Once & Future #21 - "Monarchies in the U.K." Part 3

[laughing_tree]

I’m a critic so I’m interested in talking about stuff. My problem in talking about stuff is that I am hyper aware of what has come before me. I’m not sure if I could write something that wasn’t deconstructionist, because I lack the naivety to think what I’m doing is original. -- Kieron Gillen

Comments

[cainofdreaming]

Yeesh. You could have just turned your helmet around, Mr. Knight.

[scorntx]

He's going to be terribly embarrassed when it turns out it's not the gorgon's stare that turns people to stone, but the gorgon's second-hand smoke.

[servant_iskandar]

One: I like that even one of Gorgon's hair-snakes is staring at Eliold in actual, "WHAAAAAT?" fashion.
Two: the Chandras are adorable, so please Gillen, *do not kill them*.

Three: going by Kieron's quote, I'm definitely sure we won't be seeing a heroic version of Arthur and the Knights contrasting the ones we've seen alongside our plucky band of heroes. And if they ever pop up, he's probably going to shove them in the grinder to reinstate the point.

That ship probably sailed since the start given the premises, and the underlying discourse about the situation in the UK here and now, but I'm feeling we're starting to beat a dead horse with "deconstruction" here - in a way, it feels like Gillen taking a Gen Urobuchi's turn, so far with irony being the chief saving grace.

I'm probably just a little frustrated, when he's good Gillen is very good, and here's he is certainly at the top of his narrative game. We're starting to see some non-utterly awful people besides the main characters at least (or at least their flaws aren't the only thing that gets paraded before us), and that should count.

Dan Mora is the gift that keeps on giving: the artwork and paneling are amazing, as usual.

Wonder if one of those snakes is a python...

[numeronone]

"Oh, I see. Running away, eh? You green bastard! Come back here and take what's coming to you. I'll blink your legs off!"

[jgraygaming]

Between this and what's going on in Marvel, I wonder how much of this is "we've told all these wonderful stories about the valor and tragedy of Camelot, what if it was horrid" and how much is "The concept of the One True King is one of the core pillars of Western Imperialism and we need to look at it as a cancer".

[arilou_skiff]

It's... Not really though? In that neither is it particularly western, nor is it particularly coterminous with western imperialism. (if anything, western writers spenda lot of time lamenting the passing of the age of chivalry for the new imperial age)

[lordy_co]

Agreed.

[silverhammerman]

From what I've seen, this seems to lean more toward the latter. There doesn't seem to be any "real" Camelot in Once and Future to be revealed as either having been horrid or good, instead Camelot and Arthur are presented as entirely constructed and evolving based on who tells their story and how. That even the seemingly good knight in the pages above is also a scary monster suggests that what Camelot represents in modern, post-Brexit England (since Gillen's been pretty open about talking about that context, and has even obliquely depicted Boris Johnson on-panel) is something deeply rotten and nationalist, no matter its form.

Excalibur is maybe doing something similar, but I find that it falls flat on its face because its repudiation of the mythical One True King narrative is to present a vision of kingship/imperialism which is good because "the good guys" are doing it. I don't mean to reopen that debate, I think everyone is set in their opinions here, just noting that's my read on it and how it relates to Once and Future.

[shakalooloo]

"at a glance" is vague wording to base deciding to gouge your own eyes out on. What if it's at a glance OF the monster, smart guy?

[numeronone]

This is from the same organisation that produced the guy who, when his dying King and commander demanded he throw a sword into a lake, struggled to handle even that simple of an instruction. Twice.

[cainofdreaming]

And out of all of them only one was able to find a bloody cup.

[scorntx]

King Arthur's instructions were ~confuuuussiiiiiing~.

[velacron]

Anyone else seeing these snakes and thinking of crossword puzzles? ^^

[mazway_75]

Shame leaving off early pages, the stuff of them walking through a city of stone statues is chilling stuff.

[blues32]

Is that a giant? "Fe Fi Fo Fum. I smell the blood of an Englishman" type of giant?

I like that the knights HAVE to follow their "script", so to speak. If there's a monster, they MUST face it. Do they show who wins the fight? If this guy can beat a gorgon while suffering from the blood loss of gouging out his own eyes, I'd be very impressed.

[sabertoothlotus]

Is the plan here to use a basilisk to kill a gorgon? Because that's kind of... genius, actually. Insanely dangerous and a bit like putting out a forest fire using a tsunami in that it solves one problem while creating another, but genius all the same.

[cygnia]

In a similar vein, I'm impressed no one in the DW franchise has had Daleks vs Weeping Angels (yet)

[blues32]

Do Dalek's blink? I mean, the eye stalk doesn't, but the thing inside the casing...does it blink?

[cygnia]

Likewise, since we've seen Angels grab clothing without affecting the wearer, can they actually get through Dalekanium casing to affect the spooge inside?

[blues32]

I don't know if they can send them back in time...but they could drain the time energy out of the casing, perhaps.

[cainofdreaming]

And to get rid of the basilisk they'll just have to find a cockatrice. It's the perfect solution!

[shakalooloo]

And when Winter rolls around, the cockatrice will freeze to death!

[sabertoothlotus]

"Then we're stuck with the cockatrices!"

"No, that's the beautiful part. When wintertime rolls around, the cockatrices simply freeze to death."

[donnblake]

A giant fee-fi-fo-fumming? Good job they've just been talking to a Jack!

[shadowpsykie]

I STILL DON'T GET THIS.
if this is the arthur of legend, based on old anglo saxon legend trying to assert it'sef, why isn't the "Good King Arthur" of stories trying to assert itself?

what's is the conceit of the story? if the stories are happening, why THESE stories, and not the ones most people know? and why are Rose and Gawain the only good Knights?

[blues32]

That's...a remarkably good point. The King Arthur of legend was a hero. At the very least, there should be good, heroic versions of the villains included.