Camelot 3000
Written by Mike W. Barr, art by Brian Bolland and Terry Austin

In the year 3000 (which looks remarkably like the year 1987), Earth is under siege by malevolent aliens, and young Brit Tom discovers the buried tomb of King Arthur, the promised savior of all the world. Arthur -- yes, the genuine, Pendragon-y article -- is awakened and vows to help humanity in taking out the accursed plague of bug-eyed monsters. Though whether his medieval brain can grasp the concept of where these invaders come from is doubtful.

Of course, Arthur must first gather together his merry brood of fellow legends -- starting with Merlin, who is just as cranky and inscrutable as one would expect, all hidden beneath Stonehenge, which he built for the purpose and stuff (ah, so that's one mystery of the world explained, then!)

Merlin then reactivates the original Scooby Gang -- Lancelot, Galahad, Tristan, Percival, Kay, Gawain and the lovely Guinevere -- who must leave their modern, re-incarnated lives behind in order to rally around the Round Table.

And they proceed to kick some serious invader butt as they uncover a government conspiracy, reveal the true nature of their enemies, and just basically save humanity, with all the requisite angst, heartbreak and self-sacrifice accounted for. Oh, and Excalibur, naturally. And the Holy Grail. And the torrid Lance/Gwen hookup. You know those drills, right?

Camelot 3000 is a great romp through both legend and speculative fiction, a kind of cross between sword and sorcery and space opera that shouldn't work, and yet does -- perfectly. From the first, this is a bizarre world, and it proceeds to get even more bizarre, with twist plot developments that leave the reader breathless for more. The art is first class -- though allowances have to be made for the eighties -- and the writing ties everything together very nicely.

As the first adult comic series, Camelot 3000 set a new standard. As the first direct-to-comic-stores release, it raised that standard. This twelve issue maxi-series, re-released in TPB in 1997, was a phenomenon in the comic buying world, something all together new and wondrous... and the story is still pretty damned cool.

Even if it is about that silly Arthur King and his English kaaa-niggits.

-- Rachel Hyland

Camelot 3000, published by DC Comics, is currently available in Trade Paperback through comic retailers and bookstores.

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