MMSM/MCP: Online essay on Arthurian comics

The Comics Alliance has posted an online essay, "Round Table Round-Up: Our Favorite King Arthur Comics," by Chris Sims devoted to Arthurian-themed comics. The piece covers material from Prince Valiant to Hellboy: The Wild Hunt.

GMTV: Upcoming Episodes of ROBIN HOOD on BBC America

Here are the details on upcoming episodes of the the third and final season of the BBC's Robin Hood on BBC America. Complete schedule at http://www.bbcamerica.com/tvschedule.jsp.


SATURDAY, 28 NOV
8:00 PM
Robin Hood - Ep 11 The Enemy of My Enemy
TV-PG
Robin tells the Outlaws Gisborne is joining them because wants to honor his father's dying wish and save his half-brother Archer, but will Archer return the favor when the tables are turned? Season 3 Ep. 11
9:00 PM
Robin Hood - Ep 12 Something Worth Fighting For (Part 1)
TV-PG
Robin is focused on taking the Castle and holding it for King Richard. He doubts Allan's loyalty and is caught with Gisborne and Much in Archer's traps in the Castle tunnel. Season 3 Ep. 12
11:00 PM
Robin Hood - Ep 11 The Enemy of My Enemy
TV-PG
Robin tells the Outlaws Gisborne is joining them because wants to honor his father's dying wish and save his half-brother Archer, but will Archer return the favor when the tables are turned? Season 3 Ep. 11



SUNDAY, 29 NOV.
12:00 AM
Robin Hood - Ep 12 Something Worth Fighting For (Part 1)
TV-PG
Robin is focused on taking the Castle and holding it for King Richard. He doubts Allan's loyalty and is caught with Gisborne and Much in Archer's traps in the Castle tunnel. Season 3 Ep. 12
2:00 AM
Robin Hood - Ep 11 The Enemy of My Enemy
TV-PG
Robin tells the Outlaws Gisborne is joining them because wants to honor his father's dying wish and save his half-brother Archer, but will Archer return the favor when the tables are turned? Season 3 Ep. 11
3:00 AM
Robin Hood - Ep 12 Something Worth Fighting For (Part 1)
TV-PG
Robin is focused on taking the Castle and holding it for King Richard. He doubts Allan's loyalty and is caught with Gisborne and Much in Archer's traps in the Castle tunnel. Season 3 Ep. 12



SATURDAY, 5 DEC
8:00 PM
Robin Hood - Ep 12 Something Worth Fighting For (Part 1)
TV-PG
Robin is focused on taking the Castle and holding it for King Richard. He doubts Allan's loyalty and is caught with Gisborne and Much in Archer's traps in the Castle tunnel. Season 3 Ep. 12
9:00 PM
Robin Hood - Ep 13 Something Worth Fighting For (Part 2)
TV-PG
Robin leads the Outlaws and the villagers to hold the Castle against the Sheriff's attack. He fights with his brothers, Gisborne and Archer, against the Sheriff and Isabella and lets old qualms lay to rest. Season 3 Ep. 13
11:00 PM
Robin Hood - Ep 12 Something Worth Fighting For (Part 1)
TV-PG
Robin is focused on taking the Castle and holding it for King Richard. He doubts Allan's loyalty and is caught with Gisborne and Much in Archer's traps in the Castle tunnel. Season 3 Ep. 12


SUNDAY, 6 DEC
12:00 AM
Robin Hood - Ep 13 Something Worth Fighting For (Part 2)
TV-PG
Robin leads the Outlaws and the villagers to hold the Castle against the Sheriff's attack. He fights with his brothers, Gisborne and Archer, against the Sheriff and Isabella and lets old qualms lay to rest. Season 3 Ep. 13
2:00 AM
Robin Hood - Ep 12 Something Worth Fighting For (Part 1)
TV-PG
Robin is focused on taking the Castle and holding it for King Richard. He doubts Allan's loyalty and is caught with Gisborne and Much in Archer's traps in the Castle tunnel. Season 3 Ep. 12
3:00 AM
Robin Hood - Ep 13 Something Worth Fighting For (Part 2)
TV-PG
Robin leads the Outlaws and the villagers to hold the Castle against the Sheriff's attack. He fights with his brothers, Gisborne and Archer, against the Sheriff and Isabella and lets old qualms lay to rest. Season 3 Ep. 13

MCP: DRACULA VS KING ARTHUR Update

Adam and Christian Beranek's sold-out comic book series Dracula vs. King Arthur (Silent Devil Productions, 2005) is now available in digital copies. Information on the series, previews, and links to the digital editions can be found at the publisher's web site, where you can also order copies of the hardcover collected edition (2007).

