Comic Books
KILL SHAKESPEARE #1
What Fables does for fairy tales, Kill Shakespeare does with the greatest writer of all time. This dark take on the Bard pits his greatest heroes (Hamlet, Juliet, Othello Falstaff) against his most menacing villains (Richard III, Lady Macbeth, Iago) in an epic adventure to find and kill a reclusive wizard named William Shakespeare. This debut- featuring a full 32-page story-will change the way you look at Shakespeare forever.
Writer: Conor McCreery, Anthony Del ColArtist: Andy Belanger
Cover: Kagan McLeod, Andy Belanger
Price: $3.99
iFanboy Community Pick of the Week Percentage: 0.0%
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jabroniunc | 04/15/10 | No | Read Review |
akamuu | 04/13/10 | No | Read Review |
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Cammy’s Comic Corner did a very good interview with the creators at Wondercon – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Gx5vzll4a8&feature=feedu . It got me very interested in this book. Sounds kind of like Fables set in Shakespeares world.
Holy crap. The only reason I don’t think I dreamed this up is because if I did it would have Mark Antony and Hotspur in it. Still.
Crap, there goes four bucks I expected to have at the end of the week.
Found a preview: http://www.killshakespeare.com/behindthecurtain/?p=389
Anyone know if they’ve announced about how long this will go?
I’m going to give this a try (assuming my shop actually has a copy) based solely on the awesomeness of @ohcaroline’s comment. This sounds VERY interesting.
As a premise, this makes absolute sense. His plays have that metatheatrical element that begs for the characters to gain awareness and seek revenge for the pains brought upon them by his pen.
I’m all over this.
I just did an interview with the creators at http://mondomagazine.net/2010/kill-shakespeare-interview/
I won an early copy of the first issue at Wizardworld Toronto and loved it. Highly recommended.
interesting
To pull, or not to pull…
I pulled this so fast. I didn’t even have to think about this. Even if it’s awful, I just HAVE TO KNOW!
It has Hamlet & the Pirates. ‘Nuff said.
Now maybe I can push my spinoff where Hotspur is Remington Steele.
@ Urthona Best post ever.
In at a lossnof words about this, but indefinitely didn’t like it…
Great art though. Reminded me of Darwyn Cooke, and then of Mignola in the scenes with the witches.
I’m glad my expectations are starting to lower for this comic before I buy/read it.
I’m hoping it isn’t a waste of money though.
My post made me realize that I should never try posting from my phone again…
I agree this looked nice but it wasn’t constructed very well, storywise, and there really wasn’t any characterization to speak of. Hamlet’s sad his dad is dead, Richard is evil, and there are witches. Shakespeare really ought to give you more to work with than that.
Actually Shakespeare is evil. He is an evil god toying with the lives of his creations.
Romeo should have been the one to wake up first and band the tragic figures together to save each other. He gets closest to realizing Shakespeare is toying with him in the play than probably any other character.
I don’t like how they are trying to pit Shakespeare’s villains against the "heroes." They are all equally ill treated. If they were to make a dividing line, it should be the characters from the histories/tragedies against the characters from the comedies.
They better have Aaron from Titus Andronicus somewhere in this series. IF they don’t, then these writers don’t know what the hell they are doing.
I think this series still has potential. I’ll give it one more issue to prove it.
@Scorpion — Aaron is an excellent suggestion. "I’m not a racist stereotype, I’m just written this way!"
But yeah, I think this needs to either be broader — like the absurd sort of characterizations in the Jasper Fforde books; his Hamlet is hilarious, whether you agree with the interpretation or not — or more nuanced and individualized, a la Fables, or like the awesome stage play "Good Night, Desdemona; good morning, Juliet".
This mostly made me want to come up with BETTER Shakespeare-based pitches. I think I’d nominate Prince Hal from the Henry IV plays as the team leader. Then Rosalind, Cleopatra. . .the possibilities are endless.
Me too. I really want to like this a lot.
I’ll argue to my death that Aaron is NOT a racist stereotype, but just an evil motherfucker (and very articulate) who actually has some humanity and justification for his evilness.
He is a lot like Iago, but happens to be of a different race.
Iago, on the other hand, does not have any justification for his evilness or humanity. There is nothing he cares about more than Iago.
Aaron has his son.
I recommend the movie Titus, ohcaroline, if you haven’t already seen it.
Oh yeah, Prince Hal would be a better leader for sure.
Oh, I think you have a point about Aaron, he’s mostly a good character, but there are some speeches that explicitly tie his evilness to his race that are really hard to explain away. He’s not even Shylock where you can at least find some ambivalence about his outsider status; Aaron’s just "I’m a Moor and I’m evil." That doesn’t remove his other motivations, though. (I’m a fan of Tamora. Who is also pretty damn evil).
I’m so loving the idea of Prince Hal getting a time machine to keep him busy during his degenerate years so he stays out of his father’s way. He’s cunning as hell, he knows how to have a good time and his (eventual) ability to motivate men is proverbial. I like it!
In my opinion, I think Aaron is just giving the white audience what they want to hear.
I haven’t read Titus Andronicus in a few years, but Othello definitely flips the black devil into a white devil.
As racist as some of the character lines are in the play, Othello is not "rude of speech" or a "black devil." He is a tragic figure on par with the great tragic figures.
There are speeches from women, nonwhite ethnicities and religious minorities that point out the thread of humanity we all share.
I recall Aaron has a speech that mirrors Shylock’s speech about "when you cut me I bleed–when I am sad–I cry" that points out our shared human experiences.
This was awful.
3.99 ongoing? no thanks
oh 12 issues. My Bad.