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Missile Mouse #1 The Star Crusher
A rough, tough space hero-who just happens to be a big-eared mouse-takes on the forces of intergalactic evil in this funny, action-packed graphic novel. Missile Mouse, secret agent for the Galactic Security Agency, is a risk taker and a rule breaker, which is why he's in hot water at GSA headquarters. Then RIP, the Rogue Imperium of Planets, kidnaps a scientist who knows about the Star Crusher, a doomsday machine capable of destroying the entire universe. Time to let loose the mouse!
176 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
18 people are currently reading
827 people want to read
About the author
Jake Parker
76 books82 followersJake Parker is the illustrator of many books for young readers as well as animated films and comic books. He also lives near the mountains, in Provo, Utah, and wishes the little snowplow would stop by his driveway every winter.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 103 reviews
April 15, 2020
When I read the graphic collection titled Flight, Volume One, one of my favorite stories in the book was Hugo Earhart by Jake Parker. So when I indulged in more volumes of the Flight series, I also ordered the two available volumes of Parker's Missile Mouse. This is the first, with a sub-title of The Star Crusher.
Does anyone else remember buying books through the Scholastic programs in elementary school? I remember how much fun the brochures were, and the struggle it took to pick just one or two, however many Mom said we could buy. And then the wait until they finally arrived! Pure torture!
It was nice to see that both of the Missile Mouse books I ordered were published by Scholastic, and to think that some child somewhere enjoyed the heck out of these books before they ended up at Thriftbooks and eventually came to me.
Now, what did I think of Missile Mouse? Because obviously I am not the target audience for this hero. But I still enjoyed it, even if I am old enough to see the twists coming almost before they are even hinted at. And I can appreciate the many references to self-esteem, even though I'm not sure any true hero (mouse or otherwise) would need such things. But then again, books for youngsters have changed a great deal since I was a youngster. Nowadays it seems like a child cannot function unless he or she is constantly being praised for every little thing. But then how does one learn to handle adversity? You cannot build strength of character solely through praise and positive messages. That can produce some warped personalities. Just look at some of our elected officials and you will understand my thinking here.
But I digress. Missile Mouse The Star Crusher was fun to read: great drawings, and an interesting situation to be solved. Will MM save the brainy scientist from his kidnappers? Will the brainy scientist be able to help MM find the star crusher? Who is MM's new partner Hyde and does he have a Jekyll hidden away somewhere? Most of all, does Missile Mouse ever have any expression other than a fierce frown? (Actually yes, he does, just not very often. He seems to be quite a grumpy dude.)
Overall, it was fun and I am blasting off now to read my grumpy guy's next adventure, Rescue On Tankium3. I must confess that I wish I could read more about Hugo Earhart, though. Any hope of that someday, Mr. Parker?
Does anyone else remember buying books through the Scholastic programs in elementary school? I remember how much fun the brochures were, and the struggle it took to pick just one or two, however many Mom said we could buy. And then the wait until they finally arrived! Pure torture!
It was nice to see that both of the Missile Mouse books I ordered were published by Scholastic, and to think that some child somewhere enjoyed the heck out of these books before they ended up at Thriftbooks and eventually came to me.
Now, what did I think of Missile Mouse? Because obviously I am not the target audience for this hero. But I still enjoyed it, even if I am old enough to see the twists coming almost before they are even hinted at. And I can appreciate the many references to self-esteem, even though I'm not sure any true hero (mouse or otherwise) would need such things. But then again, books for youngsters have changed a great deal since I was a youngster. Nowadays it seems like a child cannot function unless he or she is constantly being praised for every little thing. But then how does one learn to handle adversity? You cannot build strength of character solely through praise and positive messages. That can produce some warped personalities. Just look at some of our elected officials and you will understand my thinking here.
But I digress. Missile Mouse The Star Crusher was fun to read: great drawings, and an interesting situation to be solved. Will MM save the brainy scientist from his kidnappers? Will the brainy scientist be able to help MM find the star crusher? Who is MM's new partner Hyde and does he have a Jekyll hidden away somewhere? Most of all, does Missile Mouse ever have any expression other than a fierce frown? (Actually yes, he does, just not very often. He seems to be quite a grumpy dude.)
Overall, it was fun and I am blasting off now to read my grumpy guy's next adventure, Rescue On Tankium3. I must confess that I wish I could read more about Hugo Earhart, though. Any hope of that someday, Mr. Parker?
November 2, 2010
Reason for Reading: This is a Cybils '10 nominee and required reading for me as a graphic novels panelist.
