![[IMAGE SPOTLIGHT:] MICE TEMPLAR](http://ep.yimg.com/ip/I/wizarduniverse_2059_1274981379) 
The only thing cuter than animated mice? Animated mice with capes and swords.
Michael Avon Oeming and Bryan Glass tell the tail of the rise and fall of the Mice Templar, a group of knights who once brought peace and order to the world. After a vicious civil war, the knights disbanded and the world fell into the hands of the rat army.
Years later, one little mouse named Karic is chosen by the gods to return to glory the Templars knights and return the world into the hands of order.
Issue #4 of the series scurries into stores this week, and to catch readers up on what's been going on and what's to come, we talk with writer Bryan Glass.
When we last saw our heroes, Karic stumbled upon the witch Black Anias. What can you say about what we'll see in the new issue?
Well, the resolution of the encounter with Black Anias. There's no sequence in the book that overtly tells you what went on there, but savvy readers will be able to read between the lines as to what the mentor character, Pilot the Tall, was actually doing with Karic encountering this supernatural entity. It's going to have profound consequences much further on in the series.
Yeah. We did see Pilot leaving him saying, "There's something I got to do. You stay here," which was actually pretty mean.
[Laughs] Nothing is quite accident where Pilot is concerned.
The cover to issue #4 has Pilot facing off against that mysterious hooded figure.
Yes. The hooded mouse with the scar and one eye, who has been tracking them since issue #2, finally succeeds in catching up with them, and there is an unexpected confrontation and some revelations occur regarding exactly who is who and who has been lying all this time.
The deceased rat corpses in issue #2 did say, "Don't trust the hooded one."
And oddly enough both characters wear hoods. Pilot was very quick to take his hood off in that moment. [Laughs]
We're hitting issue #4 this week. What's been some of the feedback you've been getting?
People tend to love the world we've created. It's been really wonderful hearing people say they love the epic feel of it—that it's very "Lord of the Rings" in style and tone—while at the same time, they're really enjoying that human touch that we've applied to these small, mouse creatures. People are really digging Karic—the sense of loss he's felt, the scene where he says goodbye to his mother in issue #1 before all the disaster falls in. We received very favorable reactions in issue #3 where Leito, Karic's best friend, who had his arm removed in issue #1 and everyone assumed he was dead, is very much alive in a delirious fever state. Folks are really resonating with the sense of mythos, and people are telling us that they really like that there's a sense of something building underneath the surface—that Mice Templar as a whole appears to be larger than anything we've actually shown them. And they're actually right.
There's definitely seems to be this huge story building. The backup in issue #1 sort of told the story of Michael Avon Oeming coming up with the original idea. What was your initial idea when he approached you with, "I've got an idea. There's going to be mice and fighting…"
[Laughs] Actually, he had a six-issue synopsis that he had dabbled in starts and stops all throughout the '90s. Then when he dropped out of comics in the late '90s, whatever he had developed he had put aside. When he brought me aboard in 2003, the very thing he did when I said yes was that he gave me his six-issue synopsis. In the '90s, Mike was not the writer he has become since 2001. He has really become a phenomenally skilled writer with his Thor and Red Sonja and his Ares series and Stormbreaker. He's gotten very, very proficient in mastering the skills, but the synopsis he presented me in 2003 was what he had done in the '90s.
It wasn't quite there yet.
It was a fairly straight-forward "here's going to be a heroic mouse character." He had the background that there had been this order of knights and they had fallen. They had fought a big war against themselves and they were no more. And forces of chaos embodied in these rats had now taken over, and this young mouse hero would save the day. It really just jumped right to the point of action scene to action scene. In six issues, there was the big redemptive finale and it was over and done. I started reading it through, and he had these really neat concepts, but I said there was room for a whole lot more. The very first question I asked him was, "If we're going to be restoring, reuniting the Templar, how did they fall?" And he said, "I don't know. It simply was." And I went, "Okay. But I can't restore them unless I know why did they divide and fight in a civil war that seemed to doom their culture." So, I actually started developing the story backwards. The key was why did they fall, why did they fight a war. And suddenly, the story began to move in multiple directions simultaneously as I explored the past and how it all set up, and how they fall ties into what is the origin of their world, setting the stage for what challenges Karic has in restoring this fallen order if it indeed will be restored. So, I guess that's been it. Mike asked me to breathe life into his world—to create a universe for him. He got a whole lot more than he bargained for. [Laughs]
You know, that's interesting. Until you just brought it up, I never really considered why the Templars fell, but it's a very important and valid question. One that I'm kind of upset at myself for missing.
