Kill Shakespeare Volume 1
Being a theatre person, my first predictable unintelligent reaction was kill who? but then as I read on, I was pleasantly surprised. Imagine Othello, King Richard III, Hamlet, Juliet, Falstaff, even the three witches from Macbeth, and many more of Shakespeare's fictional characters from several timeless plays… Imagine all these characters from the 16th century brought to life in one single vibrant and colourful yet dark world… villains and heroes in attendance in all their glory. All in an epic adventure to find and kill a recluse wizard named William Shakespeare.. Kind of like Family Guy Meets The Simpsons. OK, this might not be the best analogy, I grant you that. And it's not all. A touch of fantasy surrounding their world is the cherry on top!
If you haven't read all of Shakespeare's plays you might want to do a bit of research on the different characters if only to find out how the author chose to introduce each character in this adventure. Toronto Public Library does own many resources such as A dictionary of who, what, and where is Shakespeare or A theatregoer's guide to Shakespeare's characters for a quick research, and some such as Discovery Collection or even The Shakespeare Collection are fully accessible on line and even from home. Just type in the name of your character and you'll have it on your screen … just saying.. (The librarian in me couldn’t help but add). But even if you chose not to, you could still enjoy this adventure with no difficulty at all.
Overall, I thought it was creatively and smartly done. The style is much more down to earth and accessible than Shakespeare’s original and timeless texts, yet still in my opinion refined and elegant. Andy Belanger’s artwork is vibrant although a little on the bloody side and not for the faint of heart.
And Shakespeare in all of this says thou??? Some claim he is the world’s saviour to be revered, others the villain to be annihilated… and so goes Hamlet’s dilemma.. If you decide to give the book a chance, you might just find out!
Check out these 2 vlogs from the co-creators themselves!
On a personal note, I really am very fond of the object in which Shakespeare’s power lies.. so small, so delicate.. yet so powerful. I will let you discover for yourself just what that object might be..
So, enough about what I think, what did you think of Hamlet? was he cautious or undecisive? Did you like the artwork? how about the language used? Did you find it easier than the original work?
19 thoughts on “Kill Shakespeare Volume 1”
Very interesting. I suddenly have the desire to read this graphic novel. My favourite Shakespeare book is Julius Caesar. I have also read some of the other Shakespeare books such as Romeo & Juliet, The Tempest, and The Twelfth Night and so I am looking forward to seeing all these characters come together to produce this story. By the way, that’s a really good video tutorial.
Awesome Maleeha, let me know what you think when you read it! The authors did a great job producing the video and they’re also very nice.
I like the idea of a new twist on an old favourite.
I do too, especially when it is cleverly done!
They were talking about this at school, I wanted to read it, and I plan on after reading more shakespeare books, so I actually understand the cleverness of it.
This sounds quite interesting to read 🙂
Haha, I’m hoping this book will be in english easy enough for me to understand, because the text in the original Shakespeare plays are a bit too… Hard to understand. Nonetheless, I hope the character personalities stay the same in this book 🙂 I’m interested in how all this will play out. 😀
Yeah, it’s pretty easy. I’d be interested in knowing what you thought of it once you read it!
It sounds very interesting and promising!
This sounds fascinating – Shakespeare gives good villain, too. So many good books in here this summer!
AAHAHHAHA
i like the idea of bringing the full on Shakespeare experience with every single character and what do they do together but go after Shakespeare himself!!
I really like shakespeare!
He’s interesting but seriuosly, sometimes I don’t understand.
I want to read romeo and juliet because it seems like a classic love story with a modern twist!
sounds very interesting to read the shakespeare’s story in graphic novel.
wow !! Its like all of Shakespeare characters get together in this book. it’s really unique though
This seems like a interesting twist to the classic novels of Shakespeare. I hope all the characters still are able to hold onto the unique personalities in this book.
Sounds really interesting and i’m glad it’s in graphic novel cause i can understand the story way better.
Exactly what I thought!
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