Once & Future does something extremely unexpected by turning your grandma into a chainsmoking, gun-toting, monster fighting, badass.That? Honestly, that should be enough to pull anyone into the story.But just in case you're still on the fence, Kieron Gillen also takes Arthurian legend and turns it on its head. For example, the good King Arthur is back from the dead but this time around he looks like a reject from The Black Cauldron. For the first volume of a completely new series, this had an am...

I really enjoyed this book. I have a slight bias as I grew up on the Sword in the Stone and Arthurian legends. I did enjoy the twist of the darker side of the legend.Both the artwork and story was great. I also really liked the characters as well. The tough as nails grandma, and the innocent "perfect" night. In another personal note I thought it was great to have an British Asian lady in the story as well. As much as I want the story to move forward I hope this relationship works out as well.A g...

Good action, great art, and a kick-ass grandma.There are also swords...the sword...actually, Excalibur, which is cool.A very interesting and modern take on the Arthurian legend. I'm definitely down for more.

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, Britis...

King Arthur stories were a bedrock of my childhood (Gwen Gross’s Knights of the Round Table in particular). They not only informed my story-loving sensibilities, but my character. They influenced the first “book” 8-year-old me wrote AND illustrated (the much-ballyhooed Cheesecalibur), not to mention that The Camelot Shadow tomfoolery. And so, while I’m naturally inclined to be favorably disposed toward Arthurian tales, I’m also always curious about whether the storyteller(s) will take a traditio...

I'm a sucker for Arthurian legends so this drew me right in. This builds off the idea that King Arthur will one day return in Britain's darkest hour. Well, what if he was actually the cause of that darkest hour? Enter Bridgette (Buffy if she made it to old age) and her clueless grandson, Duncan, as they try and stop Arthur's return. This was an absolute blast. Bridgette is hilarious as a kickass Gram.The art by Dan Mora and Tamra Bonvillain is magnificent. Something about it reminded me of a Don...

I absolutely loved this one! If you’re a sucker for the Arthurian myth (like I am) you’ll probably love it too... (unless you’re a big ol’ racist, of course, in which case you’ll probably hate it).This is a genuinely new take on the Arthurian myth with lots of twists and turns and great artwork to boot. It’s paced like a great action movie and would probably make a great feature film (just in case there are any movie producers reading this). I’m really hoping that ‘to be continued...’ at the end...

This is Kieron Gillen riffing on the king arthur mythos in a fun / light hearted way! I don't consider that to be a spoiler, in fact people ideally should've read about the knights of the round table before picking this up, as it builds on it. It's a really sneaky cool idea to use a public domain story like this and dress it up in this modern way. Still.. in its core it is a simple monster hunting story done multiple times somewhere else, but then again I could also read these over and over to n...

For my full interview with Kieron Gillen, follow this link: https://youtu.be/np9kcC1ruWUVery very interesting.This is Arthur legend in the modern era, completely twisted into something new.Also, there’s a badass, monster slaying grandma in the mix.I really dug it! Awesome art team of Dan Mora and Tamra Bonvillain, with masterful storytelling from Mr Kieron Gillen.I’ll definitely be following this title.

Disclaimer: I received a free ecopy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.Let's get this out of the way up front: this book was a lot of fun to read. I've read a couple other things from Gillen, so I knew I liked his writing going into the story. And he certainly has an excellent grasp on the fantasy setting. This one, if you couldn't tell from the title, ventures into Arthurian legend, but does so in a contemporary context. The characters can be a tad silly, particularly Gran. She is a...

Arthurian myths are great. They have been retold and redone so many times yet they still draw people. Once & Future from Gillen is an interesting take. It takes the part about belief from Gaiman's American Gods and applies it to an Arthurian myth. So this is not a story about the King Arthur or the Galahad but a representation crooked by human stories. At first, I was really confused and had to remember how it all was in the "original" version. But then it sorta clicked and confusion went away w...

Oh man, I’m disappointed. Mainly in myself, but also somewhat in the book.This started pretty great. With one of the most badass female characters I have seen in quite some time and the promise of a great adventure. But then it got too caught up in its own love for mythology and I had this feeling of being left out.For people well-versed in Arthurian legend this is going to be great fun, I suppose. Unfortunately, I’m not one of those. I knew what I was getting into, kind of. After all this is th...

This is Kieron Gillen back in his fun mode. A delightful fast-paced story revolving around english Arthurian history and mythology, great characters, gorgeous art by Dan Mora and Tamra Bonvillain. It's not the most deep, thoughtful or formalist of Gillen's books, but not every single one has to be, right? This one's just for fun.

Wow what a read!I love Arthurian legends and this does that, it is predicted that King Arthur will come back in the darkest hour of Britain but what if he is the cause of that? What then and thus begins the story and its the fabled hero story when Duncan, a man on a date with a beautiful woman named Rose suddenly comes to know from his grandma that those legends are real and well they are attacking them and thus begins survival quest as they 3 have to navigate monsters and what not and also some...

An original, violent, and action-packed adventure creatively drawing upon Arthurian mythology to introduce us to new threats and unlikely heroes. An unforgiving choppiness in the narration/artwork leaves an impression of emptiness as the story unfolds at a breakneck pace. However, the bombastic and sharp artwork, on top of the charismatic granny, makes for an entertaining and engrossing read.Yours truly,Lashaan | Blogger and Book ReviewerOfficial blog: https://bookidote.com/

Gillen lets his hair down, clearly having a lot of fun telling a romp that deals with England's overly romantic view of its own past.A group of deranged nationalists (is there any other kind?) want to resurrect long dead King Arthur (or something that passed itself off as such), to take England (and by definition, the rest of the UK..?) back from un-English influences. The undead horror that is brought back to life has very strict ideas about what it means to be English -you better not have Angl...

Well, this was certainly a twist on the concept of Arthur's return to Britain. I'm going to try quite hard to avoid spoilers, but this is not Arthur's return to Britain in its hour of greatest need like Camelot 3000. As a matter of fact Merlin, Arthur, and most of the knights don't figure into this at all. Duncan's story is at lest a little bit of the classic hero's journey. That's ok, I'll argue that Duncan's character does evolve.What is fun, and different, is the role Duncan's grandmother Bri...

*Pre-reading thoughts included below* Absolutely fantastic! Not only was it creative, beautiful, and engaging, but it was also really fun!Just the concept itself was pure genius and I was and still am totally in love with it. Every way in which they played on the King Arthur legends and stories soothed my Arthurian-loving soul.All of the characters were dynamic and interesting without being too detailed. Duncan was extremely likeable (and extremely 😍😍 if you don’t mind me saying so). The complex...

Once & Future Vol. 1 collecting issues one to six of the new comic by Kieron Gillen, with artist Dan Mora, coloriste Tamra Bonvillain, and letterer Ed Dukeshire. Published by Boom! Studios (2020). A group of British nationalist extremists somehow get their hands on the scabbard of the legendary Excalibur at en archeological site, and not without spilling blood. They state that they intend to use it to restore Britain’s might. Bridgette McGuire is what Buffy would be if she had slayed all of the

The description for this book is a little bit misleading - the whole nationalist aspect of the antagonists is not important; the story really revolves around the line between legends and reality and how tales can come to life, and the havoc they wreak when people try to weaponize them. It's also about a 20-something man and his grandma and a girl who he failed to hit it off with, who all get sucked into the Arthurian legends and trying to prevent them from reclaiming the country (and the disaste...