Once & Future #18 (REVIEW)

Apr 27, 2021

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Once & Future #18
BOOM! Studios

Written by: Kieron Gillen
Art by: Dan Mora
Colors by: Tamra Bonvillain
Letters by: Ed Dukeshire

There have probably been a few instances over the years where one panel has perfectly captured the emotion from a single issue well. But I can’t think of one having the same impact as the one I’m thinking of from Once & Future #18. It captured the essence of everything that happened before that panel and what now lays ahead.

Without getting into spoilers (yet), let’s just there are some real idiots featured in this issue — even more than there already were.

Since the craziness of this story is about to get kicked up a notch thanks to the events of Once & Future #18, Tamra Bonvillain’s work is about to reach another level, too. Dan Mora and Kieron Gillen get most of the attention for Once & Future — understandably so — but Bonvillain’s colors have been great, especially when jumping between Earth and Otherworld. With what happened in this issue, Bonvillain is in position to run wild.

Last thing before spoilers: now that things are about to really go haywire, you can bet the action is going to be at a new high. Good thing one of the best artists in the business is drawing Once & Future.

(WARNING: Spoilers ahead for Once & Future #18.)

In case it wasn’t clear to those who read Once & Future #18, the panel I referenced was Duncan, Rose and Gran’s reaction to the Prime Minister of England’s enormous … misstep, we’ll call it.

We all knew nothing good was going to come from him revealing King Arthur’s return, but who thought things would go sideways that quickly? After everything that happened earlier in the issue — it was just so fast!

I want to call it a gut punch, but that seems like a bit of an understatement given the gravity of the situation.

Score: 9