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140th out of 175 books
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81 voters
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add to my books
Kill Shakespeare Vol.1 (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.
Paperback, 148 pages
Published
November 9th 2010
by IDW Publishing
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I'm following this series on my iPad. Characters from Shakespeare's canon take sides as Hamlet tries to find the Wizard Shakespeare and hold him to account. Very creative!
Wandering Librarians
rated it
Shelves:
action,
adult,
adventure,
boy-appeal,
dark,
friendship,
graphic-novel,
great-graphic-novels-for-girls,
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ya
If you've read our reviews of Fables you know we love the storyline that bring well known characters to life. As a long-time Shakespeare nerd, I really enjoyed this graphic novel. The characterizations were absolutely spot on, from the charisma and violence of Richard III to the youth and inner-conflict of Hamlet. Falstaff was amazing, as a jester with pearls of wisdom that you couldn't take seriously because everything else he said seemed so trite. There were times I scrambled a bit to remember...more
If you're a fan of Shakespeare and a fan of the Fables series by Bill Willingham, then this comic should be right up your alley. The authors take the world of Shakespeare and turn it upside down. The characters are self aware and realize that there is some higher power that controls their world, but one faction seeks to kill this higher power--Shakespeare, and take his power for their own. At the center of the battle is Hamlet who has been case out of his home and finds himself in a strange l...more
Not good at all. The concept could be interesting, but it is handled very poorly. Hamlet is about the worst possible choice for a protagonist, and he seems to be incredibly out of character here. An especially bad point with him is that he seems to have little motivation to care either way about the conflict in England. As for the other heroes, I am not familiar with all of them, but they too seem to be simplistic or incorrectly written compared to their original incarnations.
Richar...more
Richar...more
As a culture that loves sequels, what are we to do with Shakespeare? With the exception of the history plays, some of the greatest characters ever created only get one feature. That means we never get to see Benedick and Beatrice adjusting to married life, Rosalind’s inevitable return to manpants or Hamlet's quest fountain of youth. (Okay, clearly the lack of sequels is a good thing). But this hasn't stopped authors from wanting to write sequels or create adaptations of the bard’s plays and in o...more
I've not thought of myself as a reading snob or snooty English teacher. I may have to rethink that after this graphic novel. In an attempt to find Shakespeare related books and broaden my graphic novel experience (only memoirs so far--both good), I picked this up. The premise seemed fun--a bunch of Shakespeare's characters live in a world where he is God and different factions are trying to kill or worship him. Maybe this would be a fun way to put newfound Shakespearean knowledge to work for stu...more
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Laura
rated it
Hamlet kills Polonius and is sent to England for his sins. Richard III and Lady MacBeth tell him he has a destiny: to free England from the evil wizard William Shakespeare by stealing his magic quill. And, if he does, per Richard III (with some evidence) Hamlet’s father can be redeemed from hell and returned to the throne of Denmark by a grateful nation. And if doesn’t, per Richard III, England will be dragged into night. Hamlet’s sent into the magic forest on his adventure, where he’s kidna...more
Wow! This GN was so disappointing. I found the artwork to be engaging, but the story dragged so horribly throughout the entirety of the GN that I fell asleep reading it (I never fall asleep while reading). Occasionally, the dialogue was interspersed with Shakespeare-esque quotes, but that does not imply that wit was used at all. Seriously, the Bard wrote more than violence and tragedy; he wrote comedy too. This GN, however, lacks humor on a catastrophic scale. Two men in drag do not make f...more
This seemed like such a lame idea when I first heard about it. Yet, it works. The team behind this book truly know how to put togather a comic that works on a melodramatic way that isn't talky. The art and the story combine in a wonderful way. I have to admit that I have found a lot of IDW's work to be horrible. Usually the art is muddy and dreadful, the stories almost unfathomable. When they did Angel, not the Joss Whedon one, it was dreadful in every meaning of the word. Their horror co...more
i'm giving this three stars out of kindness, it really should be about two and a half. i really wanted to like this, but something about the mechanical structure stopped me. the paneling is confusing, almost like the writer and artist didn't quite know enough about how comic books are structured to lead the reader to the right sequences. although they do get points for the pun in the title.