CFP Arthurian-Themed Comics Collection (1/30/10)

In commemoration of the upcoming 75th anniversary of Prince Valiant, we are seeking brief proposals (apx. 200-500 words) for a collection of essays on comics (comic strips, comic books, graphic novels, web comics, and adaptations into other media) based on or inspired by the Arthurian tradition. The collection will be edited by Michael A Torregrossa and Jason Tondro. Please submit proposals to the editors by 30 January 2010.

Michael A Torregrossa
The Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages
34 Second Street
Smithfield, RI 02917-3627
United States
Email: Arthur.of.the.Comics-at-gmail.com

MCP: SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT Web Comic

A cartoonist named TerminalMontage posted a web comic based on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight at the Smack Jeeves web site earlier this year. The six-page comic can be accessed at http://www.smackjeeves.com/comicprofile.php?id=47155.

MSAM: SHREK FOREVER AFTER

The Internet is abuzz this week with updates on the fourth and final Shrek film. Set to be released in May 2010, the film is called Shrek Forever After. Details can be found at various websites, including USA Today's and Wikipedia.

MSAM/MCP: Update on Marvel's THOR (FF 2011)

Marvel.com includes a number of updates on the forthcoming live-action film, due out on 20 May 2011, based on the comic book Thor. Much of the updates detail the casting process for this film to be directed by Kenneth Branagh. The bulk of these updates are collected on the Thor page at the Marvel Movie Hub, but the most recent news can be found on a separate page (at least for now).

Marvel.com offers the following information on the project:

The son of Odin, most powerful of the Norse Gods, Thor has been an emissary to humanity, a protector of both Asgard and Earth and inspiration for humans and gods alike.

Director Kenneth Branagh leads a cast that includes Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston and Natalie Portman in the the God of Thunder's big-budget, silver screen debut. Get ready for Thor's arrival in movie theaters on May 20, 2011!

MCP: Frank Cammuso's KNIGHTS OF THE LUNCH TABLE

Cartoonist Frank Cammuso has produced (to date) two issues of his graphic novel series Knights of the Lunch Table, which presents modern-day incarnations of King Arthur, Percival, Gawain, and Guinevere as American middle-school students. An incarnation of Merlin is their teacher, and Morgan le Fay shows up as Arthur's older sister. As with the recent BBC Merlin, Cammuso's cast is multi-ethnic, with Merlin and Percival being African Americans and Guinevere Asian American.

Details from the website of the publisher (Scholastic) on the individual numbers follows:

The Dodgeball Chronicles

Artie King just wants to ease into life at Camelot Middle School. He's got new lunch buddies, Percy and Wayne, and his science teacher, Mr. Merlyn, is pretty cool. But then there's scary Principal Dager and big bad Joe and The Horde, a bunch of brawny bullies who rule the school.

The real trouble starts when Artie opens a funky old locker that no one, not even Joe, has ever been able to open — and finds it full of mysterious, but useful stuff. Percy and Wayne are high-fiving, Joe is fuming, and the next think you know a challenge is laid down: a do-or-die dodgeball game — The Horde Vs. The Knights of the Lunch Table. Losers get creamed!


The Dragon Players

Artie King, the uncrowned good guy of Camelot Middle School, is back with his pals Percy and Wayne in tow as he tries to evade evil Principal Dagger, avoid the school bully Joe and his Horde, and unravel the secret of a pack of mysterious magic cards he finds in his locker. Frank Cammuso's action-packed art and comic dialogue is sure to appeal to graphic novel fans and bring new readers to the format. It's knights, knaves, and nonstop fun!

MCP: Spiderman Battles the Myth Monster!

Comics publishers often produce promotional comics, but it is a rare one that deals with medieval subjects. Spider-Man Battles the Myth Monster! (1991) introduces the villainous Myth Monster who battles both King Arthur and Merlin and, later, Spider-Man. Copies (3rd printing) can be ordered online from the Epilepsy Foundation: 1 copy for $2.95 (inclusding shipping) or 50 copies for $8.50 (including shipping).

Here are the details:

Spider-Man Battles the Myth Monster! (1991) is a Marvel promotional comic produced in cooperation with the National Association of School Nurses. This comic is part of the Epilepsy Foundation of America Project "Count Me In!" Written by Danny Fingeroth with art by Jose Delbo and inks by Harry Candelario. Full color, standard comic dimensions, 20 pages including cover, slick cover with newsprint interior, no cover price. (MyComicShop.com)

Spider-Man helps bring truth and justice to the lives of three children with hidden health conditions: epilepsy, asthma and diabetes. This comic book is an excellent resource for anyone working with children. It encourages acceptance and understanding among all children. This book is for children ages 8-11. Shipping and handling included in price. (Epilepsy Foundation)

A detailed plot synopsis can be found at The Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe.