Missile Mouse grabbed me from the beginning and I can't wait until the next book comes out this January! There are not too many graphic novels that stand out in the pure science fiction genre for children and this was a real delight to read. Missile Mouse is an agent for the Galactic Security Agency, a bit of a rogue who does things his own way and irritates his superiors because of it. He's given a partner for this next mission, hoping to keep him in line this time. MM and Agent Hyde are to infiltrate RIP (the bad guys) and rescue a scientist they kidnapped, then using his info. locate a secret stash of dangerous weapons from the old days. Along the way MM has to fight killer bugs, beefed up RIP shark agents and giant space slug to name a few.
This book is really suitable for all ages. While it certainly is intended for the 8 and up crowd it is not childish at all. We're given a healthy dose of pure sci-fi. The story is fun but not silly, Missile Mouse has some good one liners but this is a drama that takes itself seriously along with the usual scientific explanations and jargon. There are a few animal characters but the rest are alien looking creatures. The story is fast-paced, high-action, good guys versus the bad guys and I can see this series developing a devoted fan base very quickly. The artwork is bright and bold and always enhances its science fiction atmosphere. My only quibble is that one year between books is too long to wait! Fortunately Jan. 2011, is just around the corner now!
Missile Mouse grabbed me from the beginning and I can't wait until the next book comes out this January! There are not too many graphic novels that stand out in the pure science fiction genre for children and this was a real delight to read. Missile Mouse is an agent for the Galactic Security Agency, a bit of a rogue who does things his own way and irritates his superiors because of it. He's given a partner for this next mission, hoping to keep him in line this time. MM and Agent Hyde are to infiltrate RIP (the bad guys) and rescue a scientist they kidnapped, then using his info. locate a secret stash of dangerous weapons from the old days. Along the way MM has to fight killer bugs, beefed up RIP shark agents and giant space slug to name a few.
This book is really suitable for all ages. While it certainly is intended for the 8 and up crowd it is not childish at all. We're given a healthy dose of pure sci-fi. The story is fun but not silly, Missile Mouse has some good one liners but this is a drama that takes itself seriously along with the usual scientific explanations and jargon. There are a few animal characters but the rest are alien looking creatures. The story is fast-paced, high-action, good guys versus the bad guys and I can see this series developing a devoted fan base very quickly. The artwork is bright and bold and always enhances its science fiction atmosphere. My only quibble is that one year between books is too long to wait! Fortunately Jan. 2011, is just around the corner now!
November 27, 2018
Interesting premise. My two sons like it. But...where are the women? Not a single female character in this entire book. Oh, wait, there's one alien woman pictured running away from an attack while holding a baby (page 25). And book two had some helpless wives and children whose men had been enslaved. So not good on the strong female representatives.
March 3, 2015
No.
This book was from start to finish stolen action movie quips set to a mouse police officer. There was nothing original about any of the dialog and personally I really struggled to even finish this book. For third grade boys who are really struggling with reading. Just not a good book I paid like a dollar and I wish I hadn't
This book was from start to finish stolen action movie quips set to a mouse police officer. There was nothing original about any of the dialog and personally I really struggled to even finish this book. For third grade boys who are really struggling with reading. Just not a good book I paid like a dollar and I wish I hadn't
March 31, 2018
The endless stream of Star Wars sequels could really learn a lot from Jake Parker’s fresh plot and cunning solutions. I love the smart-mouthed Missile Mouse and the story has surprising depth for a graphic novel. Can’t wait to read the rest!
November 10, 2018
Nice story and the end is very... something. The author stuff in the last page is funny.
April 20, 2026
Missile Mouse of the Galactic Security Agency is on Vasgar 5 traipsing across the desert with two others who try to assassinate him when his back is turned. He shoots the weapons out of their hands and tells them to scram. They do.
Later he finds a crashed spaceship. Deep in the ship he finds an old Star Compass whose language he can’t identify. He grabs it and is attacked by a space slug.
Missile Mouse gets away from it but is ambushed outside by Gurne and the two assassins from earlier. They steal his compass and leave him to fight the space slug.
At the GSA Missile Mouse’s boss chews him out for losing the Star Compass. So he is assigned a partner (Hyde) to keep an eye on him. Their new mission is that a valuable scientist (Ulrich) has gone missing. Probably taken by the Rogue Imperium of Planets, a threat to the Galactic Union. There are also rumors of a Star Crusher, an ancient doomsday device that creates black holes. Ulrich is the only scientist that can operate it. The Star Compass points to the only source of fuel for the Star Crusher.
Missile Mouse and Hyde blast off. Missile Mouse remembers the Zogdonian crystal his father gave him. Hyde tells him that they should go in together. Missile Mouse insists he go in alone and Hyde keeps the ship warmed up for when he busts out. They approach Venturi Minor.
Missile Mouse jumps out of the spaceship with a rocket belt and dives towards a tower that he scans and shows that it is guarded by three guys. He takes them out with some non-lethal equipment. He finds where they are draining the brain of the scientist Ulrich. He jumps through the roof and starts shooting. There is a gunfight.
