Kieron Gillen is a staple of the comic industry, and I've followed his work for a while. The Wicked and the Divine is his most famous, though I personally loved his Young Avengers run. His work can definitely get a little confusing at times (if you're going to read WicDiv, read it in volumes or you'll get really lost), but he has some fascinating ideas about stories and storytelling. 

Once & Future follows Duncan and his grandma, who he discovers was once a monster hunter, and who needs him to help stop British nationalists from resurrecting King Arthur. It's a pretty good action comic, with dynamic visuals for fight scenes and fun monster designs, but the real strength is in the concept, which is kind of hard to explain. Basically, arthurian legend occasionally interacts with the modern world, creating a "story" where people are forced into or choose to become different characters. It does really interesting things with the idea of stories as concrete, transformative things. 

The color scheme is generally bright, which balances out the heavy ideas, and the character designs are interesting, but not ridiculous. The layout and gutters are pretty standard and stable, though it does do some intriguing shifts between black and white gutters/background. It doesn't do anything particularly amazing with the art style or the narrative, but it's a really enjoyable read! I thought the way it played with Arthurian legend was fun, though as someone with vague knowledge about the round table it got a little confusing. 

Pros:
-very cool grandma
-new take on arthurian legend
-unique fantasy that has relevant things to say about current politics

Cons
-very cool grandma is also kind of mean
-the pace is very fast, with little downtime for character exploration

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

Kieron Gillen first grabbed my attention with his work on The Wicked and the Divine, a fantastic series with a wide scope that covers religion, death, celebrity, and so much more. His writing led me to his recent series Die, about a group of friends who were thrown into a deadly fantasy world while playing an RPG as teenagers... and somehow made it out alive... and now must return to it many years later to save one of their own. And now, Gillen takes on the Arthurian legend and British history with his subversive series Once and Future. 

Mild-mannered, klutzy Duncan learns that his grandma is not who he thinks she is. One night she wanders off into the woods and his date is disrupted when he has to leave the awkward dinner and go pick grandma up. That's when grandma reveals she's not suffering from dementia or Alzheimer's when she unveils a cache of deadly weapons she has been hiding underground. Duncan is gobsmacked to learn that grandma has been a monster hunter her whole life. What kind of monsters? How about a Lich-like King Arthur and his evil cadre of zombie Knights of the Round, who, according to prophecy, will bring about an age of darkness if they were to achieve their goals?

Duncan and his grandma (and perhaps a new companion or two) begin a whirlwind of adventure, violence, and British history as they navigate through modern versions of Galahad, the search for the Holy Grail, the truth behind Excalibur, the *real* power behind the swords of legend, and many other humorous and clever reveals. 

What sets this particular story apart from Gillen's previous work is how we start small through Duncan's POV, and we're drip-fed new information at a steady, but manageable pace. In other stories, I feel that we're dropped right in the middle of the action and must fill in the blanks in both past and future. But here, it truly feels like the beginning of Duncan's story, and the reader is right there experiencing it with him every step of the way.

Dan Mora's illustrations are absolutely stunning. Subtle backgrounds emphasize the movement and strong body and facial expressions of the characters, and the panels flow together beautifully. It's quite fun to see the creative team's interpretation of classic sites such as the Glastonbury Tor, and, well... I won't spoil any more. 

Bottom line... if you have any interest in Arthurian lit, and you love it read about legendary stories turned completely on their heads, then you'll want to pick this up as soon as you can.

I enjoyed this reframing of Arthurian legend in the context of modern times and British history. Looking forward to the next volume.