MMSM: REissue of Stephen Knight's ROBIN HOOD: A MYTHIC BIOGRAPHY

Cornell University Press has reissued Stephen Knight's Robin Hood: A Mythic Biography (2003) in paperback. Details from their website follow:

ROBIN HOOD A Mythic Biography Stephen Knight

$19.95 paper
2009, 272 pages, 6 x 9, 16 halftones
ISBN: 978-0-8014-8992-1

$27.95 cloth
2003, 272 pages, 6 x 9, 16 halftones
ISBN: 978-0-8014-3885-1


Winner of the Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Myth and Fantasy Studies

The only figure in the Dictionary of National Biography who is said never to have existed, Robin Hood has taken on an air of reality few historical figures achieve. His image in various guises has been put to use as a subject of ballads, nationalist rallying point, Disney cartoon fox, greenclad figure of farce, tabloid fodder, and template for petty criminals and progressive political candidates alike.

In this engaging and deeply informed book Stephen Knight looks at the different manifestations of Robin Hood at different times and places in a mythic biography with a thematic structure. The best way to get at the essence of the Robin Hood myth, Knight believes, is in terms not of chronological and generic progression but of the purposes served by heroes. Each of the book’s four central chapters identifies a particular model of the hero, mythic or biographic, which dominated in certain periods and in certain genres, and explores their interrelations, their implications, and their historical and sociopolitical contexts.

Reviews

"The mythical character of Robin Hood has become an icon through his presence in popular culture for the last 600 years. . . . Knight is extremely knowledgeable about his subject..." (Library Journal, June 1, 2003)

"Knight valiantly conveys everything said and done about our hero [Robin Hood] since the last quarter of the 14th century: every ballad, poem, novel, opera, movie and TV series -- his Disneyfication and feminization, spoofs, lampoons, muppet and politically correct versions included. . . . Such is the power of myth that this catalogue yokes Robin Hood with Jesus Christ, Buddha, Santa Claus, King Arthur, the Knights Templar, Jesse James, the rural Australian outlaw Ned Kelly, Martin Luther King Jr. and the protean tricksters of North American aboriginal lore. . . . If a 'Hoodie' ye be, thou shalt sally forth to liberate all the copies thou canst." -- Chris Scott, The Globe and Mail, June 21, 2003

"Robin Hood, the outlaw and eternal 'trickster,' is still evolving, having long ago transcended his national and historical origins." -- Salon.com, July 2003

"Stephen Knight's book documents the enormous scope of the myth—revolutionary, reactionary, chivalric, homosexual, patriotic, or whatever the audience will allow, even slapstick. A final mythic trait of Robinalia is its ability to parody itself. Errol Flynn defined the character for film: the animated Robin Fox in the Disney cartoon imitates Flynn, and his was the voice, uncredited, of Rabbit Hood in the 1949 Warner Brothers' cartoon. Prince of Thieves was mocked by Princess of Thieves and Prince of Frogs, and so on. Like any great myth, this is a tale that no one ever hears for the first time."—Wendy Doniger, London Review of Books, 26:14, July 22, 2004

" For those of us who joined the merry-men (and women) of Sherwood Forest when young, Mr. Knight's 'mythic biography' lets us revisit our earlier selves with an enlarged vision of the romance of liberty and equality that attracted us." --Alexandra Mullen, New York Sun, August 21, 2003

"Knight, in a remarkable and witty study of the formation and recreation of a legend, shows that in times of oppression, Robin Hood has always been there for us as resistance to authority. May he ever fight on." --Rob Hardy Columbus, MS Commercial Dispatch September 3, '03

"Knight . . . tells us that by 1600, there were at least 200 known references to Robin Hood, almost all stressing Robin's boldness and resistance to authority, but as yet lacking a Maid Marian or Friar Tuck. Once the basics of the story were established, Robin began to acquire new companions, got himself involved in contemporary controversies, and became a wonderfully serviceable symbol for whatever social or intellectual currents happened to be sweeping through England in a given century."—Allen Barra, Cleveland Plain Dealer, August 24, 2003

"This volume is a lively, wide-ranging, and stimulating addition to the ever-growing scholarly corpus on Robin Hood."—Jeffrey Richards, Lancaster University, Arthuriana 13:3, Fall 2003

"One rarely has the opportunity to read the biography of someone who never physically existed, but that is exactly the opportunity Stephen Knight has given us with Robin Hood: A Mythic Biography. . . . [It] will be most useful to those teaching Robin Hood stories for children who wish to have resource material to inform their lectures. Those researching Robin Hood stories for children will also want to read this book, as well as anyone generally interested in the Robin Hood phenomenon."—Elizabeth L. Pandolfo Briggs, Children's Literature Association Quarterly, 28:3, Fall 2003

