Review by Ian Keogh

The conclusion to Once & Future is the same oversized format as before, but slightly slimmer for only combining two paperbacks, Monarchies in the U.K. and The Wasteland. Together they greatly complicate the premise of how stories are transmitted through the ages based on the sea change delivered at the end of Book One. The British Isles has been absorbed by Otherworld, allowing for the resurrection of many myths and legends beyond the Arthutian ones beginning the story.

Kieron Gillen may have researched extensively, but there’s also a prodigious creative intelligence behind Once & Future, apparent alone in the pithy dialogue he supplies Bridgette McGuire, the cynic’s cynic. Even more so than the manipulative character we’ve come to know, the sum of a lifetime’s experience suppressing the return of the supernatural, she shines here in drawing matters to a close. To date Gillen’s kept her as the puller of rabbits from hats, disclosing little to her grandson Duncan and his girlfriend Rose, much to their frustration, but here one of her methods becomes apparent. If you have to deal with a power beyond reckoning, keep them occupied by unleashing others of their ilk, leaving you to go about your business more freely.

Just as the original Arthurian legend is in effect a twisted family soap opera, so is Once & Future, with manipulation frequent and distressing. In Bridgette’s case it’s the quickest means to an end, a policy that’s completely tainted her daughter, who’s learned, but not as well as she might. Merlin is the grandaddy of all manipulators, but the side of him on show here is also a very weary old man who just wants the story cycle to end.

The magnificence of Dan Mora’s art accompanied by Tamra Bonvillain’s colouring is apparent from opening any page, and there’s no artistic decline or complacency, Mora seemingly determined to top previous heights.

All that is to some extent window dressing, as Gillen’s been dealing with stories throughout, and the primary concern of anyone following a story is whether there’s a satisfactory ending. There is. It’s violent, shocking and unsentimental, but true to everything that’s gone before. It also leaves the door ajar should the creators wish to return to this world.