Lancelot (portrayed as a black man) was betrayed by Merlin after the passing of Arthur. Attempting to gain the power to rescue Guinevere from the Queen of Bones, Lancelot allowed Merlin to transform him into a living gargoyle. After Guinevere had been saved, Merlin took vengeance on Lancelot for his and Guinevere's role in the fall of Camelot by imprisoning Lancelot in the stone body of the gargoyle, which was set on the roof of the convent where Guinevere would live out the rest of her life.

In the Butcher Knight series, Lancelot has returned to life in the present as Luther Washington, a reclusive painter who is still half-gargoyle, and who must consume the blood of demons to survive. Merlin still lives as well, as Barnabus London, head of a modern business empire. Luther finds himself allied with Daria, a seductive and ruthless witch seeking Merlin's power for her own purposes. The series concluded (somewhat abruptly) with the fourth issue.