"If anyone's qualified to write this book, it's Knight. He is, no doubt, the world's most knowledgeable expert on Robin Hood. . . . Robin Hood: A Mythic Biography is a worthwhile addition to the library of anyone interested in Robin Hood."—Jack Merry, greenmanreview.com

"Although the evidence for a historical Robin Hood is slim, the myth has flourished for 700 years, and Knight traces its various elements from trickster figure to noble their to countercultural free spirit, with a strong analysis of its treatment by Hollywood."—College and Research Libraries News, January 2004

"Stephen Knight's Robin Hood: A Mythic Biography is a thorough overview of the Robin Hood tradition in literature, performance, and popular culture, from the earliest medieval references to modern film versions. . . . Knight elegantly elucidates the cultural continuity between the much-studied medieval beginnings of the tradition and its more familiar form in modern popular culture."—Ethnologies 25:2 (2003)

"Stephen Knight's witty and accessible piece of cultural history takes us through the various transformations that the Robin Hood story has undergone since its emergence early in the 15th century." -- The Age, August 23, 2003

"Stephen Knight explores the various mythical guises that his titular figure has assumed over time in Robin Hood: A Mythic Biography. Knight finds both continuity . . . and variety in Robin's various manifestations."—Studies in English Literature 44:1, Winter 2004

"Professor Knight's new book, then, is a contribution to literary history of a sort especially useful for undergraduate study. I used the book this winter as a "recommended" text in a Robin Hood course, and I will be very pleased to see it issued in a paperback edition priced for students. It is also a book that will be of value to any scholar studying Robin Hood, from literary or historical perspectives, and as such merits a place in college and university libraries."—Stephen R. Reimer, University of Alberta, Canadian Journal of History, August 2004, vol. 39
“Stephen Knight's astute, readable, and thoroughly researched analysis of the whole history of the Robin Hood phenomenon follows the hero from Sherwood bandit to Hollywood star, leader of an all-male band to object of feminist parody, Crusader to puppet frog. This is a book to be read by everyone interested in the growth of the Robin Hood story, and from which future scholars should take their bearings.”—Helen Cooper, Oxford University


“Stephen Knight's book about the noble-hearted outlaw has caught the spirit of its subject: fresh, forthright, engaged, witty. It is also richly packed with insights and scholarship. Robin Hood was a hero five hundred years ago; he's still undimmed, a most compelling version of the male hero.”—Marina Warner, historian and novelist


“Stephen Knight is the premier Robin Hood scholar in the world. Robin Hood: A Mythic Biography sets out the remarkable links and patterns that Knight was the first to trace or call attention to. It makes available all the rich and often surprising details, plots, and themes that increasingly attract writers, visual artists, and those interested in entertainment, children's literature, theatrical traditions, sociology, and folklore.”—Thomas Hahn, University of Rochester

About the Author

Stephen Knight is Professor of English Literature at Cardiff University. Arguably the world’s foremost authority on Robin Hood, he is the author of Robin Hood: A Complete Study of the English Outlaw and many other books, including several on the outlaw tradition.


Table of contents available as a pdf file.

RTMA: Robert Sabuda's ARTHUR AND THE SWORD

Writer-artist Robert Sabuda is offering signed copies of his children's book Arthur and the Sword (1995) on his website. The book uses stained glass-style illustrations to retell the episode of the Sword and the Stone. The book is otherwise out of print.

MMSM: New Book--The Arthurian Way of Death

Out now from D. S. Brewer:

The Arthurian Way of Death
The English Tradition
Edited by Karen Cherewatuk
Edited by K. S. Whetter

It is arguably the tragic end to Arthur's kingdom which gives the myth its exceptional resonance and power. The essays in this volume explore the presentation of death and dying in Arthurian literature and film produced in England and America from the middle ages to the modern day. Authors, texts and topics covered include Geoffrey of Monmouth, the chronicle tradition, and the alliterative Morte Arthure; Gawain and the Green Knight, Ywain and Gawain, the stanzaic Morte Arthur, and Malory's Morte Darthur; Tennyson's Idylls, Pyle's retelling of the myth for American children, David Jones, T.H. White, Donald Barthelme, Rosalind Miles and Parke Godwin. Featured films include Knight Rider, Excalibur, First Knight, and King Arthur.

CONTRIBUTORS: Sian Echard, Edward Donald Kennedy, Karen Cherewatuk, Michael W. Twomey, K. S. Whetter, Thomas Crofts, Michael Wenthe, Lisa Robeson, Cory James Rushton, Janina P. Traxler, James Noble, Julie Nelson Couch, Samantha Rayner, Kevin J. Harty.

