Arthurian Legend

Western Literature is full of characters that are larger than life, often bordering on the mythical. From time travelers and tragic figures to boy wizards and sympathetic monsters, there is one character or another that resonates with everyone. 

 

Manticore.   Salisbury Bestiary	The Sword and the Stone.   Walt Disney	The Knight on the Cart.   Chrétien de Troyes

 

By far, one character tends to stand as the penultimate influence on western culture. Long considered to be a real person who is now almost universally understood to be an amalgamation of differing leaders with heavy doses of moral posturing. This figure has long dominated the minds, hearts, and emotions of the world, infusing all aspects of culture and society. From bedtime stories to world leaders, King Arthur has long influenced our understanding of the world. 

But what is it about King Arthur and his stories that appeal to us? Professor Sarah Peverly (Ph.D. History) states that “...Arthur is a touchstone for strong leadership and accord, showing what society could achieve, but never does.” (Peverley, 2014). She concludes her post with “As a narrative of nation and community exploring the human condition. Arthur’s rise and fall is the story of civilization itself locked in an endless cycle of beginnings and endings. That is why Arthur has and always will be the once and future king.” (Peverly, 2014) 

Regardless of what Arthurian Legend may represent, it’s the ubiquity that is astounding. A quick survey of predominantly western materials indicates just how infused our entertainment has become with the legends and lore of the “King of Kings.” The obvious mediums are of course, books and film, but Arthurian influence has also suffused music, theatre, television, games (video, board, card, etc.), and even tapestries, paintings, mosaics, and illuminated manuscripts. For example, Camelot was a massive hit on Broadway when it debuted with Richard Burton and Julie Andrews. Marion Zimmer Bradley’s examination of the women of Arthurian legend became a major inspiration and renewed interest in Arthurian legend. Kamelot’s entire conceit is centered around Arthurian legend. 

 

Playbill for Camelot	Cover to The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley	Siege Perilous by Kamelot

 

There’s a large collection of video games across platforms from beat-em-ups, to tactical resource management simulators, to puzzle games. This one below is by far one of my favorites. 

Knights of the Round Arcade Game by Capcom

 

The Heroes tapestries were created sometime around the 1400’s by an unknown hand who crafted large woolen tapestries exalting the nine heroes – those figures from literature and history that were embodiments of pure chivalry. Of the original nine tapestries, only five survive – David and Joshua, Hector and Julius Cesar, and King Arthur. 

King Arthur (from the Heroes Tapestries)

 

The presence and influence of Arthurian ideals even bled into American politics. The White House under the Kennedy presidency was referred to as Camelot, and in a way, with Kennedy’s assassination, it was as Arthur and Mordred had once again destroyed each other and signaled the end of an era of innocence.  

President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jackie Kennedy attend performance of “Mr. President” Photograph by Abbie Rowe

 

As for comics, there are hundreds of iterations of King Arthur across the different publishing houses, as well as characters modeled after his ideology. This time around, we’ll look at three different interpretations of the legends of King Arthur. 

  

Camelot 3000    Author: Mike W. Barr  Artist: Brian Bolland   Publisher: DC Comics Collected Edition Original Cover Price: $12.99 ISBN: 978-0-930289-30-0

 

In the year 3000, Earth is an absolute mess. The world is controlled by four corrupt autocrats (all parodies of the then pre-eminent world leaders) who in turn, are all but incapable of repelling an alien invasion bent on eradicating humanity. A glimmer of hope arises when Tom Prentice, a young archeologist accidentally opens the tomb of King Arthur. 

 

Destined to return when England needs him most, Arthur quickly takes young Tom under his wing as a squire and sets out to recreate the Round Table to defeat this newest threat to his land. Along the way, old loves will be rekindled, betrayals long expected will reoccur, bonds will be tested, broken, and mended, and an ancient evil will threaten not only Arthur’s rule, but the very existence of life as we know it. 

 

Camelot 3000 was important for DC Comics at the time. Billed as the first “Maxi-Series” book ever published in addition to being the first comic book series to be printed on Baxter Paper (which was a sturdier, whiter paper that held colors exceptionally well) as opposed to the standard, lower quality newsprint. Incidentally, this was also one of the first positive representations of transgenderism in comics. 

 

The character of Sir Tristan is reincarnated in the body of a person assigned as female at birth. Tristan’s struggle with coming to accept who they are becomes a reoccurring subtheme through the story and is compounded by the fact that Tristan’s eternal love, Isolde, is reincarnated as a woman, who declares at the end of the book that she will love Tristan regardless of how they look. While this is still an incredibly powerful statement today, it was revolutionary in 1984. 

 

Now granted, no story is without its flaws, and Camelot 3000 is no different. Having just passed the 40th anniversary, the story feels wooden and stilted in spots, while some plot elements have lost their cultural touchstones (especially the world leaders – what felt like biting social commentary at the time now loses a lot of the comedic effect), and a fair amount of Tristan’s internal monolog is misogynistic, sexist, and can be troubling to some modern readers. More to the point, this feels more like a modern (for the time) adaptation of Le Morte de Arthur by Thomas Mallory, with a naive, surface examination of the legend. Regardless of these rough spots, it is a good read with a mostly solid story to back it up that in its own way inspires hope and belief in better days to come. 

