David Petersen (comics)

David E. Petersen
Petersen at WonderCon 2009
Born	July 4, 1977 (1977-07-04) (age 34) Michigan
Occupation	Comic book writer, penciler, inker, colorist
Nationality	American
Influences Mike Mignola, Frank Miller, Kenneth Grahame, E. H. Shephard, Rick Geary, Gary Gianni
davidpetersen.net

David E. Petersen (born July 4, 1977) is an American comic book creator best known for the series Mouse Guard. He was born, raised, and currently resides in Michigan.

Education

David Petersen originally attended Mott Community College in Flint, Michigan, who are noted for their art program, and then transferred to Eastern Michigan University, where he earned his degree in Fine Arts.

Early works

Children's books

None of these books were published for mass release, though Petersen did make bound editions of several of them for presents (mainly for his wife, Julia). All these books have been placed on the web by David Petersen.

• Papa Bear
• Rest In Peace Bailey Bear (2004)
• The Mouse And The Cardinal
• Maddie + The Monster
• What Emma Will Be (2005)
• Kate's Escape (2005)

Comic books

• Voices (2004, ComiXpress) - Anthology of five comic artists, each having four pages. Released in conjunction with a gallery show. David Petersen's contribution, Fir Darrig, was rereleased in Ye Olde Lore Of Yore, Volume 1. 20 pgs, black and white interiors.
• Ye Olde Lore Of Yore, Volume 1 (2005, ComiXpress) - Anthology of five stories; two by Jeremy Bastian, two by David Petersen, and one by Jeremy Bastian & David Petersen. 36 pgs, black and white interiors.

Mouse Guard

"The plan with this first Mouse Guard mini-series is to tell the reader who the guard are, what they do, what they don’t do and how they live. Future series will have more character development, exposure to more of the world, threats, environments and history."^[1]

"I would say that if the person is interested in a fun read with classic sword fights, danger, with artwork different from most of what’s on the comic shelves, they should give Mouse Guard a try."^[1]

When asked about the origins of Mouse Guard in an interview on the Project Fanboy website, Petersen had this to say.

Mouse Guard spawned out of a comic idea I had in high-school. That project resembled something more like Disney’s Robin Hood.

The story and characters of "1149", which was to be later known as Mouse Guard, originally involved several different types of animals, but during college Petersen reexamined his story and transformed it from the culture of the several other species into the story of life as mice living a sheltered civilization that only walked the open wild if a specialized mouse group escorted them: the Mouse Guard. After establishing the culture of these mice, Petersen felt that the rest of the animal cultures were only distractions for what he felt the real heart of the story would be: "the mice overcoming the obstacles of being in a world too big for them".^[2]

Influences

"[Growing up watching cartoons on television] influenced my imagination. Sure, I would spend some of the day sitting in front of the TV, but afterwards, I’d play outside with neighbor kids, pretending new adventures for all the characters I had seen that morning. And while we were not poor, we also were not rich, so it was hard to be bombarded with the cartoon and advertising of a character and not be able to own all the toys I wanted. But I would find pieces of wood and draw on them with crayons and say, “Look, it’s Optimus Prime!” or make cardboard cut-outs of characters and play with them."^[3]

"When it comes to story telling, I’m a big fan of Mike Mignola and Frank Miller. Although Mouse Guard doesn’t look like either of their work. My ink work is something that comes from my printmaking background, something you don’t associate with comics, but after seeing some folks like Rick Geary and Gary Gianni doing comics in styles with line quality different than traditional comics, I knew I could incorporate it as well."^[1]

"I have long been a fan of classic adventure stories and at one time planned on doing a cross between an adventure story and an anthropology experiment with only animals natural to the same habitat as the main characters. It gave me a problem of coming up with story devices and plot to keep everyone from simply eating each other. It more closely resembled Disney's Robin Hood than Mouse Guard. In giving the mice a leg up, the idea of the mouse guard and how the mice hide themselves away became the most interesting focus. I quickly shifted all attention to their story. In doing so have drawn from some of my favorite creators and their work including Mike Mignola, Frank Miller, Kenneth Grahame, E. H. Shephard, and Rick Geary."^[4]

Citations

1. ^ ^{a b c} from An Interview with David Petersen
2. ^ David Petersen Interview on Project Fanboy
3. ^ from Mouse Guard: An Interview with David Petersen
4. ^ from Squeak Attack: Talking Mouse Guard with David Petersen

External links

• Official website
• FlamesRising.com Interview, February 2010
• Kevin Malcolm at Emerald City ComiCon for The Backroom Comics Podcast Episode 6 - Emerald City ComiCon Part 2, April 2009
• Exploring The Multiverse Video Interview, April 2010
• HollywoodJesus.com Interview, July 2010
• Comic Geek Speak Podcast interview (May, 2007)

Persondata
Name	Petersen, David
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	July 4, 1977
Place of birth	Michigan
Date of death
Place of death