Contents
Introduction
Karen Cherewatuk and Kevin S Whetter
1 'But here Geoffrey falls silent': Death, Arthur, and the Historia regum Britannie
Sian Echard
2 Mordred's Sons
Edward Donald Kennedy
3 Dying in Uncle Arthur's Arms and at His Hands
Karen Cherewatuk
4 'Hadet with an aluisch mon' and 'britned to noght': Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Death, and the Devil
Michael W. Twomey
5 Love and Death in Arthurian Romance
Kevin S Whetter
6 Death in the Margins: Dying and Scribal Performance in the Winchester Manuscript
Thomas Howard Crofts
7 The Legible Corpses of Le Morte Darthur
Michael Wenthe
8 Malory and the Death of Kings: The Politics of Regicide at Salisbury Plain
Lisa Robeson
9 Layde to the Colde Erthe: Death, Arthur's Knights, and Narrative Closure
Cory Rushton
10 Arthurian Exits: Alone, Together, or None of the Above
Janina P Traxler
11 Woman as Agent of Death in Tennyson's Idylls of the King
James Noble
12 Death as 'Neglect of Duty' in Howard Pyle's The Story of the Grail and the Passing of Arthur
Julie Nelson Couch
13 Death and the 'grimly voice' in David Jones's In Parenthesis
Samantha J. Rayner
14 Roll the Final Credits: Some Notes on Cinematic Depictions of the Death of Arthur
Kevin J Harty

MSAM: Upcoming Films--Clash of the Titans and How to Train Your Dragon

The Internet is abuzz with news on two medieval-themed films set to be released in 2010. One is a remake of the 1981 film Clash of the Titans (official site), which Marijane Osborn argues was inspired, in part, by Beowulf, and the other, How to Train Your Dragon (official site), is an animated film based on a 2003 children's book. Trailers for both productions are appended below.

MMSM: Cinematic Illuminations now available

Laurie A. Finke and Martin B. Shichtman's Cinematic Illuminations: The Middle Ages on Film (Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 2010) is now available to order online. Details about the book can be found on a previous blog post.

MMSM: New Articles in The Mid-Atlantc Almanack

The latest volume (18 for 2009) of The Mid-Atlantic Almanack, the official journal of the Mid-Atlantic Popular/American Culture Association, includes the following articles of interest:

Yoeman or Nobleman? The Socio-Political Co-Opting of Robin Hood
Caherine Akel

"Something Rich and Strange": Guy Maddin's Shakespeare
Peter Hyland

The Devil on His Shoulder, Sniveling Weasels, Lady MacBeth and the Pit Viper: Evil West Wingers in American Film
Ralph R. Donald

GMTV: Chiller November 2009 Offerings

It appears to be "Vampire Month" this November at Chiller. Here are this month's medieval-themed listings. The complete schedule is online at http://www.chillertv.com/app/Schedule/. As always, all times are EST.

TUESDAY, 3 NOV
8:00 PM: MOVIE--BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA (1992)


WEDNESDAY, 4 NOV
1:00 AM: MOVIE--BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA


SATURDAY, 7 NOV
10:00 PM: DOCUMENTARY--UNIVERSAL HORROR STORY


SUNDAY, 8 NOV
2:00 AM: DOCUMENTARY--UNIVERSAL HORROR STORY


WEDNESDAY, 11 NOV
4:00 PM: DARK REALM--CASTLE KEEP
[Medieval content unknown]
10:00 PM: MOVIE--BRAM STOKER'S WAY OF THE VAMPIRE


THURSDAY, 12 NOV
2:00 AM: MOVIE--BRAM STOKER'S WAY OF THE VAMPIRE


FRIDAY, 13 NOV
10:00 PM: MOVIE--BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA


SATURDAY, 14 NOV
3:00 AM: MOVIE--BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA


TUESDAY, 24 NOV
8:00 PM: FOREVER KNIGHT--FOR I HAVE SINNED
9:00 PM: FOREVER KNIGHT--FEEDING THE BEAST
10:00 PM: FOREVER KNIGHT--STRANGER THAN FICTION
11:00 PM: FOREVER KNIGHT--THE FIX


WEDNESDAY, 25 NOV
12:00 AM: FOREVER KNIGHT--BLOOD MONEY
1:00 AM: FOREVER KNIGHT--PARTNERS OF THE MONTH
2:00 AM: FOREVER KNIGHT: CURIOUSER & CURIOUSER
3:00 AM: FOREVER KNIGHT--NEAR DEATH
8:00 PM: FOREVER KNIGHT--DARK KNIGHT
9:00 PM: FOREVER KNIGHT--DARK KNIGHT: THE SECOND CHAPTER
10:00 PM: FOREVER KNIGHT--ONLY THE LONELY
11:00 PM: FOREVER KNIGHT--KILLER INSTINCT


