I was positive, but this cover didn't look familiar, and it was a buck, so here we are: from 1983,
Camelot 3000 #8, "Judas Knight" Written by Mike W. Barr, pencils by Brian Bolland, inks by Terry Austin.
Morgan seems to have a lock on convincing Tristan to betray the Round Table: the knight had been reincarnated in a woman's body, and wasn't thrilled about it, as it was keeping him from his lover, Isolde. There was a lot of betrayal going round, though; as Arthur was currently moping over learning about Lancelot and Gwen. Overdramatically, he intones everyone had betrayed him, except his brother Kay. Yeah, you can see it coming in three, two...
Kay tries to get Merlin to talk to Arthur and break him out of his melancholy: it's out of his element, but Merlin agrees to give it a try. Then, unseen, Morgan's agent sneaks into Merlin's quarters, and smashes a pyramid-shaped charm. That charm had been all that was keeping
Nyneve away from Merlin; and with it gone, she was taking him back! (I don't know much about that aspect of the Arthur legends, but without context, it looks like Merlin was being taken home and was about to get
rocked.) Furious, Arthur checks Merlin's room, and finds Tristan standing over the smashed charm. It looks bad, but she swears she didn't do it, even if she was tempted.
Arthur circles the wagons, calling in Lancelot and Gwen, to get to the bottom of this; telling Tristan "...the sword
Excalibur may cleave
truth from
falsehood," and would kill anyone who lies while holding it. Tristan swears she did not betray Merlin, while Lancelot and Gwen are able to say the same, but Kay hesitates. He had betrayed Merlin, but with good intentions: he had overheard Morgan and Tristan before, so he approached Morgan, asking for nothing for himself, hoping seeing Merlin betrayed would shake Arthur out of his depression. Of course he also thought Merlin would be able to resist Nyneve...and that Arthur wouldn't kill him for this betrayal.
Kay is sentenced to die at dawn, but is saved by an attack from Morgan's forces. Momentarily: he then sacrifices himself in the battle, to save Arthur. (If Morgan had waited a moment, for Arthur to execute Kay, she probably could've demolished the demoralized Round Table right there.) Thomas, who had first found Arthur, is badly injured; and made a Knight himself; as a new quest begins: to find the Holy Grail, to use it to save him from radiation poisoning. Morgan, watching them through her crystal ball, wants the grail for herself: she was infected with a lichen-looking growth. Tristan swears she'll force Morgan to make a man out of her; while Lancelot asks if Excalibur could offer them more divine guidance. Arthur confesses, while mighty, the sword didn't have any truth powers...but Kay didn't know that.
I should take this afternoon and re-read the rest of this series; get it back in mind before I end up with another set of it.
Shit, send me any copies you already have. You sent me a couple already, and I'm reminded of how just how damn good that series was. Shame there was never a sequel, as it there really should've been I thought.
ReplyDeleteI was going to complain about it not being given the trade treatment, but upon doing some research it was 1st collected in trade in 1988, then given a deluxe collected edition in 2008, then a softcover version in 2013, so I guess DC really did give fans of the series plenty of chances to get the whole story in its entirety.
I do wish there had been a follow up sequel though, although I guess there might've not been a compelling enough story to focus on for 12 issues, let alone half that maybe.
I see there was an episode of Legends of Tomorrow form the 2dn season that loosely adapted Camelot 300, key word being loosely.
I also didn't know Barr shipped this to Marvel first, and they approved of it enough to want to publish it in one of their b&w magazines, but it just never happened. Marvel's loss for sure.
Would NOT mind a Camelot 3000 animated movie or short as well.
I have to disagree- it should work, considering everybody on it is great, but it does nothing for me at all. I feel like they tried to make it into something bigger and more important than it is, and that's why it falls short for me.
ReplyDelete