History ComicBook / OnceAndFuture

* MsExposition: Bridgette is exceptionally well-versed in all forms of Arthurian lore, often summarizing them for Duncan (and the reader) so they know what they're up against. That said, she has a blind spot in that she never read up on ''Beowulf'' due to considering it a mere poem with nearly as much recognition as King Arthur. This comes back to bite her when Beowulf himself comes after her and Duncan, and she needs others to relay the fine details of the story to her so she can come up with a way to deal with Beowulf and the monsters from his story.

Meanwhile, Duncan [=McGuire=] thought his night couldn't get any worse. His first date with a new girlfriend and he starts it by spilling wine all over his date's white dress. But then he learns his gran, Bridgette [=McGuire=], ran away from the nursing home before calling him out to the middle of nowhere. There he learns that she was a vampire hunter in her youth with an entire armory of monster-killing weapons. One thing leads to another, and it isn't long before she's holding him at gunpoint to take her to Glastonbury.

* BigNo: Bridgette lets one out when she realizes [[spoiler: Prime Minister Boris Johnson is about to reveal the existence of magic to the world on live television, which sends England into the Otherworld]].

* DependingOnTheWriter: The King Arthur here is the one from Breton culture. [[spoiler: A Norman Arthur later appears to challenge his Breton counterpart, who aesthetically closer resembles a KnightInShiningArmor]].

** It's also possible to get caught up in multiple stories at once, which will cause them to mingle and twist, as seen when [[spoiler: Duncan becomes both Percival and Beowulf]]. Bridgette regards this as incredibly dangerous as it can cause the stories to go in unexpected directions, but [[spoiler: Duncan is nonchalant because Beowulf died of old age]].

* NightmareFace: Lancelot almost looks like a comic book superhero beteen his SculptedPhysique and mouthless mask. But once he's enraged, the mouth of the "mask" opens and his jaw drops unnaturally low as he screams for answers.

* BeardOfSorrow: [[spoiler:After the otherworld merges with Britain, Duncan's five o'clock shadow becomes a full beard, showing how jaded and frustrated he's become after his and Bridgette's efforts have come to naught. Also an AdrenalineMakeover as he's still fighting to survive.]]

* GloryHound: Galahad is utterly convinced that he's destined to be the greatest knight, not caring if untold thousands or millions suffer should the real world merge with the otherworld to bring about a land of stories so long as he's the hero of them all.

* NiceDayDeadlyNight: The otherworld can only be accessed by people at night. So when dawn comes, the ability to cross between worlds goes. That said, [[DaylightHorror stories can still take place during the day]].

** [[spoiler:King Arthur rips Boris Johnson's head off on national television after the latter reveals the Holy Grail, "healing the land" and merging Britain with the otherworld.]]

* PublicDomainArtifact: The Holy Grail is the central MacGuffin in the story for its ability to "heal" the land, which would merge the real world and the otherworld together, bringing about chaos and death. Excalibur also appears, though King Arthur does not know of it due to his MultipleChoicePast.

* BigNo: Bridgette lets one out when she realizes [[spoiler: Brois Johnson is about to reveal the existence of magic to the world, which sends England into the Otherworld]].

* NightmareFace: Lancelot almost looks like a comic book superhero beteen his SculptedPhysique and mouthless mask. But once he's enraged, the mouth opens and his jaw drops unnaturally low as he screams for answers.

* TooDumbToLive: Quite a few facing monsters but the topper has to be [[spoiler: Prime Minister Boris Johnson who, despite constant warnings of the dangers magic has, actually dismisses "we've had enough of experts", reveals magic to the world in hopes of making himself look better fighting it...and ends up with his head ripped off and England sent into the Otherworld]].

* TheWildHunt: King Arthur summons the hunt when Bridgette tosses Excalibur's sheathe out a window, causing skeletal horses with dragon-like wings to erupt from the ground as he flies after it.

* AndroclesLion: When Galahad makes off with the Holy Grail, no one is fast enough to catch him. But when Rose removes the sword plaguing the dragon that Lancelot defeated, she accidentally invokes the story of this trope or its even older prototype. The dragon then aids them in chasing down Lancelot by allowing the heroes to ride its back.