Come on out, little mouse guy. Cooperate and your death will be painless.
Outnumbering Missile Mouse they seem to have the drop on his, but he fingers a bomb he has planted earlier. Then Hyde jumps through the roof. They rescue the scientist and blow a hole through the roof to escape.
Flying away Missile Mouse and Hyde argue about whether Missile Mouse had everything under control. Ulrich recovers from brain being fried. They introduce themselves. Ulrich also knows the planet the Star Compass is on. They head to Axius 3.
Elsewhere when Professor Gorgen and his team return to the giant Predator space ship the RIP fleet they report their partial success to General Nivlak. He is not pleased. He asks for the Mercenary, Gurne. He sends Gurne off with a zip drive that explains the task.
I go back and forth over this book. It’s almost paint-by-numbers plot-wise, but that’s what space operas are. The art is not especially exciting but the designs of Professor Gorgen and their crew are hysterical. Every time I get close to DNF, I read just one more chapter….
Missile Mouse, Hyde and Ulrich get to Axius 3. Once there they disguise themselves to find a GSA contact. She owns a cantina called One-Eyed Jacks. Despite the desire to keep a low profile, Missile Mouse immediately gets into a fight.
The GSA contact breaks up the fight. Cobb gives them a disk that has all the locations of the military bases on the planet.
Later that night Missile Mouse and Ulrich discuss the Star Crusher. Ulrich says it was not supposed to be a doomsday device, but was stolen and corrupted.
That night Missile Mouse has a dream about seeing his dad killed by the RIP.
They drive to where Hyde found a strange delivery occurred a while ago. Station 37. They investigate and Ulrich finds a secret elevator in a building. Missile Mouse triggers a security alarm which brings a giant robot after them. Missile Mouse defeats the robot. Then spiders come after them.
Escaping the spiders they go further into the building to search for Dark Plasma. Luckily Ulrich finds the Dark Plasma and the research files for the Cerebellian project. They also find a fully functioning Star Crusher. They call Hyde and send him back to get the ship ready, then pack up everything and take it to the ship.
Missile Mouse and Ulrich exit the building with their Dark Matter canisters and the Star Crusher in tow. Hyde is not answering their call. Then their ship blows up. Then Gurne and a group of RIP agents point guns at them. Missile Mouse is thrown into a room in the building and they weld the door shut.
Unfortunately they locked Missile Mouse into a missile silo which promptly rides out and into space to chase the ship that Gurne has captured Ulrich in and the two fighter ships escorting it.
Missile Mouse makes it to the ship but is quickly captured with Ulrich. Gurne thinks he can make money on Missile Mouse if he is still alive. They board Nivlak’s ship.
Well, the ending was sure different than I expected!
This was fine. Space Opera with a mouse. Okay I’m in. It’s certainly light weight and just a bit derivative.
The art is functional, but also has some pleasant surprises.
The writing works. I’d recommend this if the subject really appeals to you, otherwise while pleasant it has nothing outstanding to recommend it.
Give it 3 stars
May 26, 2017
Missile Mouse: The Star Crusher by Jake Parker. In this book a mouse named Missile Mouse is on a mission to retrieve something dangerous before his enemies can get their hands on the dangerous weapon known as dooms day device. This device has the power to destroy the entire universe, last time this happened half of the galaxy was destroyed. Luckily Missile Mouse is on the mission so nothing could go wrong. this book is interesting like when missile mouse out breaks. It is also very sad. like when something bad happens to missile's dad. I would recommend this book to fiction addicts.
January 2, 2026
It wasn't good. It certainly wasn't bad. It just was a generic space adventure story where the stakes had no "real" meaning. Yes a end of the galaxy weapon is stakes. But it didnt feel like it was. It didn't feel beleiveable. Even if the art was good it didn't make me feel the stakes. It didn't really do anything to me. And yes its a children's story but Diary of A Wimpy Kid made me feel. This was just a filler story. 2.25/5 art was decent story not really doing much.
December 6, 2020
Jake Parker's Youtube videos and podcast have been very helpful, and I'd like to support him.
This is like what I've seen of his illustrations though, competent but bland, which is what Scholastic seems to be all about. It's entertaining, it's fine, I'd give it to my son to read. But it's not a book you'd read twice.
This is like what I've seen of his illustrations though, competent but bland, which is what Scholastic seems to be all about. It's entertaining, it's fine, I'd give it to my son to read. But it's not a book you'd read twice.
May 17, 2017
Missile Mouse #1 The Star Crusher (Paperback)
by Jake Parker
Missile Mouse has to stop the deadly group RIP from destroying the universe. I like the book because the action comes when MIssile mouse fights 16 shark men. I think my brother would like it because he loves action.
by Jake Parker
Missile Mouse has to stop the deadly group RIP from destroying the universe. I like the book because the action comes when MIssile mouse fights 16 shark men. I think my brother would like it because he loves action.
