Comics & Graphic Novels, Science Fiction & Fantasy

Kill Shakespeare, Volume 1

Name: Kill Shakespeare, Volume 1
Author: Conor McCreery
ISBN: 9781600107818

by Conor McCreery, Anthony Del Col, Andy Belanger

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Overview

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.

Synopsis

Publishers Weekly

Presented as the first half of a longer story, this volume features an intriguing concept: what if Shakespeare's major characters coexisted in a magical land, so that easily misled young Hamlet was duped by clever tyrants Richard III and Lady Macbeth until Falstaff enlightened him and they joined a band of rebels led by Juliet? And what if Shakespeare was considered a wizard, lurking behind the scenes, with ultimate magical power residing in his quill pen? A fantastic world containing this swarm of vivid individuals should be a wonderful basis for a story. Unfortunately, so far, the comic has been a fairly routine sword and sorcery adventure. McCreery and Del Col's script doesn't make the characters, with the exception of the irrepressible Falstaff, especially distinctive; their dialogue is standard heroic comics talk, sprinkled with a few "thee"s and "thou"s. Likewise, Belanger's art is adequate--clean and easy to follow--but nothing special. (Nov.)

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly

Library Journal

Starting as a video game idea, this became instead a massively multi-character crossover comic set in a fantasy "Bardverse." When Hamlet's ship is attacked by pirates, he escapes and is found by Richard III, who tells him that he is the one prophesied to free Richard's people from the tyranny of the wizard (or perhaps god) called William Shakespeare. But Hamlet soon discovers that another faction, led by the rebel Juliet and her lieutenant Othello, worships Shakespeare and believes that the chosen one will bring Shakespeare out of seclusion to reinvigorate the land. VERDICT Despite the hackneyed prophecy plot device, McCreery and Del Col spin an engrossing action-adventure tale of satisfying complexity, full of mystery, deceit, and gory violence, starring a hero who once again must marshal his determination and decide his path. While not scholarly or especially subtle, it makes good use of its main characters, incorporates many references to the plays, and achieves its seeming ambition to be cool (and even, when Hamlet and Falstaff escape the "bawdy house," comical). Recommended.—S.R.