Writer Madeleine Holly-Rosing notes that we’ve seen Morgana Pendragon aka Morgaine LeFay as a villain time and time again. We say her name and everybody knows what role she plays in Arthurian legend. Of course, we’re also in the 21st century, a time we love shedding new light on old villains.
At first glance, Holly-Rosing’s Morgana Pendragon might not seem that surprising a concept. Yes, Morgana has been misunderstood by history. Her relationship with her brother King Arthur isn’t as antagonistic as the legends say. But even in her own time, the legends loom large. In Holly-Rosing’s telling, Morgana needs those legends not because she’s evil, but because she no longer has her magic. Though she serves righteousness, she needs people to be intimidated.
While this comic has a tinge of classical storytelling, what makes it different is that Morgana Pendragon is now almost a pulp hero. She’s been in Europe for years, working with a team to mete out well-paid justice. That justice comes with magic fake-outs. It’s almost disappointing that their antics have to be cut short so the actual plot can begin. Morgana must return home to reunite with her brother and possibly broker a peaceful succession of power.
Thus her team gets little screen time in the first issue. Their personalities get condensed to bios in the back of the book. It’s understandable. It just points toward a just as enjoyable prequel series of this medieval A-Team faking out Europe. Either series, the one in hand or the one in my mind, would be handily illustrated by Holly-Rosing’s collaborator, artist Alden Kaye. His character design is bright and strong (colored by Warnia Sahadewa), making it easy to keep a large cast of characters straight in the reader’s mind. Though not the point, of course, they’d make great action figures.
Action is necessarily but not the point. It’s clear that Morgana Pendragon has survived by being the smartest person in the room wherever she is. Facing her brother after too long, she has the challenge of helping him seem like the smartest person long enough to keep Camelot from falling apart completely.
It is a different take, one that changes the lens on Camelot without insisting on demystifying it. Morgana Pendragon is still a fantasy; Morgana herself is stuck being a very real woman trying to keep a step ahead without fantastic powers herself. It’s unclear how far Madeleine Holly-Rosing plans to take this adventure, but it will be worth holding on to the end.
You can order the first issue here.