* BigNo: Gran lets one out when she realizes [[spoiler: Brois Johnson is about to reveal the existence of magic to the world, which sends England into the Otherworld]].

* BeardOfSorrow: [[spoiler:After the otherworld merges with Britain, Duncan's five o'clock shadow becomes a full beard.]]

** Anyone caught up in a story is fated to reenact it. As such, purposefully following it can allow someone to accomplish the same things as stories in myth, such as Elaine giving birth to and raising a Galahad to find the Holy Grail. It's also possible to get caught up in multiple stories at once, which will cause them to mingle and twist, something Bridgette regards as incredibly dangerous as it can cause the stories to go in unexpected directions.

** [[spoiler:Galahad is subject to this upon sitting on the Siege Perilous, fusing him to his armor, burning off all his hair, and turning him into a misshapen monster. Then after [[AnArmAndALeg losing his legs]] to Bridgette's RazorFloss, Merlin sows Galahad's lower body to the remains of his horse, turning him into a centaur.]]
* BrokenPedestal: As much as Bridgette drove him crazy at times, Duncan thought the world of his gran as his only parental figure growing up. But the more he learns about his family's history and the monster hunting business, the more disillusioned he becomes with Bridgette for lying to him and using him.

* ClosestThingWeGot: Merlin needs a Galahad, a Percival, and a Bors to obtain the Holy Grail. While a Galahad and Percival are known in the story, there's no one named Bors. [[spoiler:The Bors of this story is Boris Johnson, who reveals the Grail against Hempleworth's advice.]]

** Bridgette has zero qualms with committing murder if it means stopping a story dead in its tracks and preventing it from wreaking havoc. Compare that to her grandson Duncan, who is new to the monster hunting business and very much not okay with cold-blooded killing.

* NeverMessWithGranny: Bridgette is an octogenarian who feels her age, but she's also the best monster hunter in Britain with decades of experience fighting stories. She never leaves home without a weapon and knows Arthurian lore inside and out, making her a force to be reckoned with even if her grandson is far more-suited to the monster-hunting business now.

* ParryingBullets: Arthur's knights can deflect bullets with their swords, neutering the effectiveness of small firearms against them.

* ProtagonistCenteredMorality: Bridgette notes that King Arthur is often remembered as the hero king who united the Britons and beat back the foreign invaders. People often forget that he went to war with a European empire and crushed it. Once King Arthur rises from his crypt, the first thing he does is slaughter the nationalists who resurrected him for being Anglo-Saxons before declaring that he's reclaiming Briton for the Britons.

* VictoryIsBoring: Once Bridgette killed the last redcap in Britain, she hoped things would finally be over and that she and her children would be able to retire to a life of normalcy. [[spoiler:But her husband thought differently, believing that they had robbed their daughter Mary of the exciting life of monster hunting. So after Bridgette shot him in the groin in disgust, he began plotting to have the stories return to Britain, starting with dunking Mary in a boiling cauldron to have her bed Lancelot and produce a Galahad.]]

->''"Oh. Hell. it's all '''real.''' "''\\

-->--''Rose and Bridgette on the nature of stories''

* LukeIAmYourFather: Bridgette reveals that [[spoiler:"Elaine" is actually Mary [=McGuire=], Duncan's mother, whom he thought was dead.]]

* VictoryIsBoring: [[spoiler:Once Bridgette killed the last redcap in Britain, she hoped things would finally be over and that she and her children would be able to retire to a life of normalcy. But her husband thought different, believing that they had robbed their daughter Mary of the exciting life of monster hunting. So after Bridgette shot him in the groin in disgust, he began plotting to have the stories return to Britain, starting with dunking Mary in a boiling cauldron to have her bed Lancelot and produce a Galahad.]]

* CoolSword: Excalibur, of course. [[spoiler:With it in hand, Duncan, an inexperienced swordsman, is able to effortlessly cleave his way through most of Arthur's knights, impressing the undead king.]]

* FisherKing: Discussed. The story of the maimed Fisher King is brought up as the one man who knows where the Holy Grail is. [[spoiler:Bridgette's husband willingly acts as one to give Galahad a path to the Grail, before shooting himself in the head to prevent Bridgette from following. Bridgette, as both mother and father figure to Duncan, decides to shoot herself to become a surrogate Fisher King, allowing Duncan to pursue Galahad.]]

