David Petersen sold trade paperback rights to his Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 to Tricia Narwani at Villard Books (which is an imprint of Random House). The book will collect the first six-issue Mouse Guard series of comics, and include 12 pages of bonus material. The deal was brokered by Archaia Studios Press (ASP). It’s scheduled to appear in February 2008.
The press release announcing the deal describes the story line thus: “In Mouse Guard: Fall 1152, we are introduced to the fearless guards Saxon, Kenzie, and Lieam, dispatched to find a missing merchant mouse who never arrived at his destination. In this fanciful, dangerous, and medieval world, where mice struggle to live safely and prosper among all of the world’s harsh conditions and predators, Saxon, Kenzie, and Lieam stumble onto much more than they bargained for… intrigue, betrayal, and a deadly, traitorous plot to overthrow the stronghold of Lockhaven.”
ASP will publish the book as a 192-page hardcover in April (cover price of $24.95). They’ll also publish the next six-issue series, Winter 1152, beginning bimonthly in July 2007.
Mark Smylie founded ASP in 2002 to publish his epic fantasy comic book, Artesia, and its sequels. Following those successes, he moved into RPGs, and took on other “creator-owned titles,” including Mouse Guard, Alex Sheikman’s Robotika, and A. David Lewis and Marvin Perry Mann’s The Lone and Level Sands.