THURSDAY, NOV 26
12:00 AM: FOREVER KNIGHT--BE MY VALENTINE
1:00 AM: FOREVER KNIGHT--A MORE PERMANENT HELL
2:00 AM: FOREVER KNIGHT--BABY BABY
3:00 AM: FOREVER KNIGHT--CLOSE CALL
7:00 AM: POLTERGEIST: THE LEGACY--THE LAST GOOD KNIGHT
5:00 PM: TRUE HORROR--DRACULA
6:00 PM: MOVIE--BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA
9:00 PM: TRUE HORROR--DRACULA


FRIDAY, 27 NOV
12:00 AM: MOVIE--BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA
3:00 AM: TRUE HORROR--DRACULA


SATURDAY, 28 NOV
9:00 AM: FOREVER KNIGHT--FOR I HAVE SINNED
10:00 AM: FOREVER KNIGHT--FEEDING THE BEAST
11:00 AM: FOREVER KNIGHT--STRANGER THAN FICTION
12:00 PM: FOREVER KNIGHT--THE FIX
1:00 PM: FOREVER KNIGHT--BLOOD MONEY
2:00 PM: FOREVER KNIGHT--PARTNERS OF THE MONTH
3:00 PM: FOREVER KNIGHT--CURIOUSER & CURIOUSER
8:00 PM: TRUE HORROR--DRACULA
9:00 PM: SCARIEST PLACES ON EARTH--A NIGHT IN DRACULA'S CASTLE: TRANSYLVANIA - PART ONE
10:00 PM: SCARIEST PLACES ON EARTH--A NIGHT IN DRACULA'S CASTLE: TRANSYLVANIA - PART TWO
11:00 PM: SCARIEST PLACES ON EARTH--RETURN TO ROMANIA


SUNDAY, 29 NOV
12:00 AM: TRUE HORROR--DRACULA
1:00 AM: SCARIEST PLACES ON EARTH--A NIGHT IN DRACULA'S CASTLE: TRANSYLVANIA - PART ONE
2:00 AM: SCARIEST PLACES ON EARTH--A NIGHT IN DRACULA'S CASTLE: TRANSYLVANIA - PART TWO
3:00 AM: SCARIEST PLACES ON EARTH--RETURN TO ROMANIA
9:00 AM: FOREVER KNIGHT--DARK KNIGHT
10:00 AM: FOREVER KNIGHT--DARK KNIGHT: THE SECOND CHAPTER
11:00 AM: FOREVER KNIGHT--ONLY THE LONELY
12:00 PM: FOREVER KNIGHT--KILLER INSTINCT
1:00 PM: FOREVER KNIGHT--BE MY VALENTINE
2:00 PM: FOREVER KNIGHT--A MORE PERMANENT HELL
3:00 PM: FOREVER KNIGHT--BABY BABY
4:00 PM: FOREVER KNIGHT--CLOSE CALL



Also airing this month: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, POLTERGEIST: THE LEGACY, and TWIN PEAKS.

MCP: John Matthews Begins The Chronicles of Arthur

Prolific Arthurian author John Matthews has recently published Sword of Fire and Ice, the first of a series of Arthurian-themed graphic novels. Following an introduction by Matthews, the book traces the rise of Arthur from his birth to his coronation and incorporates a variety of stories from medieval Arthurian literature and Celtic mythology in creating the magical world that Arthur, through Merlin and the nine sisters of Avalon, interacts with. Overall, the story was interesting, but the art tends to vary in quality.


Details from the publisher's web site follow below:

The Chronicles of Arthur

Sword of Fire and Ice

By John Matthews

Illustrated by: Mike Collins

Availability: Usually ships within 2-3 days

Description:

BEFORE THE ROUND TABLE. BEFORE THE GREAT QUESTS. BEFORE HE WAS KING...

Many stories have been told of King Arthur. Young Arthur's days were full of adventures that prepared him for the life that lay ahead. As a boy, Arthur lived in a time and place where all things were possible and the old magic prevailed. Get ready to step inside the ancient world of Albion and see Arthur like you've never seen him before....

Our Price: $21.99 (HC)
Product Details
Aladdin, September 2009
Hardcover, 128 pages
ISBN-10: 1416986839
ISBN-13: 9781416986836
Ages: 8 - 12
Grades: 3 - 7

Our Price: $14.99 (PB)
Product Details
Aladdin, September 2009
Trade Paperback, 128 pages
ISBN-10: 1416959084
ISBN-13: 9781416959083
Ages: 8 - 12
Grades: 3 - 7


Thanks to Alan Stewart's Camelot in Four Colors for the heads up.

(Updated 11/25/09)

GMTV: More Robin Hood (End of Nov. 2009)

Here are the remanding airdates for the BBC's Robin Hood series airing this month on BBC America.

