I really enjoyed Kill Shakespeare. It was a clever use of the characters, though it was a bit cheesy and archetypal in places. I enjoyed the art in much the same way. I love that classic hero comic book look, and it lent it self to the story fairly well. My biggest problem was with Lady Macbeth as a voluptuous vixen. I always saw Lady Macbeth as a Cruella de Vil type character, not a Bond girl. The image threw me off, but it doesn't destroy the story. There are a few issues I did have with the story though.
First there is Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. They just had a brief cameo in the story, but their characters seemed off to me. In the play, these characters always seemed more loyal to King Claudius than to Hamlet, while in the graphic novel, they seem to be Hamlets unwavering lackeys. There is also the fact that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were never smart enough, in my opinion, to have opened Claudius's letter themselves. This increase in cunning and loyalty that the authors have imparted upon Rosencrantz and Guildenstern seemed off to me, and it leads me into the next issue I have with the story, Hamlet.
Hamlet is set up from the beginning to be this dashing heroic prince figure who is destined to lead armies into valiant battles. He is drawn as young, attractive, and muscular, but as we discussed in class, Hamlet was a middle aged scholar. In fact, he is explicitly stated to be less of a swordsman than his kinsman, Laertes. Even the way Rosencrantz and Guildenstern act toward Hamlet in graphic novel immediately set us up to believe he is a strong leader character. The heroic Qualities Hamlet lacks in the play make him seem like a more realistic character. by imbuing these heroic characteristics onto Hamlet, I feel he looses some depth. As the story progresses, Hamlets indecisiveness reduces down to a generic hero quest, with Hamlet simply building up to become the great hero of the story. The original character had for more depth, despite his whining.
The second character I have an interesting issue with, though not as much as Hamlet, is Juliet. Somehow, Juliet went from a depressed, longing, whiny, teenage girl, from a wealthy family, to a rebel leader and Joan of Arc figure. That is a pretty big leap. At least Princess Leia was set up from the begining to have those characteristics. Juliet, seems to just sort of have them tacked on. Admittedly, the authors were smart enough to make reference to this change, and leave plenty of room to make a back story to make the change believable, but for someone who has previous Shakespeare experience, it seems odd.
All this criticism is not to say I didn't enjoy the graphic novel any less. I do enjoy a good hero quest, and generic archetypal adventure. Comic's by nature are an exaggerative medium, as opposed to a play, which is generally considered a more realistic medium. To this end, Othello was perfectly done. I believed Othello whole heartedly in this universe. He has all of Othello's strongest traits from the the play, a strong warrior, a soft but well spoken statesmen, an exotic gentlemen, but with a huge temper and a hint of savagery. I believe Othello really makes the best translation to comic book form. He has all the right traits, and making him a huge buff black guy on the scale of Michael Clarke Duncan just creates a perfect comic book bad ass.
All in all, I enjoyed the work for what it was. It didn't have the depth of any one of the
plays, but used the characters (mostly) effectively to create it's own universe that
is entertaining in it's own right.
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