 

Once and Future    Written by: Kieron Gillen  Illustrated by: Dan Mora  Colors by: Tamra Bonvillain  Publisher: Boom! Studios Price: $16.99  ISBN: 978-1-684154-91-3 (book 1)

 

Arthur has always been presented as defending England from Anglo-Saxon invaders. What if British Nationalists decided to bring him back to the modern age to purge those whom they consider unworthy, or not “pure” enough? What would happen if one of those nationalists had a mother who was a retired monster hunter trained to thwart such attempts, and to thwart her daughter’s plans at purging racial “impurities” this monster hunter recruited her own grandson, a museum curator in a deadly, and probably futile attempt at preventing a decidedly hostile resurrected King intent on reconquering a multi-cultural England? 

 

On top of trying to prevent a blood-thirsty resurrected mythical being from purging England, Gillen layers in inter-generational family trauma, alternate-world shifting, variations on folklore figures (multiple versions of characters, all believing they are the only correct one), and for added complexity, introduce other famous literary figures from European and Scandanavian mythology. The outcome is a heaping helping of otherworldly terror with a good bit of body horror thrown in for good measure, with Arthurian legend scattered liberally about for good measure. 

Taken as a whole, Gillen is decidedly in his home element – fusing legend with smart writing and horror themes.  The sheer scope of the story does cause it to get entangled in itself from time to time, and, especially later in the series, the characters begin to muddle a bit, and it can get confusing as to what iteration of who someone is. That is a minor complaint against a story that goes all out in putting a realistic and terrifying spin on what can happen is we allow legends, folklore, and mythology to dictate ideology. 

  

Knights of the Lunch Table    Written by: Frank Cammuso  Illustrated by: Frank Cammuso  Published by: Scholastic Original Price: $9.99  ISBN: 978-1-684154-91-3 (book 1)

 

A popular trend has been to de-age characters or take the concept of a character and put them in a contemporary setting, only to have them experience age adjusted events that mimic or call back to their original adventures. 

This idea is on full display in Knights of the Lunch Table. Artie King is newly arrived at Camelot Middle School and has no friends. His older sister Morgan is a constant source of irritation, and on his first day of school, he makes a couple of new friends - Percy and Wayne, makes some new adversaries – a bunch of bullies who steal his lunch and want to separate his head from his body with dodgeballs, a malevolent principal who rules the school with an iron fist, and a mentor and science teacher, Mr. Merlin. After he is assigned the mythical locker (001XCL) that can only be opened by the prophesized one, Arthur quickly becomes target number one for all of the dangerous elements of the school. 

One of the best things about this series is that not only are there a ton of references to various aspects of Arthurian Legend, but just for fun, Cammuso throws in Shakespearean elements as well. While this series does not follow Le Morte de Arthur very closely, it still feels “true” to the legends, even more so than the other two titles combined. In fact, there are so many allusions, references, and inferences, an Arthurian historian would have a field day finding them all. The Shakespearian references are more distanced but feel just as important and vital to the story as the Arthurian ones. They never feel forced or intrusive, and if you’re not familiar with the bard’s words, they can very easily slip by, leaving the reader with the nagging feeling that there was something more there (so when you come back and read it again later, you get that rush of recognition). 

Cammuso has done a remarkable thing with this series - he’s created endearing, engaging characters that maintain their appeal through the entire series without getting pedantic, overbearing, or “untouchable.” The sense of potential defeat constantly dogs Artie and his friends, which ultimately adds to the sense of triumph when they are able to finally succeed. 

 

 

 

 

Sources 

Barr, M. W. & Bolland, M. (2013). Camelot 3000 (Collected) [Trade Paperback]. DC Comics.  

Bralds, B. Mists of Avalon. (1982). Private Collection, Hawaii.  

Bradley, M. Z. (2001). The Mists of Avalon: A Novel. Ballantine Books. 

Capcom. (1991). Knights of the round. (v.1), [video game]. Capcom. 

Cornish, J. (2019). The Kid who would be King. 20th [Film] Century Studios. 

De Barron, R. King Arthur in combat. (14th C.). Bridgeman Art Library. Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, France 

Gillen, K., Mora, D., & Bonvillain, T. (2019). Once & Future #1 (Vol. 1) [Trade Paperback]. Boom! Studios. 

Green, R. L. (2008). King Arthur and his knights of the round table. Penguin UK. 

John of Salisbury. Manticore. (1159) Bodleian Library MS. Bodl. 764. (n.d.). Digital Bodleian. https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/ecf96804-a514-4adc-8779-2dbc4e4b2f1e/surfaces/ee2bf789-7152-449b-9760-fa864718e2d0/ 

Jones, T. & Gilliam, T. (1975). Monty Python and the Holy Grail [Film]. EMI Films. 

Kamelot. (1998). Siége Perilous. [Album}. Noise Records 

Lerner, A (Writer), & Loewe, F (Director). (December 3, 1960). Camelot. Majestic Theatre. 

Peverley, S. (2017, January 10). The appeal of King Arthur across the centuries. Professor Sarah Peverley. https://sarahpeverley.com/2014/02/21/the-appeal-of-king-arthur-across-the-centuries/ 

Rowe, A. (25 September 1962). President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy attend performance of "Mr. President" [photograph]. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston. https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/JFKWHP/1962/Month%2009/Day%2025/JFKWHP-1962-09-25-L 

Unknown. (circa 1400). King Arthur (Heroes Tapestries) [Wool Tapestry]. The Met. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/467528 

Zucker, J. 1995. First Knight [Film]. Columbia Pictures.