Missile Mouse: The Star Crusher is a household favorite here. Both of the x-girls (especially the youngest) raved about the book. It's a really exciting tale, jam-packed with action and plot points. Creator Jake Parker has tremendous art chops and visually this book is like a revved-up Saturday matinee special.
Plotwise it is a mashup of almost every action and science fiction trope of recent decades but even though it's not a particularly novel plot it keeps the action moving. Missile Mouse is a classic loner, the cop who can't follow all the rules; he has a boss who knows he's effective, but is totally exacerbated by his antics; he gets assigned a by-the-book partner for this mission. Toss in a megalomaniac would-be galactic emperor and some funky pseudo-science for the macguffin and we're off on mostly fast-paced tale of adventure.
It may feel awfully familiar to most pop-culture sentient adults and even the book's target audience of 8-12 year olds, but even though it may not surprise it still entertains. It doesn't reach beyond simply trying to tell its yarn. There are hints of a backstory, but really, they're not all that important to this tale. And Missile Mouse gets off a few good lines here and there, but it's not a joke-laden book. It's more of a Star Wars buddy cop adventure for your kids — without all of that "Force" nonsense to get in the way of a good blaster.
I've read a lot of comments on the book that note Jake Parker's experience as an animator. The art has a bit of that heavy-outlined look that some animation has and the character designs and sets wouldn't be all that hard to translate to an animated series. They work awfully well as a comic book too.
You can read a preview of the book here or check out this great trailer for it below:
The publisher provided a free copy of the book to ComixTalk for review purposes.
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