Unholy Grail Comic Series

I just posted the details of a new comic book series called Unholy Grail on the Monstrous Matter of Britain site. The series is from writer Cullen Bunn and artist Mirko Colak and mashes the Arthurian story with elements from the fiction of H. P. Lovecraft.

Details at https://monstrous-matter-of-britain.blogspot.com/search/label/Unholy%20Grail%20%28comic%29.

Allocco on Guinevere in Camelot 3000

Katherine Allocco, historian and Arthurian popular culture specialist, has a new essay on Guinevere in Camelot 3000 set for release in the Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics (http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21504857.2017.1299022). The abstract is as follows:

"Could Guinevere ever be a superhero? Depictions of a warrior queen in Camelot 3000 (1982–1985)"

Camelot 3000, one of Arthuriana’s most influential comic series, has reimagined Queen Guinevere as a heroic warrior who attempts to atone for previous transgressions by slipping on a minidress, picking up a futuristic gun and battling invading aliens. In this book, Guinevere has transcended medieval and modern assumptions of women by occupying a traditionally male sphere and being able to fight with the Knights. She has not, however, been able to transcend medieval and modern assumptions about women’s bodies and sexuality, which remain overly emphasised throughout her storylines, most of which revolve around her emotional and sexual turmoil. The need to sexualise Guinevere, position her as a damsel in distress and perpetuate literary traditions, found especially in Malory, hobbles her transformation into a hero and exemplifies the difficulties that medieval female characters often face when they enter the pages of comic books as warriors.

Allocco's publication history can be accessed from her faculty page at Western Connecticut State (http://www.wcsu.edu/history/allocco.asp) and includes the following of interest (she also has a great  essay on Quest for Camelot, http://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/girlhood-studies/4/1/ghs040108.xml, not cited):

“The Symbiosis of Norse and Medieval Christian Eschatology in DC Vertigo’s Lucifer series” in Apocalyptic Chic: Visions of the Apocalypse and Post-Apocalypse in Literature and Visual Arts. Barbara Bordman and Jim Doan, eds. Rowman, Littlefield, Brown (forthcoming)

“Could Guinevere ever be a Superhero? Depictions of a Warrior Queen in Camelot 3000 (1982- 1985)” Journal of Graphic Novels and Comic Books (March 9, 2017) DOI: 10.1080/21504857.2017.1299022

"Monstrous Morgana: Arthurian Women as Unnatural Amazons in Madame Xanadu (2008- 2010)" Arthuriana 26:3 (Fall 2016), 119-142.

"Vampiric Viragoes: Villainizing and Sexualizing Arthurian Women in King Arthur v. Dracula (2005)" in The Universal Vampire. Barbara Bordman and Jim Doan, eds.. Rowman, Littlefield, Brown, 2013, 149-163.

“Elfquest”in Critical Survey of Graphic Novels: Heroes and Superheroes Bart Beaty and Stephen Weiner, eds.. Pasadena: Salem Press, 2012, 295-300.

CFP The Medieval in American Popular Culture: Reflections in Commemoration of the 80th Anniversary of Prince Valiant

Our affiliate, the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture, is sponsoring a session on "The Medieval in American Popular Culture:Reflections in Commemoration of the 80th Anniversary of Prince Valiant." See the following for complete details: http://medievalinpopularculture.blogspot.com/2017/01/call-for-papers-medieval-in-american.html.