William Shakespeare's Macbeth: The Graphic Novel

by Arthur Byron Cover, Tony Leonard Tamai (Illustrator)

Shakespeare's classic play of deception, intrigue, and murder is reinvented in the Japanese manga style. Set on a vast ring-world encircling a sun, Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth, scheme and plot their way to power, only to be undone by their own deadly plans. Artist Tony Tamai's unique vision and style breathe new life into a captivating classic.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Manga, Graphic Novels Comics, Shakespeare

175 pages, Paperback

Published September 8, 2005

Reviews

[Laura L · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is definitely a strange adaption of Macbeth. I never thought of Macbeth being set in the distant future in space. The Shakespearean English set in a science fiction was strange and I couldn't get used to it. My biggest problem with this adaption though is that most of the characters were drawn so similarly that I had a hard time telling them apart, I couldn't tell the difference between Macbeth, Macduff and Banquo. I gave this three stars because of my bias towards the original play, Macbeth is my favorite Shakespearean play so that made me bump up my rating some.

[Joe Davoust · Rating 1 out of 5]

Adds little or nothing to the original Shakespeare text. The drawings alone are the only indication that the setting has changed from Scotland to some distant robo-future land. A description or explanation of the new setting was needed to make this worth while. Skip the novel. Read the original. Or better yet go see a stage or screen version of it instead.

[amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

why is Shakespeare so hard to read?! all of the panels were overflowing with art, which did not help. the way the characters talk is so hard to understand and with all the detail to the pictures I had no idea who was who.

[Elysa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This version of Macbeth isn't much of an adaptation. It's the text of the original play put on top of some sci-fi images. I was so excited for a Shakespeare/sci-fi mash-up, but there's not a new, unique story here.

[Cat · Rating 3 out of 5]

The illustrations in this graphic novel area so imaginative. They give fresh life to Macbeth!

[Kimberly Moore · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sci fi Shakespeare doesn't really work for this play.

[Claudia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok -- granted, I'm not the intended audience. I have read (and taught) MACBETH. I find it fascinating. So I don't need a strange sci-fi setting with cyborgs and dragons. I don't need MacBeth and Lady M to look like cutesy Manga characters...

The author has edited and parsed the dialogue from the play, and did a good job of keeping the basic plot while speeding the book along.

MACBETH is one of my favorite Shakespearean plays, and this did nothing for me at all. I tried to look at it with my teacher hat and ask if it would help kids comprehend...not sure. But I wouldn't offer it as an alternative.

[Michael P. · Rating 1 out of 5]

A truly terrible graphic novel of Macbeth. I have no problem with setting the story in a sci-fi world, but Cover makes no sense of it. The owl mentioned in a lizard. A robot can't look pale with fear. In an afterward, Cover directs readers to a book by a sci-fi writer if they want to know more about Shakespeare, not to better books. This is a sad mess of poor storytelling that gets the Shakespeare wrong.

[Lela · Rating 2 out of 5]

I give it 2 and a half stars for an "It's ok" rating.
I mean, Macbeth is a great story but I didn't get the setting of this. Like, why it's set in a futuristic place but yet kept the dialogue likened to the play, even the way it's said. Macbeth was written in the 16th century. Keeping dialogue taken from that time and placing it in a futuristic manner? I don't know. I didn't get that. But it was only a quarter, I like Shakespeare and it takes less than two hours to read, so, meh.

[Ernest · Rating 1 out of 5]

I appreciate the effort made to adapt this classic tragedy into a new form, but I am not sure it fully worked here. The ideas and images were present, but it does not for me hold together as a cohesive whole. In particular, the combination of images and words actually made reading it difficult as it was hard to follow what was happening.

[Laura Lawson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting to see how they put it together.

[Alyssa Cole · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this. But so much important text is missing from the play, that I just can't.

The witches don't even tell him he will be king. That's the kind of omission I'm talking about. Or just the last word of a sentence.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought it was a really good illustration on an old classic story.