In Once and Future #15, Bridgette and Duncan break into an old spooky house and summon Lancelot, while Rose and Nimue share some home truths about each other.  When Lancelot turns feral, it seems our monster hunting duo face a lethal peril.  Will they survive?   Find out  in your next mighty Major Spoilers reviews!

ONCE & FUTURE #15

Writer: Kieron Gillen
Artist: Dan Mora
Colorist: Tamra Bonvillain
Letterer: Ed Dukeshire
Editor: Matt Gagnon
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Price: $3.99
Release Date: January 20th, 2021

Previously in Once and Future: Nationalist have used an ancient artifact to summon a villain from Arthurian myth.  Retired monster hunter Bridgette McGuire springs herself from her retirement home, ropes her grandson Duncan in, and begins a quest to stop the villain in their tracks.  But one villain is never enough…

COME TO CAMELOT

Once and Future #15 is an incredibly chatty latest issue of an interesting series that brings to life in a modern setting elements of the Arthurian myth.  Whether readers will enjoy the talk to action ration is another matter, but I found this issue to be reasonably entertaining.

Forced out of retirement by the raising of an Aruthurian villain by Nationalist forces, Bridgette McGuire has roped her museum curator grandson Duncan into her quest to save Britain.  They revisit the old family home, where Nimue once summoned Lancelot in the most excruciatingly painful way imaginable.  And while they go about replicating the summoning, Nimue holds Rose hostage, and the two trade secrets, while elements of the government listen in…

Like I said, Once and Future #15 is a very talk heavy issue.  There is a huge amount of backstory conveyed between the pairs of characters we see.  Whether readers like this approach will be interesting to see.  I suppose it is necessary at this point in the story.  Plot lines can get dangerously tangled in readers’ minds unless the writer, Kieron Gillen, made the effort to lay it all out in an easy to understand manner.  The beauty of it here is that while it may seem like something of an infodump, Gillen does it in such a way that the characters remain true to themselves, and not mere cyphers spouting lines to the audience.  So, there is real tension in between all the verbiage when Nimue and Rose have their confrontation.  Is Nimue really prepared to shoot Rose, after that long chat?  It’s a really skilled writer who can balance conveying information while not straying from what we know about the established characters.

HE WHO DRAWS THE SWORD

Dan Mora’s artwork is why your should be buying Once and Future #15.  Aside from some stellar illustrations, Mora knows how to construct a page in such a way that it conveys atmosphere and menace.  There’s a page where Nimue has a gun aimed at Rose.  The page directs the eye effortlessly as Rose almost cowers while Nimue pushes her into the room.  At the end of the page, we get a hint of other forces observing the interaction.  In the space of one page, we get a sense of Nimue’s ruthlessness, Rose’s confusion, and the sense that there are other people watching on. It’s very, very good.

There’s also a really good scene between Bridgette and Duncan.  Replicating Nimue’s summoning in the McGuire family home, the imagery changes from a grungy bathroom in one panel, to a menacing medieval cell in another.  The change is delivered seamlessly, and the clever use of angles gives a sense of the scale of the place, and the disorientation Duncan feels at not only the abrupt shift, but the sudden appearance of Lancelot.  Top notch work.

BOTTOM LINE:  A TALKY ISSUE

Once and Future #15 is a talky issue that stays true to its characters, while conveying critical information to the audience that helps deepen our understanding of the characters and their motivations.  There’s the promise of more action in the next issue, so if you can hold out for that, you’ll be doing yourself a favor.

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Once and Future #15

83%

83%

Strong on Character

Light on action, but strong on character and backstory, Once and Future #15 is a waypoint in an ongoing saga that sees characters in modern Britain go up against forces from Arthurian myth.

• Writing

  7
• Art

  9
• Coloring

  9
• User Ratings (1 Votes)
  9