| Once & Future | |
|---|---|
 Issue 1 cover | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Boom! Studios |
| Format | Ongoing series |
| Genre | |
| Publication date | August 2019 – October 2022 |
| No. of issues | 30 |
| Creative team | |
| Created by | Kieron Gillen and Dan Mora |
| Written by | Kieron Gillen |
| Artist(s) | Dan Mora |
| Colorist(s) | Tamra Bonvillain |
Once & Future is a horror comic by Kieron Gillen, with art by Dan Mora and colors by Tamra Bonvillain, about King Arthur. It is published by Boom! Studios.
When a group of British nationalists perform a supernatural ritual in order to resurrect King Arthur, they discover that Arthur has his own agenda. As Arthur leaves a trail of death and destruction in his wake, octogenarian Bridgette McGuire — a retired monster hunter — and her grandson Duncan must try to stop him before other creatures from stories begin emerging as well.
The first Once & Future trade paperback (Once & Future: The King is Undead, comprising issues #1-6) was a finalist for the 2021 Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story, [1] the third trade paperback (Once & Future: The Parliament of Magpies) was a finalist for the 2022 award, [2] and the fourth trade paperback (Once & Future: Monarchies in the UK) was a finalist for the 2023 award. [3]
Screen Rant calls it "(t)he best modern King Arthur adaptation", because it is set in the present day and "explores the power of stories" rather than "the myths themselves". [4]
Comic Book Resources considers it "a more successful adaptation [of Arthurian mythos] than most", and posits that this is because Gillen "plays fast and loose with Arthurian legend" and acknowledges that there is no single canonical version. [5]
Boom! Studios has collected issues of Once & Future as trade paperbacks:
The Once and Future King is a collection of fantasy novels by T. H. White about the legend of King Arthur. It is loosely based upon the 1485 work Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory. It was first published in 1958 as a collection of shorter novels that were published from 1938 to 1940, with some new or amended material. The title refers to a legend that Arthur will one day return as king.
The Warlord Chronicles or The Warlord Trilogy is a series of three novels about Arthurian Britain written by Bernard Cornwell. The story is written as a mixture of historical fiction and Arthurian legend. The books were originally published between 1995 and 1997 by Penguin and Michael Joseph in the United Kingdom and by St. Martin's Press in the United States, in hardcover and paperback editions, each with different ISBNs. It has been adapted for television as The Winter King.
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King Arthur(Arthur Pendragon) is a legendary figure used commonly in comic books.
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