Book Review: Once and Future by Kieron Gillen and Dan Mora
I’ve been on a bit of a tear through Kieron Gillen’s work after the first volume of DIE came out last year. I tend to follow writers more than artists in my fandom, so it isn’t that surprising. Other creators have worked through the idea of mythology, but Gillen manages to subvert your expectations fairly quickly. With some England for English types seeking out the legendary king to save them, they quickly find that the King Britons isn’t keen to work with Anglo-Saxons.
The story picks up from that point and becomes a madcap journey through secret societies, magical lands, and the power of stories. Before we even got to the usual Gillen textual fuckery, I was in. The premise that a bunch of Green Shirts find out their beloved foundational myth would find them unworthy is just the best sort of story for our day to day torrent of bullshit.
Duncan is an ordinary out on a date when a call from his gran pulls him deep into another world. It’s a fantasy trope, to be sure, but Gillen is efficient with his world building. Duncan’s gran is a great character. She guides him through which parts of the myths come from which periods, and what are outright wrong in the popular imagination. Duncan is our surrogate through most of the first arc, but Gillen has him take agency in pretty satisfying ways.
Dan Mora’s art is fantastic. The lines are tight, and the undead knights are detailed and horrific. He’s got a real knack for facial expressions that help punctuate Gillen’s dialogue. His action shots aren’t bad either. The look manages to capture the setting of legendary monsters bleeding into the real world perfectly.
Gillen’s penchant for playing with myths and archetypes is one of his best qualities as a writer. Once and Future manages to channel that into the current moment. Granted the original single issue run is from last year before Confederate and Slaver statues were being torn down, but that’s just the latest in an escalating conversation about historical myths and heroes.
There’s a great line about myths being able to read two ways, and though it’s not the entire theme of the story it feels like something deeply relevant right now. Gillen is doing some of the most interesting work in comics right now, and Once and Future doesn’t feel like it runs into any of his other work. If you have any interest in modern fantasy/horror comics, akin to the classic Vertigo, you need to read this book.
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