Kill Shakespeare Volume 1

You might imagine that on a Venn diagram illustrating people who read comics and people who enjoy Shakespeare, the area of intersection would be slight. You would, of course, be mistaken. After all, many comic fans grew up on the high-falutin' prose of Stan Lee, who modelled the dialogue of characters like Thor on a cod American take-off of the Stratford bard.

Then in the late 80s, a new breed of comic was spawned by Neil Gaiman's Sandman which stole themes and even characters from all kinds of classic literature and used them to a variety of ends, some dazzling, others less so. (Don't start me.) Arguably Sandman created a whole new audience for comics - not just goths, but "serious" readers. Other books soon followed suit, notably Bill show more Willingham's Fables which brought us dark, adult interpretations of classic fairy tale characters, and recently Mike Carey's The Unwritten, which involves the creator of a fictional Harry Potter-esque hero and the son he may have based that character upon.

All of which brings us to Kill Shakespeare, a comic with such an inspired high concept pitch, you can't believe no one's done it before. The Bard's greatest creations - including Hamlet, Juliet, Othello, Richard III and Lady Macbeth - are pitched against each other in a thrilling quest to locate a legendary wizard with a magic quill. Whosoever possesses that quill will have power over all their domain. The wizard they seek? William Shakespeare.

Read the full review at my blog show less

The premise of this graphic novel series is that Shakespeare's characters all co-exist in a single land. The characters view the Bard as either a god or a wizard but both parties evil and good believe that major power can be wielded by whoever possesses Shakespeare's quill. In this first volume, Hamlet learns that he may be the Shadow King mentioned in prophecy and must choose whether to believe Richard III or Juliet in their views on what to do if he finds Shakespeare.

I've been meaning to read this series for a couple years now and I'm very glad I finally got around to it. For anyone who loves character mash-ups, the series will hold great appeal but no in-depth knowledge of Shakespeare is required to enjoy the series. While there are show more tiny nods to major Shakespeare fans, the characters stand well on their own without knowing their back story. The art in this volume is also gorgeous. I loved the interplay of characters as diverse as Hamlet, Richard III, Falstaff, Juliet, Othello, Macbeth, and Iago, which made the main narrative even more fun. Definitely a great foray into graphic novels for lit nerds. show less

Summary: Kill Shakespeare takes place in a world where all of Shakespeare's characters exist at the same time, and are ruled over by the remote, god-like wizard William Shakespeare. This world has a prophecy that the Shadow King will be the only one who can find Shakespeare, and there several factions are trying to manipulate that prophecy to their own ends. When Richard III finds Hamlet (freshly exiled from Denmark by Claudius) shipwrecked on his shores, he becomes convinced that Hamlet is the Shadow King, and with the help of Lady MacBeth, Iago, and the Weird Sisters, sets him in motion to find Shakespeare and steal his Quill, an object of magic and power. However, Richard's plans are opposed by a group - led by Juliet and Othello - show more that seek Shakespeare to return him to the benevolent rule of his people, and they also have plans for Hamlet.

Review: Kill Shakespeare is to the Bard's works what Fables is to the Brothers Grimm & Co, although with a little less whimsy and a little more bloodshed. I love stories about stories, and I generally enjoy Shakespeare-related stuff, so I was bound to think that the premise of this series was a fantastic one. The execution is thus far intriguing as well; I'm not entirely caught up by the heroes vs. villains prophecy stuff, but just watching the characters from various plays interact is fascinating enough to keep me reading. The writing is such that you don't have to be a Shakespeare fanatic to follow along; the characters keep their personalities, but the action is new and doesn't require much knowledge about the details of any particular play. There are plenty of little in-jokes to keep fans happy, but I actually would have been okay if the plot had required more insider knowledge than it does. I was also not thrilled to realize that Hamlet was the focal character; he's less annoyingly mopey here than he is at home, but I actually found the transition to Hamlet, Man of Action to be disconcertingly out of character.

I was also not terribly in love with the artwork. There's a lot of action (read: violence), which is not necessarily a problem in and of itself (and does fit the subject matter), but there's only so many ways to draw a panel of someone getting stabbed before I start to zone out. The best adjective I can come up with for the artwork is "lurid": bright, almost neon colors, plenty of corpses and ghosts and bloodshed, lots of open-mouth reaction shots, Lady MacBeth's gravity-defying chest, etc. Not bad, per se, but not exactly to my taste, either.

Still, there were plenty of good bits - lines that made me laugh, solid character moments, etc. - and I'm interested enough in the idea to see how it plays out, at least for another few volumes. I'm not exactly blown away yet, but any time you can get Hamlet in a dress (supplied by Falstaff) fly-tackling one of Richard III's soldiers in an attempt to save Juliet? I'm on board. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: It's definitely in the same vein as Fables and The Unwritten, so fans of those or other literary comics who also have a fondness for the Bard should certainly give Kill Shakespeare a try. show less

Oh, this is definitely a fun read! Juliet, Othello and Falstaff versus Richard III, Lady Macbeth and Iago? Both sides trying to convince Hamlet that theirs is the good side? Both trying to use Hamlet to get to Shakespeare – one to kill him, the other believing he is the saviour of their world. WHAT FUN!

In the first six volumes of this twelve volume series, we meet up with all kinds of lovely Shakespearean characters, other than those mentioned above – including Puck, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern, the three witches and many others.

I really enjoyed the story in this book. The writing was quite good, and the characters were all very true to themselves. Well, aside from the Hamlet not being mad, but that’s always debatable in the play show more anyway. Lady Macbeth, one of my favourites, was just as evil and conniving as possible, which was wonderful and lovely and evil, huzzah!

The art was rather beautiful too, which is always important when you’re reading a graphic novel.

All in all, highly enjoyable and super fun – love love love!

The Bottom Line
Am definitely looking forward to reading the second volume in this – it was a lot of fun, and anyone who wants to revisit some Shakespearean characters should definitely pick this one up. show less

Gotta love the combination of Shakespeare and Graphic Novels. The idea that Shakespeare is some sort of God who created this world is imaginative and entertaining. The characters from some of his greatest plays mix together in a world that is familiar and yet different from what we expect.

I must say that I was entertained immensely and can't wait to read the next volume.

The premise of this comic is that all of Shakespeare's characters inhabit a world that is controlled somehow by the wizard Will Shakespeare. Some of the characters seem to worship him while others are planning his downfall. Hamlet gets caught up between the two sides (of course he does) and has to figure out who to trust and what to do.

I *love* the premise, and for the first issue or so I was really into this. But then it started to drag, and by the time I was done with the volume, I wasn't so enthused any more. There's a lot of fighting and betraying, and I think it just wasn't my bag. YMMV.

I've been trying to read more graphic novels lately and I picked this one up at the local library. I am familiar with most of Shakespeare's work (haven't read everything, but I'm familiar with it all). This GN {Graphic Novel} did a great job of incorporating various aspects of Shakespeare's greatest characters and plots. The story is intriguing, although I must warn you, there is a lot of blood. I'm not too fond of blood, but I managed. Overall, this GN is pretty good and if I could find the next volume, I would definitely read it. =)