Summary: This is a collection of short comics, most of which I believe are part of - or set in the universe of - longer comic series, given away on Free Comic Book Day to entice readers to pick up the longer books.

Review: "Mouse Guard: The Tale of Baldwin the Brave" by David Petersen is the reason I picked up this book in the first place. It's a story from Mouse Guard history, so it stands alone just fine, and it's presented as a puppet show that the mice are watching, which was an interesting twist on Petersen's typical gorgeous artwork. The rest of the stories I was unfamiliar with. Well, in the case of "Labyrinth: Hoggle and the Worm" by Ted Naifeh and Adrianne Ambrose, I've seen the movie a million times, although I haven't read the comics, but it was still a cute little story. The story that best achieved its objective of making me want to read more was "Rust: Oswald's Letter" by Royden Lepp - it had exactly the right blend of tone and worldbuilding details and self-containment and hints of a much bigger and more interesting story, and was visually lovely as well. I also wouldn't mind reading more in the world of "Cow Boy: Long While Ago" by Nate Cosby, although it didn't grab me as strongly as "Rust". There were also two stories that didn't work for me: "Steps of the Dapper Men" by Jim McCann was odd, and not in an intriguing way, and the artwork in "Cursed Pirate Girl: Ramblings From an Old Sea Dog Who Likes to be Called Alice" by Jeremy Bastian was so incredibly busy that it was almost indecipherable. 4 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: The Mouse Guard story isn't critical, but it's cute, and some of the other stories did their job as well. As a volume, it's fun if you can get your hands on it, but don't worry that you're missing out if you can't. ( )