Saturday, November 14, 2009
8:00 PM
Robin Hood - Ep 9 A Dangerous Deal
TV-PG
Robin tries to strike a deal with the new Sheriff, Isabella, but she rejects it. Kate tells Robin how she feels but Robin is apprehensive. Season 3 Ep. 9

9:00 PM
Robin Hood - Ep 10 Bad Blood
TV-PG
Robin meets his father again and learns that he and Gisbone share a half-brother who is in York Jail awaiting execution. Season 3 Ep. 10

11:00 PM
Robin Hood - Ep 9 A Dangerous Deal
TV-PG
Robin tries to strike a deal with the new Sheriff, Isabella, but she rejects it. Kate tells Robin how she feels but Robin is apprehensive. Season 3 Ep. 9



Sunday, November 15, 2009
12:00 AM
Robin Hood - Ep 10 Bad Blood
TV-PG
Robin meets his father again and learns that he and Gisbone share a half-brother who is in York Jail awaiting execution. Season 3 Ep. 10

2:00 AM
Robin Hood - Ep 9 A Dangerous Deal
TV-PG
Robin tries to strike a deal with the new Sheriff, Isabella, but she rejects it. Kate tells Robin how she feels but Robin is apprehensive. Season 3 Ep. 9

3:00 AM
Robin Hood - Ep 10 Bad Blood
TV-PG
Robin meets his father again and learns that he and Gisbone share a half-brother who is in York Jail awaiting execution. Season 3 Ep. 10



Saturday, November 21, 2009
8:00 PM
Robin Hood - Ep 10 Bad Blood
TV-PG
Robin meets his father again and learns that he and Gisbone share a half-brother who is in York Jail awaiting execution. Season 3 Ep. 10

9:00 PM
Robin Hood - Ep 11 The Enemy of My Enemy
TV-PG
Robin tells the Outlaws Gisborne is joining them because wants to honor his father's dying wish and save his half-brother Archer, but will Archer return the favor when the tables are turned? Season 3 Ep. 11

11:00 PM
Robin Hood - Ep 10 Bad Blood
TV-PG
Robin meets his father again and learns that he and Gisbone share a half-brother who is in York Jail awaiting execution. Season 3 Ep. 10



Sunday, November 22, 2009
12:00 AM
Robin Hood - Ep 11 The Enemy of My Enemy
TV-PG
Robin tells the Outlaws Gisborne is joining them because wants to honor his father's dying wish and save his half-brother Archer, but will Archer return the favor when the tables are turned? Season 3 Ep. 11

2:00 AM
Robin Hood - Ep 10 Bad Blood
TV-PG
Robin meets his father again and learns that he and Gisbone share a half-brother who is in York Jail awaiting execution. Season 3 Ep. 10

3:00 AM
Robin Hood - Ep 11 The Enemy of My Enemy
TV-PG
Robin tells the Outlaws Gisborne is joining them because wants to honor his father's dying wish and save his half-brother Archer, but will Archer return the favor when the tables are turned? Season 3 Ep. 11



Saturday, November 28, 2009
8:00 PM
Robin Hood - Ep 1 Total Eclipse
TV-PG
Robin returns to avenge Marian's murder and battle Gisborne. Tuck searches for Robin Hood, believing he is the only man who can unite England and destroy the Sheriff, Gisborne and Prince John. Season 3 Ep. 1

9:00 PM
Robin Hood - Ep 2 Cause and Effect
TV-PG
The Sheriff sells the local village men to Irish warriors. Kate, a village girl, tries to rescue her brother, but with Robin captured, himself, her heroics have devastating consequences. Season 3 Ep. 2

11:00 PM
Robin Hood - Ep 1 Total Eclipse
TV-PG
Robin returns to avenge Marian's murder and battle Gisborne. Tuck searches for Robin Hood, believing he is the only man who can unite England and destroy the Sheriff, Gisborne and Prince John. Season 3 Ep. 1



Sunday, November 29, 2009
12:00 AM
Robin Hood - Ep 2 Cause and Effect
TV-PG
The Sheriff sells the local village men to Irish warriors. Kate, a village girl, tries to rescue her brother, but with Robin captured, himself, her heroics have devastating consequences. Season 3 Ep. 2

2:00 AM
Robin Hood - Ep 1 Total Eclipse
TV-PG
Robin returns to avenge Marian's murder and battle Gisborne. Tuck searches for Robin Hood, believing he is the only man who can unite England and destroy the Sheriff, Gisborne and Prince John. Season 3 Ep. 1

3:00 AM
Robin Hood - Ep 2 Cause and Effect
TV-PG
The Sheriff sells the local village men to Irish warriors. Kate, a village girl, tries to rescue her brother, but with Robin captured, himself, her heroics have devastating consequences. Season 3 Ep. 2

MMSM: Mythlore 28.1-2

The Mythopoeic Society has just published Mythlore 28.1-2 (Fall/Winter 2008) with the following contents. This issue of the journal (along with back issues and a complete index) can be purchased online at the Mythopoeic Society website.

