Once And Future #30
In the Underworld, all of the pieces come together for one final battle in Once And Future #30, by writer Kieron Gillen, artist Dan Mora, colorist Tamra Bonvillain, and letterer Ed Dukeshire. This final issue brings everything together for an extremely satisfying ending.
So, this is the final battle. Duncan and Bridgette battle Merlin and Mary in the Underworld as the final pieces fall into place in the world above. When everything seems lost, heroes step up, and the world forgets. Goodbyes are said, some tragic and some fitting, and a decision is made.
Once And Future has touched on many things over its three-year run, but it was about two contradictory things: the timelessness of stories and the way they evolve. Gillen and company started with something that was supposed to be a six-issue miniseries and created an epic unlike anything else out there. Gillen’s use of Arthurian myth to show the lies of nationalism and the evolution of the story form was an informed choice. It allowed him to bring in the highlights of British literature and mythology to make his point about stories, what they mean to the world, and how the world changes them. Gillen used the great stories to tell his own, something that storytellers have been doing stretching into antiquity.
Once And Future is a complex beast, but Gillen has proven quite adroit at successfully weaving multiple threads throughout the story. That’s what makes the final issue so excellent. This is an action-packed comic, but it also pays off all the plots that he’s set up. It all comes together brilliantly to create the climax of the main plot, where Gillen continues to ratchet up the tension, throwing doubt onto whether our heroes will get their happy ending. Everything works out, of course, because at its core, this is one of the old stories, and the world always lives to be endangered again. There’s a great little coda at the end, one that gives readers doubt for a moment that the happy ending will stick… and then a decision is made, one that says as much about how much Bridgette has changed as anything else. The final page is perfect. There are good endings, but there’s rarely a last page that is this poignant. It’s hopeful and melancholy, an old family lost and a new one gained. It works so well and reveals what Once And Future is about: things stay the same, yet time changes them.
Mora and Bonvillain are among the greatest penciler/colorist combos working in comics right now. There’s really no other way to describe them together. Throughout this book, they’ve produced work better than anything else on the market, redesigning mythic characters in all kinds of ways, taking in elements of horror, sentai, traditional British myth, and more. This final chapter sees them giving readers everything they have since the beginning. Oh, and dragons. However, what truly makes the art so beautiful is Mora’s character acting and the way Bonvillain’s colors set each scene. As with the writing, this issue hinges on the action, but it’s the emotion that really sells the story. Without Mora and Bonvillain’s art, Gillen’s script never could have reached the heights it did.
Finally, Dukeshire’s lettering needs to be praised. For thirty issues, he’s had a tough job. He’s had to find a way to capture the voices of a massive cast of characters, many of whom are the most well-known characters in Western myth. He has succeeded brilliantly, creating unique fonts for each one. Letterers don’t get a lot of praise because when they’re doing their jobs right, no one notices. However, Dukeshire has gone above and beyond the call of duty in every issue. This one is no different. He deserves all the praise in the world for the way he brought the dialogue to life.
Once And Future #30 is a brilliant ending. Gillen, Mora, Bonvillain, and Dukeshire created an epic with this book, and this final chapter hit all the right notes. This comic has always been special, and the ending proves why.
