The Once and Future Queen #1 Review: A Solid Start

It’s a known fact that the Western world loves the story of King Arthur. So much so that you can hit at least ten different versions of the story just by throwing a stone in the right bookstore. One of the more recent examples is “The Once and Future Queen” by Adam P. Knave and DJ Kirkbride with art by Nick Brokenshire. The first issue does have a strong start but has some minor flaws.

Rani Arturus is visiting England with family for a chess tournament. After losing on the first day, she decides to look around the countryside. It is there that she finds the legendary sword Excalibur and finds out she’s King Arthur. Meanwhile, a group of fey sees this as their opportunity to finally kill King Arthur.

This sounds like the makings of a fan fiction down to the names. There’s Arturus (Arthur,) Gwen (Guinevere) and Lance (Lancelot.) The only difference here is that Knave and Kirkbride understand plot structure, story structure and everything else associated with storytelling.

With that aside, it’s a rather enjoyable take on the Arthurian myth. The first issue does a fine of introducing this idea. However, the conflict is a bit cliché, but the writers might be able to pull off something that is well written and does not go into the realm of fan fiction.

Some may be put off by Merlin in a spacesuit, but once you remember that Merlin ages backward and is supposed to be super eccentric, this makes sense in a weird way. It’s interesting to see where this Merlin goes.

The art fine. The character designs are nicely done, as well as the use of color to create tone is great. The only real minor gripe is the odd colors used in backgrounds. There’s a lot of use of purple here which is an odd choice. A purple wall does bring attention to itself and just looks weird.

The first issue of “The Once and Future Queen” may seem like fan fiction, but it is well written enough to make the reader want to read the next four issues. The idea of a female Arthur in a modern setting does have some room to be enjoyable as long as the reader doesn’t get distracted by all the purple being used in this comic.