Firstly apologies for this column running late this week; I was busy doing analysis for Nottingham’s Students Union Exec Elections for our student radio station (ww.urn1350.net) on Friday. Also its been a stressful, hectic week for many other reasons that I won’t bore you with because gosh darn it I want to talk about Brian Bolland, not myself. This week’s column looks at Bolland’s ‘debut’ for DC Comics; Camelot 3000.
Overview
Written by Mike W. Barr, Camelot 3000 is a futuristic space opera with a developed sense of humanity. The year is 3000 and earth is under invasion from the alien horde from the 10th Planet. England has fallen and refugees are pouring across into neighbouring France whilst in the skies United Earth Defences are fighting a losing battle. However, young archaeologist Thomas Prentice stumbles upon the final resting place of King Arthur, who rises again to fight the alien menace. With Merlin and Excalibur’s help Arthur is able to bring together his most trusted knights and together they forge a New Camelot. However, despite the superficial differences of the future from the past many of the same problems are present including that love triangle and Arthur’s troublesome family. Can Arthur and his knights overcome their destiny and save Earth as they once saved England? Or will old loves and enemies alongside new problems and conflicts spell doom for New Camelot?
Once you’ve gone British, you never go back
By the eighties American publishers (particularly DC Comics) were beginning to notice the new wave of British comic creators who were making such titles as 2000AD and Warrior the cutting edge of Anglophone comics. Soon American publishers were scouring British comic conventions for eager young British talent and soon comic journos were excitedly talking of the ‘British Invasion’. And the man who started it all was Brian Bolland, whose 1979 Green Lantern covers and the resulting relationship he established with DC Comics paved the way for many other British artists to cross the pond. Unsurprisingly, his first break into the American market was a lucky break. As he told Brian Boyanski, Green Lantern artist Joe Staton was staying at his London flat whilst finishing an issue of Green Lantern. Bolland had been a fan of Green Lantern since his childhood and Staton phoned his editor and said to him “There’s a guy here who’d really like to draw the cover of this issue”. From there he would do more work for DC including more Green Lantern covers and a story for Mystery In Space. Unless you count ex-pat Barry Windsor Smith Bolland was the first British creator to really break the American market and as he told Joel Meadows that when it comes to the wave of British talent that crossed the pond during the eighties “I’m the one who started this”.
However it wasn’t until 1981, two years after his first Green Lantern cover that he left Judge Dredd and 2000AD to work for DC full time. However, to begin with DC Comics didn’t actually give him much work and so he was bided his time doing covers for Titan Books. As he told Brian Boyanski, “I was pretty much ready and waiting for anything that DC would throw at me” and that thing would be Camelot 3000.
A Book of Firsts
Camelot 3000 was a radical book that is often credited with having created the concept of the ‘adult comic book’. It was not only the first maxi-series but also one of the first books to be sold only in direct market stores. It also had better production standards and did not seek approval from the Comic Code Authority, so allowing it be more daring and sophisticated than the average American comic. It was in short the prototype upon which almost the entire modern American comic industry is based. Unsurprisingly, the book was causing tremendous excitement within DC Comics with Bolland saying how they pitch it to him as if “it was going to be the greatest thing since sliced bread”. However, Bolland actually had relatively little interest in the Arthurian legend that the book would be based on and as he told Joel Meadows “I would have much rather have drawn Batman or Green Lantern”. It is extremely ironic that a man who would’ve rather drawn Batman drew the book that paved the way for mature, creator led projects such as Watchmen.
The use of Arthurian legend was not the only thing that made Camelot 3000 an unusual series for Bolland. First and foremost it was the first time since his work on Judge Dredd: The Day the Law Died in 1978 that another artist inked his pencils. To begin with he was unhappy with this (its not a common practice in British comics) but his slow drawing speed meant that he and DC had little alternative. Camelot 3000 had two main inkers Bruce Patterson and Terry Austin, and Bolland discussed with Joel Meadows who he preferred. Patterson he believed “was very faithful” to his drawings and “followed my line very well” although he lacked “the beauty of the line some inkers have”. When Patterson left, Bolland was unhappy to hear Austin was to be the replacement due to a fear that their art styles wouldn’t mesh. However, he was very pleased with Austin’s inking and believes that he “brought real confidence to my work”.