[Laughs] There are some very minor hints in issue #4, but it starts to acknowledge that there was a dispute that arose.
Somebody wasn't agreeing with somebody.
Yeah. As is all the things in this world. Somebody doesn't like what somebody else is doing, or wants what someone else has and they don't want to give it up.
Also in that first-issue backup, it said you and Mike got to know each other because you were mutual friends with Adam Hughes. It said you got together to play RPGs, so I have to ask, what RPGs were you playing?
Star Wars. [Laughs] From 1989 through 1993. I was the gamemaster for the Star Wars game we played, and Adam Hughes was gamemaster for Marvel Superheroes.
Well, the question that obviously follows is, who is your favorite Star Wars character?
Oh man. Yikes. Han shot first! [Laughs]
I agree completely! Thank you very much.
[Laughs] He shot first. That has to say it all. He's the best.
So, are you a big Marvel fan as well?
Yeah. Marvel Comics was what I first got into when I began reading comics in the '70s. I fell out and kind of lost interest in the early-to-mid '90s. It was literally just a year ago that I finally decided that if I'm going to be in this industry, I have to know what's going on again. I spent most of 2007 on a crash course trying to catch up on what has been the last five years of the Marvel Universe. It was like I was a kid again rediscovering all these heroes. And the caliber of the writers today just astounds me—from Brian Bendis to Brian Reed to what Brubaker is doing with Captain America. All these characters that I loved as a kid growing up, and just revisiting all these people and finding out they have grown up along with me is just exciting.
There seems to be some RPG and mythical elements in Mice Templar. Is that something that was done on purpose because you were familiar with it?
Well, for me, RPGs were simply another means to tell stories. Even my mom and dad have said that from when I was very little, I would just gravitate to whatever means were available to tell a story. And in the '80s, when role playing games became king for a while, it just became yet another outlet to tell stories, in which you had players participating in the storytelling.
Was it just the three of you that usually hung out?
No. I had a girlfriend at the time. Adam Hughes had a girlfriend. There were some other fellas we knew. I had some old high school friends that joined in on it for a while. I guess at it's height there was nearly 10 of us.
Did you guys still keep in touch? Well, I mean, obviously you and Mike do. But, do you and Adam still talk?
At this point, we pretty much cross paths at conventions. We're friends. We're on good terms. A lot of good, happy memories. Everyone pretty much stays in touch with everybody else. We've all gone in very different directions, but me, Adam and Mike stayed in the world of comics.
You should get Adam to commission a cover. That would be interesting to see.
[Laughs] I would love to have Adam do a cover. We'll have to talk with him.
When Mike approached you with the idea, what specifically drew you in?
I love sprawling, epic fantasy or sci-fi tales. I love stories that have large casts of characters that intermingle and everyone has their important part to play in the large tapestry of things. I love stories that in order for them to conclude it needs to resonate with the past. I'm a big fan of stories resonating with the world that has been created for them. And the more a story feels right, the more I'm drawn to it. As opposed to "here's the adventures of character. Bam. We follow him. Oh, he's cool, he's got a gun. He's cool, he's got claws." The Wolverine the stories that are usually the best are the ones that somehow whatever adventures he is on resonates with what made him what he was. I'm drawn to stories that play out in that fashion. It can be done on a very personal level or it can be done in a big, sprawling tale. Templar is giving us the opportunity to do both of those.
Well, I'm very curious about this aspect—why mice?
