Review: Once & Future #1 (of 6)
Most story tropes go around in a circular motion. Take zombie books; no sooner do you say The Walking Dead and the racks are covered with the undead from different publishers all vying to impress you, the reader, with yet another zombie story. Publishing a book therefore, like comedy requires timing. Now that some time time has passed since the last big eccentric, British, maybe a wizard, maybe something else that may involve magic has finished, its time to channel our inner Merlin’s and visit the Lady of the Lake once more; albeit via a bad date, a clumsy nerd and his in a care home grandmother.
Poor Duncan McGuire; no sooner has he manged to pluck up the courage to ask a pretty girl out on a date, it all goes wrong. Hands up who has been there, wine split, lilting conversation and then a phone call from your grandmother who chooses that particular time to leave the safety of her care home environment. Thing is, Bridgette McGuire is no ordinary grandmother. She has spent her life defending the realm from all sorts of hocus-pocus. This time, its a group of Nationalist who are planning on using an ancient artifact to bring back an Arthurian myth in a bid to gain power, that causing Bridgette such concern to drag her clumsy grandson along for the battle!
Keiron Gillen is the co-creator and writer of the mini-series. Gillen has spent time working on some of the biggest characters for Marvel, as well as penning his own highly successful creator owned books such as The Wicked + The Divine. Here, Gillen has taken the letter of Arthurian lore and but is next the ongoing fractures that face the UK with the ongoing Brexit shenanigans. Its a bold move; the topic is something of hot potato that could have a negative impact on the book. I for one, don’t think that will happen; writers seldom get as popular as Gillen without learning when and how to push the story-telling envelope in order it encapsulate current affairs.  Moving away from politics, Gillen imbues his characters with a foppish British charm; Duncan could be a younger Hugh Grant in actions and speech patterns. Bernadette is the wise old woman who has seen it all before, but is maybe realising that this time she may need some help, depsite her John Wick like arsenal.
The art is supplied by co-creator Dan Mora, who like Gillen, has spent time on some pretty big name characters. Looking over his resume, I have a number of his Batgirl and Titans issues and have seen his work on Buffy. Here, freed from brand constraints, Mora is free to find the correct tone for his art, which he manages superbly. With the move away from super heroics, at least for now, Mora’s art needs to focus on the human elements, which for a large part it does, with only the first couple of panels losing some perspective. Another foible is that at times, the background seem less distinct, which in turn makes the character pop from the panel. As this trick is used sparingly, Mora does give us more detailed panels for added contrast. The colors for the book are provided by Tamra Bonvillain, who is quietly going about her business, providing excellent colors for a range of books, each showing her versatility. Finally, Ed Dukshire provides a slimmed down font, perhaps chosen to alleviate some of the wordiness in this first issue.
Boom! Studios have gotten their mix of books just about right, probably after seeing how Dark Horse manged their own licenced and original material back in the day. By tempting creators of the calibre of Keiron Gillen and Dan Mora, along with a very talented colorist shows just how diverse Boom! Studios line of books is.
Writing – 5 Stars
Art – 4 Stars
Colors – 4.5 Stars
[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Written & Co-created by; Keiron Gillen
Art & Co-created by; Dan Mora
Colors by: Tamra Bonvillain
Letters by; Ed Dukeshire
Published by; Boom! Studios
Author Profile
- I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow
Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network
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