Another departure and a regrettable one was the colouring of Bolland’s artwork. The shocking quality of American colouring right up to the late eighties is a major bugbear of mine but to see Bolland’s tight lines coloured with such a gaudy and primitive scheme is extremely annoying. Also I’ve always felt that Bolland’s artwork with its clear, bold lines and suggestive use of shadow shines brightest when in monochrome. Thankfully Bolland’s artwork is of a high enough quality that it shines through the sickly goo that Americans once called colour. One thing that didn’t change with Camelot 3000 was Bolland’s slow drawing speed. As he told Joel Meadow to begin with he was able to just meet his deadlines but as the series garnered critical acclaim he became more and more perfectionist to the point where his “pencil lines looked like ink lines”. Predictably he started missing deadlines to the point where there was a yearlong wait for the final issue. Despite the delays the series was a critical and commercial success and as Comics Buyers’ Guide editors Don and Maggie Thompson say in the introduction to the TPB it “helped change the face of comic publishing in many ways, all of them important”.
However, does it garner The Nexus Files’ seal of approval? Well there’s only one way to find out:
The Review
Please Note; there are major spoilers ahead
One of the most noticeable things about Camelot 3000 is the extent to which the world looks waaay too much like our own for one that is meant to be over a thousand years in the future. This is partly due to Mike Barr’s story that gives the supposedly futuristic world a distinctly 1980s feel i.e. the continuing existence of all major countries, the presence of satirical asides on contemporary politics and a lack of imagination when it came to sci-fi concepts. That said, Bolland’s artwork could also be held responsible for making the futuristic world not futuristic enough. The lack of innovation in Bolland’s design of non-organic objects had been the one glaring flaw in his Judge Dredd work with his Mega City One merely looking like a super dupa New York whereas the likes of Carlos Ezquerra and Mick McMahon produced far more innovative future cityscapes. Still, it’s a minor flaw and it doesn’t interfere with the story at all.
Despite its reputation as the first ‘adult’ comic book Camelot 3000 is in many ways an adventure story with aliens, monsters and knights coming together for a ripping yarn. This is excellent news as Bolland is at home in this pulpy, action orientated scenes with the various battles being depicted with Bolland customary intelligence and flair. What’s more Bolland captures the operatic and slightly ridiculous nature of the story perfectly with all his characters having an iconic, larger than life quality. In particular his King Arthur, Morgan Le Fay and Merlin are beautifully drawn versions of the legendary characters that successfully transfer their essence into what is at heart a superior superhero comic. Indeed, some of the poses Bolland has the characters take could come straight from the Silver Age, with the image of Arthur leading his knights in their attack on the Neo-Men facility almost screaming out for an ‘Avengers Assemble’ tagline.
Camelot 3000 also has an emotional content that was lacking in many early eighties comic books. Bolland had spent almost his entire career from 1977 to 1981 drawing the distinctly non-emotional Judge Dredd and so having to show emotion would be a new and distinct challenge for him. When dealing with the pain of the Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot love triangle, of Morgan Le Fay as she realises she’s slowly dying and above all Sir Tristan’s battle with the fact that he has been reincarnated as a woman and that his previous love Isolde is still a woman Bolland proves himself to be more than a dumb action artist but one that understands people. Mere words could never capture Arthur’s pain at Lancelot and Guinevere’s first kiss as well as Bolland did. Nor could words repeatedly show the hatred ‘Sir’ Tristan’s has for her womanly body or capture the joy when she finally accepts Isolde’s love so perfectly. In many ways Bolland’s artwork for Camelot 3000 is his most mature work for mainstream comics because the story calls on him to show a depth and range of emotions, something that neither Judge Dredd or Batman could or did.
The Conclusion
Camelot 3000 is not a book without its flaws and it’s certainly not a stone cold classic like The Killing Joke or much of Bolland’s Judge Dredd work. It is still an important and vital part of Bolland’s body of work and not just because it was his first major work for DC Comics. Camelot 3000 touched on concepts and feelings that may feel unremarkable today but back then had barely been explored in Anglophone comics. Because of this and the emotional content that Mike Barr brings to the story Bolland is giving the chance to show a side to his drawing that had previously been rarely used, his awesome ability to beautifully convey a character’s feelings to the reader. Yes it’s a slightly silly story that could be boiled down to ‘What if King Arthur lived in the year 3000?’ but the many exquisite character moments that are potted throughout the story and that Bolland so wonderfully captures make this story something special; a comic book with real heart.
Next Week: Knockabout Comic Presents: Bolland Strips
