Q&A with Kieron Gillen about ONCE & FUTURE

Once & Future is a new comic series from author Kieron Gillen and artist Dan Mora. It is a new take on Arthurian legend, and I loved it. The comic has also proved very popular as just after the first week it was released, BOOM! Studios announced a fifth printing for it. I was able to ask Gillen some questions about the piece, so check out the Q&A below. Are you loving Once & Future?

1. First, I want to say that I devoured the first issue after the panel at San Diego. It was fantastic. I know that the series takes a lot of inspiration from Arthurian lore, are there specific pieces about Arthurian lore that you would recommend to readers?

Thank you! Honestly, the majority of the research was at the meta level rather than specific texts. As in, how stories changes, how elements were introduced and all that. It’s been a body of myth that’s been around for a long time. I’ve dabbled in things like Mort D’Arthur or Once And Future King or the Histories, but it’s not exactly been What This Book Is About.

But if you want to go to the thing which made me fall for Arthur, hit up the Borman film Excalibur. I don’t think it completely holds up, but its ambition to cram so much in is incredible. I still can’t believe it came out years after Monty Python and The Holy Grail, because as a kid I always presumed it was the movie Monty Python was parodying. That you could release something like Excalibur with The Holy Grail in the world makes it even more heroic.

Oh – and the RPG Pendragon.

2. Will we see Rose again?

I think it’s safe to say that if I introduce a character at the opening of the story I may have plans for them later.

3. I'm not very well versed in Arthurian lore (hence my first question), but where did the idea to make the scabbard, not the sword Excalibur, special? Will the sword also be special?

It’s lifted directly from the myths – it’s just one of the things which people don’t tend to know. I certainly didn’t before I started the research.

In terms of Excalibur… well, the question of the swords in the Arthurian myth is an interesting one too. We’ll get there soon enough, I’m sure.

By the way – If you’re intimidated by Arthur, I honestly wouldn’t be worried about just nosing around Wikipedia a bit. You have to approach with the usual caveats, but for a high level scan of the terrain, there’s a lot there. Equally, I’m writing it so you don’t have to know anything – anything obscure, I’m going to introduce properly. It’s all based on stuff, but often with a hard riff. There’s tiny easter eggs for people who know the myths better, of course, but it’s important to be accessible.

It’s one area where Duncan’s ignorance really helps, of course. He doesn’t know any of this, so Bridgette can explain stuff to him.

4. Did you base Bridgette and Duncan (or anyone else really) on people in your life or other characters?

Grandmother/Grandchild is an amazingly important dynamic in so many people’s lives, but so rare to see in genre fiction, so I thought it’d be a fun one to drop in. The core inspiration for them was basically my relationship with my own gran. That’s just the tiny bit in the centre – her who came over to work as a young teen, me as weirdly bookish first-kid-in-a-working-class-family-to-go-to-university. From that dynamic, everything else was built. My Gran was deeply superstitious, so completely the opposite of Bridgette in that way, for example. Also she wasn’t a monster hunter. At least, as far as I know.

5. In this day and age, everything seems to be adapted into a film and/or series. If Once & Future were to be adapted, do you have any thoughts as to who you'd like to see in key roles? Any directors you'd want to helm it?

This is the sort of stuff I just don’t think about. I have enough to worry about with the comic, and turn my attention to other media when other media comes a calling.

6. Can you give us a teaser for issue #2?

It includes the scene which made me want to write this whole series.

7. Do you have any recommendations on other comics you would recommend to people that you are personally enjoying right now?

I wish I was enough of an egotist to just recommend my own work. Oh, to be that kind of monster.

(secondarcofDIEisoutnowWicDivfinalissueoutsoon)

When I Arrived at the Castle (the new Emily Carroll) is fascinating, as always. She’s a constant inspiration. I finally got around to reading M. Dean’s I Am Young – it won the Creators For Creators grant to which I contribute, but only managed to get a copy when I was in San Francisco earlier this month, and it’s a wonderful fragmented story about love and music set across decades. Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe is a wonderful bit of autobio. In more a genre place, Coffin Bound came out a couple of weeks back from Dan Watters and Dani, and is a pure berserk Beckett-does-Grindhouse.

All the usual favourites, too – the generation of books which launched post-Saga are starting to wrap up, and seeing how my peers are landing these big, personal projects is a lot of fun.

Once & Future #1 is out now at your favorite comic book store. Hurry and make sure they have copies or get your name on a waiting list.