Camelot 3000 12 (April 1985)

So, I’ll just spoil a little of Camelot 3000‘s finish, not all the details, though there are a lot and all of them are dumb. Anyway, the comic ends with a somewhat cute alien pulling Excalibur from a stone in the far flung future.

It’s kind of like the end of 2010. It’s an amusing scene and Bolland gives it a lot of grandeur. Too bad the pages previous to it are lame. Not the art, of course, but Barr’s story. It’s dreadful.

He also seems to have done the whole subplot with the gender-changed Knight to give Bolland an excuse for a lesbian sex scene. It’s nearly tasteful, but there are some really tasteless additions to plummet it.

The ethnic supporting Knights both get weak send offs and the Modred conclusion’s silly.

It’s a bad finish to a bad series. Bolland and Austin deserved a much better project.

CREDITS

Long Live the King!; writer, Mike W. Barr; penciller, Brian Bolland; inker, Terry Austin; colorist, Tatjana Wood; letterer, John Costanza; editor, Len Wein; publisher, DC Comics.

Contemporaneously…

Swamp Thing 35 (April 1985)

Camelot 3000 11 (July 1984)

Why would Morgan LeFay resurrect Isolde and let her work against Morgan’s evil plans? It makes absolutely no sense, but I guess it doesn’t matter because the Earth events this issue have no bearing on the actual story. Barr’s just filling space.

The adventures on the mysterious tenth planet aren’t bad though. I mean, they get bad at the end, when Barr reduces his cast to two or three important characters and ignores everyone else… but it’s not bad at the start. For once, Barr has something for the Knights to do. Shame it took him until the second to last issue.

There’s some cool stuff with the aliens too. Barr’s a lot bigger on gender equality than his soft handling of his historically rapist protagonists suggests. He gets so close this issue, I expected him to address it.

He does not.

This issue is probably a whole third good.

CREDITS

War!; writer, Mike W. Barr; penciller, Brian Bolland; inker, Terry Austin; colorist, Tatjana Wood; letterer, John Costanza; editor, Len Wein; publisher, DC Comics.

Contemporaneously…

Camelot 3000 10 (March 1984)

I get Barr’s dramatic thrust now–Merlin’s been kidnapped, Modred has the Grail, but I can’t remember what the series’s initial dramatic thrust. What was Arthur back to fix? Was it the unhappiness of human race or was it to drive the aliens off the planet?

He failed the second in the comic and I assume the first too, even though Barr has basically forgotten there are people in Camelot‘s world besides his main cast.

This issue has visual throwbacks to both Tron and the Flash Gordon movie. Not sure either of those films should be a visual source guide; also not sure who’s to blame, Bolland or Barr.

The art’s decent, though it shows signs of a rush again. Austin apparently can’t work miracles.

There’s a neat implication Morgan LeFay can’t have any contact with other people because her back fungus eats them. Makes one wonder if she’s lonely.

CREDITS

Prelude to War!; writer, Mike W. Barr; penciller, Brian Bolland; inker, Terry Austin; colorist, Tatjana Wood; letterer, John Costanza; editor, Len Wein; publisher, DC Comics.

Contemporaneously…

The Saga of the Swamp Thing 22 (March 1984)

Camelot 3000 9 (December 1983)

Barr really doesn’t know what to do with a big cast, does he? I keep forgetting about the Japanese Knight of the Round Table and the black one. The Japanese guy is actually Lancelot’s son, but Barr hasn’t explored the subplot, which is too bad.

The art, from Bolland and Austin again, is great. Too bad the story isn’t. Some of the problems do come from Bolland’s composition though. It was unclear the Earth had been overridden with the aliens; Bolland could have established that setting better. He doesn’t.

There’s a lot of flashbacks to Old Camelot this issue, most of them revealing how awful the characters behaved. Arthur tried to drown his son? The transgender (now female) knight used to rape peasant girls? Barr doesn’t acknowledge they don’t seem any better than Morgan LeFay. A lot less amusing in fact.

At least it’s a relatively fast and painless read.

CREDITS

Grailquest 3000; writer, Mike W. Barr; penciller, Brian Bolland; inker, Terry Austin; colorist, Tatjana Wood; letterer, John Costanza; editor, Len Wein; publisher, DC Comics.

Contemporaneously…

Camelot 3000 8 (September 1983)

The art this issue, with the Austin inks, reaches an outstanding level. It makes the comic worthwhile, which is good, since Barr’s plotting is a disaster.

He continues the betrayal subplot, then decides to force an entire issue out of it by contriving a complication. Worse, he keeps complicating the situation to contrive more pages. Sure, the art’s great, but it’s an utterly pointless narrative.

One can see Barr’s outline–this issue ends with the quest for the Holy Grail returning. Why is the Holy Grail important, because of Arthurian legend… but Arthurian legend only has as much to do with Camelot 3000 as Barr forces it to have.

He’s also got this relatively new character (the girlfriend for the girl who used to be a guy) who’s the stupidest human being on the planet. And Barr’s future has a lot of overpopulation.

Or maybe it’s just Barr being lazy.

CREDITS

Betrayal; writer, Mike W. Barr; penciller, Brian Bolland; inker, Terry Austin; colorist, Tatjana Wood; letterer, John Costanza; editor, Len Wein; publisher, DC Comics.