July 21, 2017
Fans of Guardians of the Galaxy will enjoy this action packed graphic novel adventure. Readers will enjoy the twists and the cool things that happen. I wish I had the sequel on hand to read right away!
December 5, 2017
The reason I rate this book five stars is because it was a good book. If you like missile mouse you will like this one. My favorite part was when missile mouse got full of energy and shot energy out of his hands and blew up the ship.
March 7, 2018
I wasn't a huge fan of this book, but I found it entertaining (and there was one major surprise in it). I would give it three stars, but both my kids (ages 7 and 10) love it, so I've added one more for kid appeal.
January 22, 2018
worst comic ever
/:(
/:(
January 16, 2020
I think this book can really grab you in for a great adventure in space. A big mystery turns into a big investigation. Can Missle Mouse save space?
Read
September 11, 2020I like it cause it’s mostly a comic book about a mouse in space and helps out his friends anyway as possible
January 22, 2022
THE REALEST OG IN THE GALAXY
January 27, 2022
This book is an awesome book for people who like action and what's going to happen next
February 20, 2022
mah not my favorite "book"
Read
September 3, 2022if you like short reads then i would suggest this book to you
November 13, 2023
Hell to the yes, super cool stuff
May 2, 2024
Loved this book as a kid. Cool world, great art, and fun story.
January 1, 2026
This book got me into reading; I owe it everything
Past that, it's a good story with amazing visuals, I would recommend it if someone asked. Go read it.
Past that, it's a good story with amazing visuals, I would recommend it if someone asked. Go read it.
March 17, 2017
Jake Parkertin "Missile Mouse #1 : The Star Crusher" (Scholastic, 2010) on tarinaltaan ihan mukiinmenevä joskin vähän jähmeästi piirretty lasten- ja nuorten sarjakuva intergalaktisesta hiiriagentista. Vaikutteita lienee saatu ainakin Tähtien sodan suunnalta.
April 30, 2019
It was amazing. So cool. Lots of explosions.
April 9, 2010
Jake's Review: Mom I give this 20 out of 10. It is AWESOME, are there any more like this. I'm going to read this instead of watching tv tonight -- OK? Lets go to the Library tomorrow and see it there are any more -- Mom, why are you grinning (Moms note: finally have someone in the family that I may be able to convince to go to a convention) . I really liked this novel. The pictures are exciting and funny and made me want to keep reading. Lots of cool pictures of things blowing up - but not in a scary way. I liked the way the guy drew the aliens. Missile mouse kinda reminds me of that character you like -- the old guy -- Han Solo. (old guy -- come on he aint that old) I liked that Missile mouse was always saying funny stuff like "If by better circumstances you mean me locking you up in solitary confinement, then I'm game". Some of the pictures were really drawn funny too like on page 127. The bad guys were kinda cool and said funny stuff too.
Rating: 20/10
Mom's Review: As I said before, any book that Jake doesn't want to put down, pretty much guarantees me giving it a good review. I am also a geek, so I highly recommend graphic novels in general, I think they are fantastic especially for reluctant readers. This one is an excellent introduction to the world of graphic novels for the younger set. Lots of humour and action, but nothing too violent or offensive. The artwork is simple but not too juvenile and the story line fast paced. Jake was right on with his comment about Han Solo, Missile Mouse is always making some smart alecky quip to the bad guys. I would say that Missile mouse is like a cross between Han Solo and Mighty Mouse.
Rating: 8/10
http://www.scholastic.com/kids/missil...
Rating: 20/10
Mom's Review: As I said before, any book that Jake doesn't want to put down, pretty much guarantees me giving it a good review. I am also a geek, so I highly recommend graphic novels in general, I think they are fantastic especially for reluctant readers. This one is an excellent introduction to the world of graphic novels for the younger set. Lots of humour and action, but nothing too violent or offensive. The artwork is simple but not too juvenile and the story line fast paced. Jake was right on with his comment about Han Solo, Missile Mouse is always making some smart alecky quip to the bad guys. I would say that Missile mouse is like a cross between Han Solo and Mighty Mouse.
Rating: 8/10
http://www.scholastic.com/kids/missil...
May 30, 2017
This book was about that the mouse was trying to save the planet, but the bad guys got the best scientist. Then the mouse was trying to find the the scientist then after he when thought all of that the mouse finally got the scientist. But the bad wanted to take the memories of the scientist because they wanted to make evil project to destroyed the planet because the bad guys wanted to kill the planet. When they started the scientist and the mouse survived by making a black hole. My opinion of this book is that always try your bets on what are you doing. I thought this book is sad because Missle mouse thought his dad died, but he didn't.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 103 reviews