Once And Future #9 // Review
Duncan and Gran face-off with Beowulf in Once And Future #9, by writer Kieron Gillen, artist Dan Mora, colorist Tamra Bonvillain, and letter Ed Dukeshire. This issue hits the ground running and then takes things a bit slow before ending big.
Beowulf has Duncan, and Gran dead to rights before Duncan thinks quickly and rolls his Range Rover, buying some time for Gran to develop a plan- lure Beowulf into the trap she's preparing. It almost works… but Beowulf is better than all that, spotting the tripwire and grabbing the claymore she set up. Duncan, still thinking fast, shoots the mine and ends the fight. He and Gran part ways at her nursing home later. In a pub in Bristol, Elaine meets with Merlin, who tells her that everything is going according to plan. At the nursing home, Gran discusses her difficulties with Duncan and how she would have dealt with their situation if she was him with the people at the home. Rose does some scrying and discovers something terrible is about to happen at the nursing home and gives Duncan a call. At the home, a new threat appears…
The action sequence at the beginning of this book is great. Dan Mora is great at action, but these pages show off just how good he can be. The car rolling sequence is kinetic and hard-hitting, and things go on from there. Mora is a perfect artist for this book. Later, when the action slows down, Mora does a great job of getting across each scene's feeling. Few artists working right now can do a monthly with the amount of detail and imagination he puts into each page. There's a lot to love about Once And Future beyond the art, and it would still be great if he wasn't on the book, but the fact he is makes everything that much better. Mora makes the book amazing.
Gillen's script pretty much just allows Mora to look good. This story isn't super meaty beyond the action scene. Merlin tells Elaine about how Arthur doesn't remember him anymore but that he has Arthur's trust. He calls Arthur "my king" twice, and it feels more possessive than a sign of fealty as if Merlin is used to controlling Arthur. This is a very interesting development since it begs the question of how long Merlin and Elaine have been planning this whole situation.
The sequence at the home is impressive in what it says about Gran. She can tell Duncan has changed- his quick thinking saved their lives twice, and she can see that he's changed. However, she also knows that he hasn't changed enough, and on some level, she doesn't really understand him. She's always been a very hard person, and if she had found out that someone was lying to her like he did, she wouldn't be nearly as forgiving. However, even so, she's mellowed, and there's a feeling she's happy that Duncan is who he is.
Once And Future #9 eats up a lot of its pages with an amazing sequence. Mora's kinetic, detailed pencils sell the action sequence perfectly, making it a thrilling affair. From there, it slows down, saying some interesting things about both the characters and what's going on. Gillen shifts the gears perfectly, slowing things down nicely. Sometimes, shifts in pace like this can be jarring, but Killen is able to pull it off admirably. Once And Future #9 is another quality issue of this amazing series.