Contemporaneously…

Camelot 3000 7 (August 1983)

Terry Austin takes over inks and immediately the art starts looking great again. Bolland (or Austin) even manages some backgrounds. Too bad the comic’s really, really dumb.

First off, the battle scene. Maybe Merlin magicked the Knights to survive in space without protection, but he didn’t magic all the supporting cast they meet to survive.

The two subplots Barr works on here–former Sir Tristan, current Lady Tristan, betraying the Knights for a sex change from Morgan LeFay and then Guinevere gleefully cuckolding Arthur–are exceptionally lame. The Tristan decision has no weight, but it’s not monumental (yet). But Guinevere and Lancelot? There’s no narrative purpose other than a melodramatic one. Barr’s got to keep the characters shallow and poorly written to excuse his goofy plot turns.

The art does make up for some of it, and Morgan LeFay continues to amuse, but the writing’s painfully weak.

Camelot‘s a bore.

CREDITS

Betrayal; writer, Mike W. Barr; penciller, Brian Bolland; inker, Terry Austin; colorist, Tatjana Wood; letterer, John Costanza; editor, Len Wein; publisher, DC Comics.

Contemporaneously…

Camelot 3000 6 (July 1983)

Dick Giordano pitches in to help ink (or finish) and it’s a small disaster. This issue takes a completely different tone thanks to the art change. It’s the faces, really. The detail is gone from them.

After what’s so far the series peak last issue, Barr returns the comic to a middling affair. Arthur and Guinevere are getting married, which brings in questions about Arthur as the savior of the human race. Barr hasn’t thought it out. He also mucks around with the duality between being a regular person and a reincarnated one. Like I said, middling.

Barr doesn’t even keep up the tension through the comic. There’s a lot of drama, but it relieves, then tenses again. Barr never gives the reader enough information to know what’s going on with all the characters.

Camelot 3000 was DC’s first twelve issue maxi-series; I think Barr needed some more issues.

CREDITS

Royal Funeral; writer, Mike W. Barr; penciller, Brian Bolland, Bruce Patterson and Dick Giordano; inker, Patterson and Giordano; colorist, Tatjana Wood; letterer, John Costanza; editor, Len Wein; publisher, DC Comics.

Contemporaneously…

Camelot 3000 5 (April 1983)

Well, it’s only taken Barr to the fifth issue but he’s finally made Camelot 3000 a compelling read.

He opens with Morgan LeFay’s story and it’s a good one. The finish is ludicrously contrived–without any acknowledgment of the contrivance–but the idea of a medieval witch who goes off to space and revolutionizes an alien race is a gleeful homage to Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Then Barr moves on to the Knights of the Round Table, who are bickering amongst themselves and generally unhappy with their newfound lot in life. The characters all of a sudden become interesting with all this turmoil and the issue benefits from it.

As for Barr’s characterization of Arthur as slightly deranged and a hopefully murderous cuckold… it’s interesting for a mainstream comic to say the least.

And Bolland does well in this contained setting. He’s not lazy here and he has some fantastic panels.

CREDITS

The Tale of Morgan Le Fay!; writer, Mike W. Barr; penciller, Brian Bolland; inker, Bruce Patterson; colorist, Tatjana Wood; letterer, John Costanza; editor, Len Wein; publisher, DC Comics.

Contemporaneously…

Camelot 3000 4 (March 1983)

Bolland’s art gets downright lazy quite a few times this issue and not with his white backgrounds either. He’s losing control of faces here; no matter how many iconic double-page spreads he does, he’s not going to make up for lazy faces.

The issue’s weak overall. Barr’s vision of future governments is incredibly similar to modern ones–the United States, China, some vague Soviets and even more vague Africans. And for all the multiculturalism of the resurrected Knights of the Round Table, Barr’s not above an evil gay dude at the United Nations out to spoil the heroes’ fun.

As for the heroes, Barr uses the human character to state the obvious. It’s annoying at the start of the issue and insufferable by the end.

Bolland also shows another weakness… the inability to make a big battle scene interesting. It’s sad seeing such good illustrating with such weak composition.

CREDITS

Assault on New Camelot!; writer, Mike W. Barr; penciller, Brian Bolland; inker, Bruce Patterson; colorist, Tatjana Wood; letterer, John Costanza; editor, Len Wein; publisher, DC Comics.

Camelot 3000 3 (February 1983)

What a goofy ending. Barr’s going for fifties sci-fi, which doesn’t seem appropriate, especially since he doesn’t have any humor about the book. Camelot 3000 is all very straight-faced, even Queen Guinevere’s futuristic battle garb being comic book female hero trampy. Meanwhile, Lancelot gets a bitching set of space armor.

Barr handles the love triangle unexpectedly, which starts the issue off on better footing than it finishes. He also reveals the source of the alien invasion, contriving a connection to the resurrected Knights of the Round Table. Why’s it contrived? Because he didn’t write the first issue with the revelation incorporated. The series would be much stronger if he had.

Bolland draws a lot of different stuff this issue, lots of future Earth locales, but he continues to ignore backgrounds once he’s done an establishing panel or two. The comic suffers for that decision.

Still, it’s mildly engaging.

CREDITS

Knight Quest!; writer, Mike W. Barr; penciller, Brian Bolland; inker, Bruce Patterson; colorist, Tatjana Wood; letterer, John Costanza; editor, Len Wein; publisher, DC Comics.