Once And Future #23
Gran, Duncan, and Rose standoff with Mary in Once And Future #23, by writer Kieron Gillen, artist Dan Mora, colorist Tamra Bonvillain, and letterer Ed Dukeshire. Gillen and company supply a tense yet fun issue.
The meat of this issue is Mary and Gran negotiating over Shakespeare’s weapons cache. Outside of Grail Castle, the leader makes a deal with the fae to deal with the giant in the funniest way possible. Galahad tries to join with his father Lancelot but meets his Galahad, which was all a trick to pull the two best knights away so Arthur could attack their camp. Mary lets the trio go, and they make their way to Leicester to meet an ancient water god that is known by another name in the modern world, one given to him by Shakespeare.
As usual, Gillen impresses with this issue. Four plot threads are running through this issue- Mary and the trio, the giant and Grail Castle, Galahad and Lancelot, and Arthur and Merlin. Each one gets just the right amount of time and leads to the next step in the chain. Juggling this many plots and giving all of them the right amount of time to breath is hard, but Gillen balances it very well. There’s a desire in comics today to draw things out, and some writers can’t pull it off in an interesting manner. Gillen isn’t one of them, as it never really feels like he’s padding things out for the trade; every development serves the plot.
One expects for the part with the giant, which is kind of a little gag, to play a role in things later. That’s the kind of writer that Gillen is, and that’s what he’s been doing on this book. Everything counts, and it’s great. If one has to pick the strongest part of this issue, it’s the tension of the negotiations between Mary and Gran. Gillen frames the whole thing with Mary looking at Gran through her sniper scope. Readers never get to see her, so they can’t know what she’s thinking. It’s such a potent way to set this scene because, at any time, Mary could have pull the trigger.
Mora makes the whole sequence work, as usual. That’s not all, of course. He gives the fae a horrific new interpretation that perfectly fits them, and the scene with how the giant is taken care of is great. Mora’s design work is so great, as he creates yet another Power Ranger-inspired design for the new Galahad. As per usual, Bonvillain’s colors makes everything look that much better. She’s the one that makes Otherworld work so well, as her colors bring the eerie new landscape of England to life.
Once And Future #23 is a juggling act of the highest caliber. Gillen shows off his talents once again, and Mora and Bonvillain are again one of the best art teams in the business. Once again, this book remains among the best.