[Laughs] Because the Mice Templar is the world's best pun-inspired title. It literally is simply that. Mike has said in numerous interviews that one of his favorite childhood films was the "Secret of NIMH," based on the book Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. Some of his earliest sketches as a kid growing up were drawing the rats from "Secrets of NIMH." Then he discovered the animated version of Watership Down. I was a huge fan of the novels of Richard Adams—his human ones and his animal-based ones. Mike's been on record saying that he's fascinated by mythology and history and legends. Both of us are also very much into conspiracy and paranormal and supernatural and all that type of stuff. And the Knights Templar fit into all those categories. George Lucas raided it for "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade." So, at some point in time in Mike's mind, something connected the Knights Templar with his fascination for the rodents from "Secrets of NIMH," and he just coined this phrase—instead of Knights Templar, Mice Templar. And then he needed a story to fits the world's best title. [Laughs] It was literally a story built around a clever title.
I think it would have been hilarious if he came to you and said, "I have a great idea—Mice Templar." And you're like, "That's really funny, but what's it about." And he responds, "No clue. That’s what we need to work on."
[Laughs] That would have been harder. But Mike brought a really good initial foundation and said, "What can you add to this?" And to Mike's credit, he also stepped back and did not micromanage what I brought to the tale. He wanted final approval on whatever I came up with, and I would say he approved 98 percent of whatever I pitched by him. And I didn't want to add anything that forced anything he created to drop out. So whatever I created, I wanted to, again, resonate with what he originally created. Half of Karic's original story in Mike's original synopsis has been applied to the legendary hero of our story Kuhl-En, the mouse that legend says founded the Templar and brought order to the natural world. So, a bunch of Karic's adventures have been transplanted and become the backstory. The remaining three issues of what Mike presented have been interspersed throughout the entire 25 issues.
Will issue #25 be the last time we see this world?
At least 25 issues to tell the primary story of Karic. The tale that begins in issue #1 will come to a very definite conclusion and yet leave the door open for us to continue to play in that world if we're not burned out by that point.
Is Karic your favorite character in the book? Or is there someone coming down the pipeline that's your favorite?
The hooded, scarred mouse is probably my favorite. He's also Mike's favorite. He becomes extremely significant as the series progresses. And there's a female mouse character that will be introduced around issue #8 who we like a lot, too. She'll be a bit of a love interest for Karic. I hope I'm not giving anything away. [Laughs]
But what about poor Liz?
She's going to grow up and find… Well, maybe she'll grow up and find a whole other group of mice.
What? Maybe? No!
[Laughs] I'm saying neither yes nor no.
This seems like an odd question, but how old are these characters?
Age will slowly begin to factor in. As of issue #5, we're now in the summer. The story began in the spring and now its summer. Karic is asked by a character, "Is this your season of ascendance?" And Karic's response is, "Yes, I will be an adult by fall." Since our main story of Karic pretty much takes place from spring to spring, it chronicles one year in the life of all these characters. So, we will begin to acknowledge there is a consistency to the age pattern. We didn't want to follow our natural world of mice because, mice children, give them a month and they're adults.
Well, what can you tease about what's coming up in the future for this series?
Okay. For Karic, he's going to learn it's one thing to be called by the gods and told you are going to be the savior that's going to unite all these scattered survivors. But when you actually go the scattered survivors and go, "Hey, I'm your chosen one," people either don't believe you or they try to finagle how you can serve their cause. Karic is going to suddenly discover that if he embraces this role—this calling—that has come upon him, what does he do when he learns, "This group of good guys want to use me, and this group of good guys over here want to use me. But if these two groups got together, they'd kill each other in my name." So, he's going to learn discernment as to who do you trust and how do you stand up for yourself and be true to your own calling when there are forces that want to kill him and there's forces that want to ignore him and there's forces that want to use him.
People love this book and people love these mice. When it comes to fictional mice, people love them. But, ironically, in real life people hate mice. Do you find that odd?
Yeah. We constantly get reactions that people will "Ohhh" and "Ahhh" at the renditions of mice, but then immediately follow it up with, "But if I have a real one in my house…" The other irony is that cats in mice-centric animation are always villainous characters. But in real life, we love the fact that our cats will keep your home free of mice and little critters. It's a really interesting twist there.
I think it would be cool if in your home you had a pet mouse but had him dressed in a little cloak and hat or something.
[Laughs] Well, the three cats my wife and I own would not tolerate any little dressed up templar mice.
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