"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.
