Archaia Entertainment Hardcover for Free Comic Book Day 2012

As one of the gold sponsors, Archaia Entertainment has a special offering for their fans: a 6" x 9", 48-page, full color hardcover. The anthology includes all-original stories from "Mouse Guard" by creator David Petersen and other stories, such as Jim Henson’s Labyrinth, Cursed Pirate Girl, Rust, Cow Boy and Dapper Men.

Petersen talked about the challenges of creating a book for Free Comic Book Day over at Comic Book Resources:

"One of the major challenges Petersen faces every year for Free Comic Book Day is making sure the story is of importance to longtime fans of "Mouse Guard" while maintaining its accessibility for new readers, a challenge he struggled with in his first FCBD contribution. "The first year, I tried to do something in the main 'Mouse Guard' continuity. It was striking exactly that balance that was really hard, because I was trying to fit something into the main plot," he said. "It was really hard and really stressful, and I don't know that it really succeeded on either front -- being a really good story for new readers or being a really good existing story. I think it kind of fell short in both of those ways."

Petersen's solution in 2011, an approach that carries over to this year's tale, is simple: maintain the spirit and elements of "Mouse Guard," but minimize the reliance on knowledge of the monthly issues. "[The stories are] more about giving [readers] the flavor of the kind of story you could expect to find [in 'Mouse Guard']," he said. "All the other elements are there, all the ingredients -- little versus big, the predator attack and weather or seeing nature at a mouse's perspective. There was a map in last year's story. It's the kind of things that I tend to use as a visual storytelling device. It's more about giving them the flavor, giving them the idea of what 'Mouse Guard' is about instead of trying to introduce them to the 'Mouse Guard' plot, figuring that if they like my one-off story, they're going to like my regular stories as well."

Go read the full article here!