Comic Review: Once & Future #1

Once & Future #1

BOOM! Studios

Writer: Kieron Gillen

Artists: Dan Mora & Tamra Bonvillain

Kieron Gillen has always been one of these writers I’ve enjoyed the work of, but never brought up as one of my favourite writers. I do love his Young Avengers run, and I’m loving The Wicked + The Divine, but it wasn’t until I read Once and Future #1 that I’ve ever quite realised how great a writer he is. Once and Future #1 is one of these rare #1’s that’s flawless.

Usually, when I write reviews, I tend to go into them straight after reading the book or watching the film that I’m writing about because I think that the best measurement of your reaction to something is the initial viewing or reading. Once and Future #1 was different, however. I had to sit on my thoughts for this book for a few hours, because I wasn’t sure whether or not it was actually as flawless as I thought it was. Then I reread the book and got more of a cemented opinion. And I genuinely think this may be among the best #1’s I’ve ever read (and I have a lot of #1’s). While you’re welcome to find flaws if you think there is some in the issue, I can’t for the life of me find any.

Anyway, onto the actual book. Once and Future #1 is about a mysterious group who are attempting to resurrect King Arthur (Yes, that King Arthur). An ex-monster hunter finds out about this, except she’s an OAP in a nursing home. So she escapes her nursing home and pulls her unwitting Grandson into a world of insane creatures and things he thought were only possible in myth. It’s a pretty established formula, but the twist Gillen gives it with the monster hunter in question being an OAP is brilliant and allows for so much fun within the issue. The overall plot is a bit like Raiders Of The Lost Ark, with Nationalists looking to find a hidden secret and use it to carry out an evil deed. The inspirations are clear as day, but they’re never overbearing and are never a detriment to the plot.

And oh my god the art. To quote Keanu Reeves: it’s breathtaking. I think the only stuff I’ve seen prior to this of his is some of his work in Daredevil, but nothing in that book reached the heights of what is seen here, in Once and Future. I love the style that he and the colourist, Tamra Bonvillain take with the book, and Bovillain’s colours are just beautiful, really. I can’t discuss any specific pages or designs for fear of spoilers, but the cover alone (again by Dan Mora) speaks volumes about how great the character designs are. It’s rare for a cover and an interior to line-up so well, but I guess that’s what happens when you have the artist doing the cover as well as interior art.

Once And Future #1 is simply amazing. It’s Gillen and Moira at the top of their respective games, and if every issue is as well written, and as beautifully illustrated like this, then I think I’ve found a book that may be seen on “best comic of the year” lists come years end. How much I loved the comic cannot be put into words, it’s rare that a comic gives me the same buzzing feeling this issue did (in recent memory, the only thing to give me the same feeling was when I read the first issue of Saga). But don’t take it from me, go out, pick up the issue and fall into the world yourself.

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Buy Once & Future #1 on ComiXology