While I really loved the first volume of this series, I'm a fair bit more meh about this one. Now, we don't just have Arthurian mythos, but also Beowulf. Our protagonist trio--Gran, Rose, and Duncan--get what might have been meant to be character development, but really only served to alienate me as a reader. Gran might be meant to be secretive and manipulative, but it comes across as plot development, not character development. Duncan just comes across as scenery -- active scenery, but still, wooden and no thoughts. Rose barely gets any time on the page, and is still more interesting than Duncan, and at least gets a little to do. Mary/Elaine continues on the dark side, and it is very difficult to tell how much they actually know of what they are doing.

Basically -- grim and bloody with some plot and dreadfully flat characters. The conceit is more dead horse than it is driving force. ( )

I felt slightly less connection with the story than volume 1 but not enough to give it four stars. Still a bloody fun adventure with amazing art. ( )

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3846688.html

An audacious reinvention of the Matter of Britain, where King Arthur returns as an undead horror in league with present-day fascists, and our hero, together with his tough-as-nails granny, must thwart them. The whole thing moves at a cracking pace with some good set-pieces in south-west England. In the second volume, the dark forces (led by the undead Arthur and the hero's gone-to-the-dark-side mother) summon Beowulf and Grendel and Grendel's mother to their aid, with sanguinary consequences. Like a lot of second volumes, it doesn't take us a lot further than the first, but far enough that I'll certainly be getting the next in the series. ( )

Excellent continuation of this series. As we discovered in Volume 1, stories can be brought to life in the modern world. Thus far, only characters from Arthurian legends have been brought to life, but in this volume we see that other stories can as well. Such as the Scandinavian epic hero Beowulf. Duncan and his Gran are the unlikely duo responsible for fending off the creatures that threaten our reality. One of the best comic series going! See more in Gutter Talk, the show all about comics and graphic novels. ( )

In this second volume, Duncan is starting to find his way as a fighter of monsters from myth and Legend but he still hasn't forgiven his Gran for keeping him in the dark so long. At the same time, Merlin is manipulating Arthur for his own ends and bringing other legendary characters into the fray.

The action here remains top notch and the arc this volume with Beowulf is a lot of fun. I do wish that there were a bit more character development going on with our leads in between all the monster fighting though. ( )