Mythlore 107/108
Volume 28, Issue 1/2
2009 Fall/Winter
200 pages

Table of Contents

Editorial

—Janet Brennan Croft

Perilous Shores: The Unfathomable Supernaturalism of Water in 19th-Century Scottish Folklore
—Jason Marc Harris

The Noldor and the Tuatha Dé Danaan: J.R.R. Tolkien’s Irish Influences
—Annie Kinniburgh

Tolkien’s Sigurd & Gudrún: Summary, Sources, & Analogs
—Pierre H. Berube

Amanda McKittrick Ros and the Inklings
—Anita G. Gorman and Leslie Robertson Mateer

Ancient Myths in Contemporary Cinema: Oedipus Rex and Perceval the Knight of the Holy Grail in Pulp Fiction and The Sixth Sense
—Inbar Shaham

The Heart of the Labyrinth: Reading Jim Henson’s Labyrinth as a Modern Dream Vision
—Shiloh Carroll

No Sex in Narnia? How Hans Christian Andersen’s “Snow Queen” Problematizes C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia
—Jennifer L. Miller

Innocence as a Super-power: Little Girls on the Hero’s Journey
—David Emerson

Naming the Evil One: Onomastic Strategies in Tolkien and Rowling
—Janet Brennan Croft

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Reviews

• Tales Before Narnia: The Roots of Modern Fantasy and Science Fiction. Ed. Douglas A. Anderson. (Reviewed by John D. Rateliff)
• The Magician’s Book: A Skeptic’s Adventures In Narnia. Laura Miller. (Reviewed by Joe R. Christopher)
• Projecting Tolkien’s Musical Worlds: A Study of Musical Affect in Howard Shore’s Soundtrack to Lord of the Rings. By Matthew Young. (Reviewed by Jason Fisher)
• Esotericism, Art, and Imagination. Eds. Arthur Versluis, Lee Irwin, John Richards, and Melinda Weinstein. (Reviewed by Emily E. Auger)
• The Annotated Wind in the Willows. By Kenneth Grahame; introduction by Brian Jacques; edited with a preface and notes by Annie Gauger. The Wind in the Willows: An Annotated Edition. By Kenneth Grahame; edited by Seth Lerer. The Illustrators of The Wind in the Willows, 1908-2008. By Carolyn Hares-Stryker. (Reviewed by Janet Brennan Croft)
• Truths Breathed Through Silver: The Inklings’ Moral and Mythopoeic Legacy. Ed. Jonathan B. Himes, with Joe R. Christopher and Salwa Khoddam. (Reviewed by John D. Rateliff)
• Tolkien Studies: An Annual Scholarly Review. Volume VI. Edited by Douglas A. Anderson, Michael D.C. Drout, and Verlyn Flieger. (Reviewed by Janet Brennan Croft)

MCP: The Black Knight Returns

Marvel Comics has recently published Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Black Knight/Yellow Claw. The book reproduces the contents of The Black Knight Nos. 1-5 from 1955-56 and stars Sir Percy of Scandia, the Arthurian-era Black Knight, who, aided by Merlin, protected Camelot and King Arthur from the plots of Mordred. The collection is introduced by Roy Thomas, who offers some thoughts on the inspiration behind the series and its lead. The Black Knight also features a number of other medieval-themed comics.


Marvel is also publishing a new Black Knight series begining in November. Here are the details on No. 1:

THE BLACK KNIGHT #1
Written by TOM DEFALCO
Pencils & Cover by RON FRENZ
The secret origin of the original Black Knight is finally revealed as Vampires, Zombies, Werewolves and Demons from the darkest realms confront Sir Percy of Scandia and his twin brother on their desperate quest to find Chaos, the dreaded Doombringer--the only weapon capable of defeating Excalibur, the legendary battle sword of King Arthur!
40 PGS./One-Shot/Rated A ...$3.99

Mercedes Lackey Update

Writer Mercedes Lackey's recent novel Gwenhwyfar: The White Sprit, a novel set in medieval Britain that retells the lives of the three Guinveres of Welsh legend, is a featured selection in the Science Fiction Book Club's Special Holiday 2009 Catalog. Lackey describes her inspiration for the novel on her website at http://www.mercedeslackey.com/books/gwenhwyfar.html. She also offers some details on a series in progress with co-writer Rosemary Edgehill entitled The Shadow Grail, a modern-day retelling/recasting of the legend,. Details at http://www.mercedeslackey.com/books/shadow1.html.