Egads - it’s been so long since I read a half-decent Kieron Gillen comic I’d given up hope that he’d ever produce another one again! But thankfully he has with the best artist working at Boom at the moment, Dan Mora - this is Once & Future, Volume 1: The King is Undead.
So it’s a subversive take on the King Arthur myth by way of Brendan Fraser’s first Mummy movie with shades of The Last Crusade (one scene in particular is a near-identical rip off). In a premise germane to our Brexit times, British Nationalists seek to resurrect the once and future king in an attempt to restore England for the English (the legend goes that Arthur will return when the English people need him most - no-one saw him during WW1 and WW2 but he’s probably coming back to save us from this latest pandemic, right...). Except Arthur turns out to be a super-powerful xenophobic zombie psychopath intent on ethnically cleansing the land - d’oh! It’s up to an elderly monster hunter, Bridgette McGuire, and her rugby-playing academic grandson Duncan to stop him and get the Grail before he does.
I really enjoyed most every scene with zombie Arthur, particularly the spectacular resurrection scene and his grisly way of finding out whether your blood was “pure”. The character of King Arthur has never been more appealing to me than here as a villain - it seems obvious to do and yet nobody’s done it before. Gillen reimagines aspects of the mythos in interesting ways like the haunting ladies of the lake and the inventive use of candles.
I’ve been an admirer of Dan Mora’s art since his work on Grant Morrison’s Klaus books (and to a lesser extent Dennis Hopeless’ WWE comics). If you’re a fan of Batman artist Greg Capullo then you’ll love Mora’s art too - their styles are very similar though Mora’s human faces are less rounded than Capullo’s; sharper, which I prefer.
The Questing Beast’s design was fantastic as were the changing appearances of Arthur. I mentioned Brendan Fraser’s first Mummy movie because, in part, the way the Mummy went from a skeleton to slowly becoming more human is how Arthur develops as the story goes on. His organs start to grow back, his flesh starts to appear on his bones, etc. It’s very cool.
Tamra Bonvillain’s colours beautifully complement Mora’s art on every page. I especially liked how the light changed when the characters ventured into the magical realm - it’s a really clever visual cue to signal shifts in the story.
That said, none of the other characters besides Arthur really grabbed me. Duncan is your fairly bland heroic protagonist though Bridgette was a fun, cantankerous old coot. Rose, the obvious love interest, wasn’t pointless but she didn’t feel like much of a character and the McGuire family stuff didn’t interest me much. The ending is a bit rushed too with Duncan falling into his new role rather too easily while Arthur suddenly descends into your average easily manipulated bad guy, basically to save time. It’s all wrapped up a tad neatly and overall I felt the storyline was too generic in structure - goodies vs baddies chasing macguffin.
It’s not bad though and this first book is a promising start to a series I’ll definitely be returning to - I’d say Once & Future is worth a look for readers looking for some fantasy horror with their action. If you enjoyed this one I would also recommend checking out the Hellboy storyline in Darkness Calls/The Wild Hunt/The Storm and the Fury for more Arthurian/horror hijinks.
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