the story is interesting, but needs to pick up the pace a bit in order to make me keep reading f...more
the story is interesting, but needs to pick up the pace a bit in order to make me keep reading f...more
Kill Shakespeare is a work of vaulting ambition. Sent away to England after accidentally killing Polonius Prince Hamlet is attacked by pirates. He awakens to find himself in the court of none other than the villain Richard III. Richard feigns goodness and offers Hamlet a deal: he’ll resurrect the prince’s father in exchange for Hamlet killing the wizard Shakespeare and bringing back his magical quill. While Hamlet accepts the commission, he quickly realizes that all is not what it at first s...more
I am going to lead off with this today for a few reasons. Prepare yourself because I am going to be hitting you with a bunch of information on this bad boy. Monday I am also going to lead off with this dynamic duo, Conor McCreery & Anthony Del Col, in a Q&A I was lucky enough to get. The graphic novel is original, fresh, irreverent, and just about all the things I love in a graphic novel. Here is the official press release:
“Canadians Successful in quest to Kill Shakespeare with Release of G...more
“Canadians Successful in quest to Kill Shakespeare with Release of G...more
IDW is one of the up-and-coming second tier comic book publishers – not far behind Image – and Kill Shakespeare is clearly their response to the literary/comics hybrid that Vertigo has made famous with Fables and its spin-offs. The premise is clever enough: Hamlet, the ill-fated Prince of Denmark, flees his homeland accompanied by Rozencrantz and Guidenstern (in events already described in Shakespeare’s tragedy), but ends up in a quasi-England inhabited by the other characters from Shakespeare’...more
It's a great premise and a fun read. But the title is writing checks that the book itself cannot cash. All of Shakespeare's characters live together in a world together and Richard III is spearheading a quest to find and kill Shakespeare himself and take his 'magic quill.' It's a great idea.
HOWEVER... The a number of the characters behave in a way that's at odds with how they behave in their respective plays. To me some of the readings are good and some of the readings are complete...more
HOWEVER... The a number of the characters behave in a way that's at odds with how they behave in their respective plays. To me some of the readings are good and some of the readings are complete...more
This was a pretty good graphic novel. Definitely reminded me of the Fables series. They took stories we all know and love (ok ok, at least know and tolerated in high school) and transformed them into an interconnected, intense, and twisted tale with murder, madness, and intrigue.
At first my memory of some of Shakespeare's characters was a bit lacking but even without recognizing all of them my lack of knowledge did not detract from the story or their parts in it.
The art...more
At first my memory of some of Shakespeare's characters was a bit lacking but even without recognizing all of them my lack of knowledge did not detract from the story or their parts in it.
The art...more
Ben Babcock
rated it
This is such an amazing concept, and when I first heard about it, I was taken aback by how unbelievably awesome it might be. Some of Shakespeare’s most memorable characters face off against each other in a desperate race to find a wizard named William Shakespeare. Othello, Juliet, Falstaff, and others believe that “Will” will deliver them from the tyranny of King Richard III. Richard, along with the Macbeths and Iago, plot to kill Shakespeare and obtain his quill—and with it, his magic. Thrust i...more
I really like this book. I'm giving it four stars for now, but that may change to 5 after a couple of days :) They keep mentioning Fables and The Unwritten as a comparison and I think it's fairly accurate. McCreery and Del Col have expertly created a new, yet familiar world in which we rediscover old favorites. Richard III and Lady MacBeth head up a tyrannical force set upon finding and destroying the fabled creator, Shakespeare, using the Shadow King, a prophesized messiah of sorts. Who is that...more
Holly
added it
Recommends it for:
horny people with a lot of alone time in the future
Recommended to Holly by:
seeing it a million times everywhere
So a few other reviewers have noted that this comic aims pretty high and falls pretty short on the let's-adapt-Shakespeare scale. Since we're seeing the characters out of their respective plays, they could be given more depth or at the very least keep the same amount they had in the plays, but most of them seem to have become incredibly one-dimensional. One of my favourite things about comics is that they often involve a lot of backstory or else a lot of hints about backstory, and this one see...more
A fun comic in the vein of Fables with Shakespeare's greatest heroes and villains fighting to save or kill the legend called Shakespeare. McCreery has a lot of fun with Shakespeare's characters, some moreso than others. Juliet, a leader of the rebellion against Richard III, is a great character but bears little resemblance to Shakespeare's character; I suspect her character development will be highlighted in future volumes, though. Iago is a perfect antagonist, a consummate liar who convincingly...more
I don't like that it's being compared to Fables, when it's really not like it at all. I would have liked it a little more without that expectation looming at all times.
