Casebier on Le Chevalier et la Charrette

 Out now in the Journal of the International Arthurian Society:

Casebier, Karen. "Deviant Characters and the Limits of Inventio in ‘Le Chevalier et la Charrette’" Journal of the International Arthurian Society, vol. 10, no. 1, 2022, pp. 94-113. https://doi.org/10.1515/jias-2022-0007

Abstract

This essay will examine the characterisation of the principal characters and events in ‘Le Chevalier et la Charrette’, a contemporary graphic novel adaption of the Méléagant episode based on Chrétien de Troyes’s  Le Chevalier de la charrette , by applying Mieke Bal’s classic study on narratology, in which legendary and ‘deviant’ characters evoke reactions of surprise or revulsion in the reader. The first section will address the limits of  inventio  in the portrayal of Lancelot, a legendary character whose behaviour and actions are somewhat limited by the reader’s background knowledge of him, whereas the remainder of the essay will focus on the use of the Lady of the Lake as a deviant character in the Méléagant episode. In the graphic novella, the Lady of the Lake is reinvented as a representation of Ankou, the servant of Death in Breton folklore. This allows the author and illustrator of the graphic novella to take advantage of the lacunae in the reader’s background knowledge to present a previously unknown facet of the Lady of the Lake’s character that bridges the gap between literary adaptation and literary appropriation, thereby resulting in a new cultural product that links medieval Arthurian legend to traditional Breton mythology. 

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.

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.

Kalamazoo 2012 Session Update

The Society has finalized the details of its comics-themed roundtable. Full details are on the Medieval Comics Project blog, and I have posted the Arthurian-themed papers below:

The Comics Get Medieval at Kalamazoo: New Perspectives for Incorporating Comics into Medieval Studies Teaching and Research

2. “Caliber (2008), or Arthur’s Mystical Six-Shooter and the Gunslingers of the O.K. Corral”

Karen (Casey) Casebier, St. Mary’s College of Maryland

3. “Arthurian Themes in DC Comic’s Demon Knights (2011-)”

Jason Tondro, University of California, Riverside

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.

Arthurian eComics

I came across the following last night on DriveThruComics.com:

Arthur: The Legend Continues (Cosmic Times) 1 & 2:
No. 1 tells of the death of King Arthur. No. 2 of his return in England's darkest hour.

Destiny of the Dragon: Daughters of Merlin (Jester Press Comics) 1, 2, & 3
At the fall of Camelot, Merlin gathers three women together, but they are separated when a band of dragons attack. The three are reunited centuries later and charged by Merlin (who is rather Doctor Who-like) to recreate the Round Table to save their universe.

Digital Visions (Visionary Comics) 2 & 4
No. 2 includes a preview of A. David Lewis's Gangland Avalon. No. 2 presents what I assume is the first story, which looks like we are being set up for a boy king/coming of King Arthur story. Gangland Avalon is a modern-day recasting /restaging of the legend in gangster/mob trappings.

Ex Occultus: A Matter of Britain (Saint James Comics)
The last days of an immortal Lancelot.

Pilot Season: Lady Pendragon (Top Cow)
Catches readers up to date on the Lady Pendragon Saga and suggests future storylines.

Tonari no Shugoshin

Ako Shimaki's Tonari no Shugoshin is an Arthurian-themed manga originally serialized in 2007 and presents the domestication of Lancelot by a teen-aged girl living in modern Japan, a storyline that offers a counterpoint to the Fate/stay night anime (also from 2007) in which a female Arthur is brought forward in time and domesticated (in part) by a teen-aged boy. In Tonari no Shugoshin, Lancelot is magically brought into the present and, though he often slips back into knightly behavior, he quickly assumes the guise and costume of a high school student. Much of the series is devoted to the girl's shifting feelings towards Lancelot, and Shimaki includes some graphic scenes (thus making this yet another example of what Elizabeth S. Sklar has labeled "naughty Arthuriana") as the two attempt to resolve their relationship. The manga has been collected by Egmont and released, unfortunately only in German (with a translation by Christine Steinle), as a two-volume series, re-titled Tonari no Guardian, available through Amazon.co.uk. The series can also be read in English through various fan sites, like MangaFox. I first came across mention of the series in John Lance Griffith's essay "Integration and Inversion: Western Medieval Knights in Japanese Manga and Anime" published online in the Korean journal Medieval and Early Modern English Studies 17.1 (2009); Grifith offers a summary of the manga and an analysis of its use of the Arthurian legend.