More Knights of the Living Dead

Issues 3 and 4 of Knights of the Living Dead are now available for purchase as digital comics. Details at http://www.slgcomic.com/knights. The series is also, according the publisher, "available at the iTunes Store and coming soon to Comixology, iVerse, Graphicly and BN.COM (for Nook and Nook Color)."

Knights of the Living Dead Update

In my further quest for information on the recent series Knights of the Living Dead, I came across the following solicitation proving that the digital comics are merely a sampler of part of a larger story (perhaps to be told in multiple volumes):

KNIGHTS OF THE LIVING DEAD GN VOLUME 1

The mournful king, Arthur, has sentenced Queen Guinievere to burn for her infidelity, but he none-too-secretly expects her lover, Sir Lancelot, to save her. And here comes rescuer - Lancelot! - the greatest knight, on the greatest stallion. With a horde of the shambling dead behind him. As the greatest knight of all fights through the courtyard to reach the queen, Guinivere, before she burns at the stake, she sees he is not the hero she expected. Lancelot is among the stricken of the 'walking starvation.' Knights of Living Dead transcends the brain-munching of most zombie fiction and examines the nature of the soul and the essence of being.

Paperback: 168 pages
Publisher: SLG Publishing (May 8, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1593622317
ISBN-13: 978-1593622312

Zombies in Camelot

It had to happen eventually. Ron Wolfe and Dustin Higgins have produced Knights of the Living Dead, a mash-up of Arthurian legend and zombies, for SLG Publishing. The first issue is free to download, and the second costs $.99. Details and purchase information at http://www.slgcomic.com/knights.

Knights of the Living Dead offers an engaging twist on the fall of Camelot featuring a zombie-fied Lancelot who unknowingly sets a zombie plague against Arthur's realm, destroys its king, and poisons Merlin. Guinevere has a strong presence in the series (as does Mordred, though he meets an untimely end), and it seems to close with the promise of future adventures.

Zombie fans might also be interested in Marvel Zombies 5 No. 3, which also features a zombie invasion of Camelot. A detailed synopsis is available at the Marvel Database.

Prince Valiant on Film/TV Update

I had thought I posted this before, but it looks like I forgot. Kevin Harty's recent collection The Vikings on Film: Essays on Depictions of the Nordic Middle Ages includes a number of discussions on adaptations of Prince Valiant to film and television, as follows (see post on The Medieval Comics Project for details on non-Arthurian comics to film/TV addressed here):


The Vikings on Film: Essays on Depictions of the Nordic Middle Ages
Edited by Kevin J. Harty

Print ISBN: 978-0-7864-6044-1 = $38.00
Ebook ISBN: 978-0-7864-8638-0
22 illustrations, notes, filmography, bibliographies, index
236pp. softcover (7 x 10) 2011

Table of Contents

Preface 1
Introduction: "Save Us, O Lord, from the Fury of the Northmen"; or, "Do You Know What’s in Your Wallet?" 3
KEVIN J. HARTY

The Trope of the Scopic in The Vikings (1958) 9
KATHLEEN COYNE KELLY
Guess Who’s Coming to Plunder? Or, Disorientation and Desire in The Long Ships (1964) 24
DONALD L. HOFFMAN
"To be, or not to be"--King: Clive Donner’s Alfred the Great (1969) 39
CHRISTOPHER A. SNYDER
Valiant and Villainous Vikings 46 [on 1954 Prince Valiant]
ALAN LUPACK
Silly Vikings: Eichinger, Hickox, and Lorenz’s Anglo-German-Irish Production of Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant (1997) 56
JOSEPH M. SULLIVAN
When Civilization Was Less Civilized: Erik the Viking (1989) 72
SUSAN ARONSTEIN
"The Love of All Mankind but Also the Love of One Woman Alone": Hrafn Gunnlaugsson’s Shadow of the Raven (1988) 83
JOAN TASKER GRIMBERT and CLAUDIA BORNHOLDT
Different Pathfinders, Different Destinations 96
ROBERTA DAVIDSON
Who’s Savage Now?!--The Vikings in North America 106
KEVIN J. HARTY
Call of the Wild: Culture Shock and Viking Masculinities in The 13th Warrior (1999) 121
ELIZABETH S. SKLAR
Harrying an Infinite Horizon: The Ethics of Expansionism in Outlander (2008) 135
DAVID W. MARSHALL
Between Exploitation and Liberation: Viking Women and the Sexual Revolution 150
LAURIE A. FINKE and MARTIN B. SHICHTMAN
Time Out of Joint: Why a Gaul Fought the Normans in Asterix and the Vikings (2005) 165
ANDREW B. R. ELLIOTT
Northern Lite: A Brief History of Animated Vikings 178
MICHAEL N. SALDA
The Vikings on Film: A Filmography 193
KEVIN J. HARTY

About the Contributors 215
Index 219

New from SelfMadeHero as part of their Eye Classics line, this graphic novelization of Malory presents the Arthurian story from the conception of King Arthur to the coming of Lancelot:

Le Morte D'Arthur: “The Coming of the King, Volume One”

Author of Original: Sir Thomas Malory
Adaptor: John Matthews
Illustrator: Will Sweeney

ISBN: 9781906838249
Available: Mar 2011
Binding: PB(f)
Price: £14.99
Size: 165x241
Extent: 144 pp
Colour: Full colour [actually blue color with black ink on cream-colored paper (as shown)]

Product Description
The epic legend of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table is re-imagined here as a visually stunning graphic novel adapted by John Matthews and illustrated by Will Sweeney. This faithful reworking of Sir Thomas Malory's chivalric masterpiece introduces the young Arthur and charts his rise to power as King of Britain and the formation of his Knights of the Round Table. Aided by Merlin, Arthur must unite the kingdoms of Britain under his banner and take on adventures that will take him closer to his destiny and a danger caused by those he loves and trusts most.

Knights of the Lunch Table #3

The Battling Bands, volume three of Frank Cammuso's Knights of the Lunch Table, was released earlier this month. Here are the details from his web site:

A battle is looming at Camelot Middle School--a battle of the bands, that is! Artie, Wayne, and Percy enter the talent show seeking fame and fortune. But only one of them plays an instrument: Percy. And he plays the tuba. Their only hope of winning is finding the long-lost "Singing Sword," the fabled instrument of awesome power.
But how can Artie find time to rock when he's been assigned a new lab partner, Melody Claymore? Melody is a klutz and a goof, and she harbors a not-so-secret crush on Artie. Is Melody his worst nightmare or secretly the answer to his prayers?

Ages 9-12

Paperback: 128 pages

Classics Illustrated Returns

British publisher Classic Comic Store Ltd. has begun releasing reproductions of the original Classics Illustrated series, all with re-colored artwork and digitally enhanced cover art. Number 11 of their new line includes a reprint from 2009 of "Knights of the Round Table," which was originally published as Classics Illustrated No. 108 in June 1953. The book, which (as to be expected from a story from 1953) presents a bowdlerized account of the complete Arthurian story from Arthur's birth to his death and focuses on the adventures of Gareth, Galahad, and Lancelot, is nicely produced with crisp art and glossy white pages. Appendices include a history of the Round Table in medieval Arthurian literature, an overview of the Arthurian legend on film (and some TV), two versions of Arthur's genealogy (from Geoffrey of Monmouth and Thomas Malory), a short essay on the history of Excalibur, 5 questions to spark discussion on the Matter of Britain, and a timeline of Arthurian Britain.