
Then the rats arrive and the comic goes from something cute–it’s about medieval mice after all–with danger to something dangerous without cute. By the end of this first issue, the cute factor is gone. Glass and Oeming–especially Oeming during the battle scene–show themselves to be ruthless and violent.
It’s a kiddie title with nothing kiddie about it.
Glass does a great job texturing the setting with details; it’s a wrenching read for a first issue.
B
CREDITS
The Prophecy, Part One: The Calling; writers, Michael Avon Oeming and Bryan J.L. Glass; artist, Oeming; colorists, Wil Quintana and Cris Peter; letterer, James H. Glass; editors, Judy Glass and Will Swyer; publisher, Image Comics.
Comics Fondle 
I was opposed to the 50-page #1. Broke it in half for the collection… I wanted more pages to flesh out Karic’s world before destroying it in #2, yet Mike insisted all at once. 🙂
Mike & I had a big fight over how Spider god was executed! We agreed to laugh about it years later 🙂
If you compare printed issue with collected version: turned silhouettes into full mice, swapped panels, changed fonts