I love that Hamlet is the main character, I do have quite a soft spot for him. The dialogue was very fun, and I'm interested in where the story is going, but I had a few artistic qualms. The panels were so confusing on more than one occasion that I had to deliberately pause and try to map the two page spreads over again....more
I love that Hamlet is the main character, I do have quite a soft spot for him. The dialogue was very fun, and I'm interested in where the story is going, but I had a few artistic qualms. The panels were so confusing on more than one occasion that I had to deliberately pause and try to map the two page spreads over again....more
This is not a good comic. It uses Shakespeare's characters in a string of in-jokes that do not successfully create a compelling plot or present an interesting adaptation of Shakespeare's plays. The art is good, and some elements are successful, however. Hamlet and Falstaff dress in drag for a significant sequence, playing with (one might say queering) the tradition of women dressing as men in Shakespeare's comedies. Additionally, the plot seems consciously episodic: bouncing from one event to an...more
I heard about this graphic novel on NPR, which made my responsible adult side feel better about reading graphic novels, and my inner child feel better about listening to NPR. Being what I’d call a casual fan of Shakespeare, it sounded like something that would be right up my alley. After reading through the first volume, I can say that I like it, but it’s not as good as I was hoping it would be.
The story picks up somewhere around the third act of Hamlet, with the Danish prince sailin...more
The story picks up somewhere around the third act of Hamlet, with the Danish prince sailin...more
The book opens with Hamlet being banished from Denmark. The ship he's on gets attacked by pirates and he ends up washing ashore in England. Richard III is waiting for him when he wakes up and informs Hamlet that he's the Lord of Shadows and destined to kill Shakespeare and free England from his tyranny. Of course, that's just Richard's side of the story. They set off to find Shakespeare and Hamlet soon learns that there's another side to this story, a group of people who want the Lord of Shadows...more
I really like the concept of this book, which is quite clever. A bunch of Shakespeare's greatest heroes and villains all live in the same place, and set out on a quest of find Shakespeare, who is a powerful wizard (they think). Of course, they all want to find him for their own reasons. Hamlet, of course, can't decide which side he's on, Iago keeps wanting Othello to trust him, and Lady Macbeth has her own reasons for doing everything. While I like the concept and the story lines, I find the ima...more
Fun, but disappointing. Taken on its own merits, Kill Shakespeare is an enjoyable medieval fantasy story along the lines of Kevin Costner's Robin Hood. The fact that all of the major characters are heroes and villains from Shakespeare, and that the Bard himself is the mythical wizard at the end of the Golden Brick Road, should have made this an even more entertaining metafictional romp.
The problem is that it's been done before, in Fables, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and to a l...more
The problem is that it's been done before, in Fables, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and to a l...more
I thought it was really interesting. The combination of the various characters from Shakespeare's plays, as well as the little nods towards the plays were really fun to pick up on. The characters were very much the best part for me, since they retained key aspects of their character, but then expanded upon them. (A good example is Juliet, who was very much the go-getter in her play while Romeo moped). One can also tell where in the play these characters come from, given how they act.
T...more
T...more
I love the premise of this graphic novel-some of Shakespeare's most memorable characters battle against each other in order to either kill the Bard or make him some kind of savior for the common people. For the most part, the art is amazing. A couple of times I think the artists didn't do a fantabulous job of rendering emotion on characters' faces, but all in all it was pretty good. My rating is more of a 3.5. Really can't wait to read the rest though, a very intriguing storyline! And I hav...more
This was a fun quick read about Shakespeare's characters trying to kill him and steal his magic quill in order to change their stories. Hamlet, as always, is the reluctant hero. Used as a pawn by Richard the III and his evil cohorts (including the Macbeths, Don John, and most every other Shakespeare villain you can think of.) Hamlet is eventually freed by the "Willites" as I call him. here was my biggest problem with the story. The leaders of the resistance are Juliet, Othello, and Fal...more
This is the story that a Shakespeare fan like me has been waiting for, even if I didn't know it. McCreery and Anthony Del Col clearly love Shakespeare and have a great grasp of the varied characters they've populated this fantasy world with. Not worrying too much about time periods, the writers make the very wise decision to have this world be simply vaguely "medieval" a la Renaissance Festival. The art of Andy Belanger is probably not what some readers would expect for a book invol...more
I'm giving it two for the concept, and for sympathy—it's tough work playing with masterpieces. But still, very poor. The story was jumbled and the characters lacked any depth, despite the immense resource of the original works. Dialogue was inconsistent (using the traditional "thou" and the modern "you" styles interchangeably) and the attempts at verse were painful. Art was sloppy—anything beyond the immediate foreground was wobbly and panel transitions were wildly incongruou...more
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