* WildHunt: King Arthur summons the hunt when Bridgette tosses Excalibur's sheathe out a window, causing skeletal horses with dragon-like wings to erupt from the ground as he flies after it.

** Arthur is able to raise the body of the day to remake his faithful knights, twisting them into skeletal monstrosities of exposed flesh whose jaws hang down when they speak.

* HistoryRepeats: People can take on the role of characters in a story to reenact them. For instance, Elaine becomes the mother of Galahad to produce a grail knight, presenting him to King Arthur as the greatest of knights in order to claim the Holy Grail.

* DeflectingBullets: Arthur's knights can deflect bullets with their swords, neutering the effectiveness of small firearms against them.

* DeadlierThanTheMale: Bridgette has zero qualms with committing murder if it means stopping a story dead in its tracks and preventing it from wreaking havoc. Compare that to her grandson Duncan, who is new to the monster hunting business and very much not okay with cold-blooded killing.

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: Bridgette notes that King Arthur is often remembered as the hero king who united the Britons and beat back the foreign invaders. People often forget that he went to war with a European empire and crushed it. Once King Arthur rises from his crypt, the first thing he does is slaughter the nationalists who resurrected him for being Anglo-Saxons before declaring that he's reclaiming Briton for the Britons.

** Anyone caught up in a story is fated to reenact it. As such, purposefully following it can allow someone to accomplish the same things as stories in myth, such as Elaine giving birth to and raising a Galahad to find the Holy Grail.
** This also means that Duncan can go toe-to-toe with enormous monsters as the "hero" of the story designated to defeat beasts, but quickly gets his butt kicked when he's dogpiled by a Nazi biker gang, as they aren't part of a story or subject its rules.

->''Oh. Hell. it's all '''real.''' ''\\
''Ptth. You're just as bad as Duncan. It's not real, it's just '''[[AllMythsAreTrue true.]]'''''

* PublicDomainArtifact: The Holy Grail is the central MacGuffin in the story for its ability to "heal" the land, which would merge the real world and the otherworld together, bringing about chaos and death. Excalibur also appears, though King Arthur does not know of it due to his MultiplechoicePast.

* NerdsAreSexy: Duncan is a klutzy museum curator.

* EmasculatedCuckold: Bridgette weaponizes this to turn King Arthur against the other Bridgette, explaining that Galahad is the son of Lancelot, the Frank who slept with Guinevere.

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: Bridgette notes that King Arthur is often remembered as the hero king who united the Britons and beat back the foreign invaders. People often forget that he went to war with a European empire and crushed it. Once King Arthur rises from his crypt, the first thing he does is slaughter the white supremacists who resurrected him for being Anglo-Saxons before declaring that he's reclaiming Briton for the Britons.

''Ptth. You're just as bad as Duncan. It's not real, it's just '''true.'''''

''[{{Beat}}]''

* NamesTheSame: Elaine, mother of Galahad, shares her real name with Duncan's Gran, Bridgette.

* RazorFloss: When Galahad comes charging at Duncan in the middle of the British Museum in London, it turns out Bridgette had laid out silver wire in advance, bisecting Galahad's horse and cutting off his legs below the knee.

-->--Rose and Bridgette on the nature of stories

Meanwhile, Duncan [=McGuire=] thought his night couldn't get any worse. His first date with a new girlfriend and he starts it by spilling wine all over his date's white dress. But then he learns his Gran, Bridgette [=McGuire=], ran away from the nursing home before calling him out to the middle of nowhere. There he learns that she was a vampire hunter in her youth with an entire armory of monster-killing weapons. One thing leads to another, and it isn't long before she's holding him at gunpoint to take her to Glastonbury.

The scabbard of King Arthur's sword has been found, and Bridgette fears that someone will be trying to resurrect him. It's said King Arthur will return in Britain's DarkestHour, but never trust a prophecy that can be taken in two ways. After all, there's nothing in it about him ''rescuing'' Britain...

* ProphecyTwist: Discussed by Bridgette. She's intimately familiar with the story of King Arthur, who is supposed to return in Britain's DarkestHour. While most would take it as a sign that he will return to save Britain, she always found the wording of it strange, as nothing in the prophecy says he couldn't ''cause it''.