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View Full Version : Gargoyles: Clan-Building: Volume Two



merlyn
08-19-2009, 12:17 AM
I don't know how many people here remember the old animated series "Gargoyles", but a graphic novel sequel to it was recently published, "Clan-Building: Volume Two". (The first volume was published in early 2008.) In the first half of the graphic novel, a re-awakened King Arthur teams up with the gargoyles and Macbeth (yes, *that* Macbeth - he survived into the modern world because of a deal with the three Witches that Shakespeare didn't mention) to protect the Stone of Scone from a secret society bent on stealing it (set against the backdrop of its real-life return to Scotland in November 1996.) The Stone is revealed to have been the very stone that Arthur drew the Sword from to become king (Merlin - with a surprising partner - borrowed it from the Scots for that purpose). The secret society's leadership turns out to have reasons enough to be interested in King Arthur - but I won't say more.

At one point, Arthur mentions that he's been doing research on what people have been saying about him for the last fifteen hundred years, ever since he was borne away to Avalon; one of the books he's been reading is a copy of Malory. (Arthur indicates that the familiar legends weren't entirely accurate.)

The latter half doesn't involve Arthur, but brings in a civil war in medieval Scotland (997, to be precise), with a wealth of historical detail (if a few anachronisms; many of the combatants are dressed in a style more 13th century than 10th); some of the major combatants in the war are ancestors of the principals in "Macbeth".

I recommend "Clan-Building: Volume Two" to anyone who'd like a taste of an intelligent graphic novel depiction of Arthur (especially Arthur in the modern world).