Hamlet (No Fear Shakespeare Graphic Novels): Volume 1

Babra has done some excellent work here. While I think transposing Shakespeare's language to our run o' the mill idioms loses a lot, it does work. Especially with as well matched as that informal tone is to the line work Babra has used. The images and the word balloons fit well together. And beyond that, the word balloons are fantastic. That may sound like an odd compliment, but so few comics artists use the full range of the medium's conventions. A simply tail from a word balloon pointing to someone's face clarifies who the speaker is; however, the twists and turns that Babra sometimes uses in those tails add to the meaning of the statement. ("I can tell a hawk from a handsaw" definitely deserves a figure-8 knot in its tail.) Similarly, the use of abstract expressionistic backgrounds complements and amplifies the varieties of emotion and madness in the tale. All in all, it's a book that I am completely happy I invested in.

Sometimes it seems like people forget that Shakespeare's plays were not written to be read, but to be performed on stage. When I first tried to read Shakespeare as an adolescent, I was lost and annoyed by the experience. However, seeing the same material performed on stage completely blew me away and I was hooked after that. I think that these books help to add back in the visual aspect of Shakespeare which is lost when you simply read it. Graphic novels can convey some of the emotion are behind the character's lines. This brings out the drama and excitement and makes for a more enjoyable experience. This book is the best one, of the Shakespeare graphic novels I seen. My kids (ages 13 and 15) read this with relish and now we are watching the 4 hour Ken Branagh version on DVD. Students are more free to enjoy the lyricism and poetry of the dialogue when they aren't so focused on trying to figure out what the heck is going on. I do recommend this book as a wonderful introduction into the drama of Shakespeare. Purists, beware, it simplifies the language and this will probably drive you nuts. But I give them kudos for doing a good job of trying to keep the more famous lines intact.

Neil Babra's done an outstanding job with this one. His character designs, graytones, page layouts are all superb. The characters' "acting" is strong, the pacing works well, and (most impressively) the script is a hybrid of Shakespeare's original and SparkNotes' dumbed-down "translation," capturing the best features of both (and leaving Shakespeare's best lines undamaged). Note also the fantastic frontispieces drawn by Babra for each act - each one a masterpiece I'd be proud to hang in my house. Hats off to Babra for taking a project that could easily have been phoned in (SparkNotes? Seriously?) and knocking it out of the park. This is a fine graphic novel.

I teach Hamlet. As anyone who teaches Shakespeare to lower ability readers knows, getting students to read Shakespeare for homework is like pulling your own teeth. Well, I have found that if I copy certain "big" scenes out of this novel and assign it for homework. The kids read it and are ready to discuss the next day.

I really enjoyed this comic! I am familiar with much of the artist's work, and this piece is both his most ambitious and most successful to date. I'm not a Shakespeare fanatic though I do enjoy his work both on paper and in performance, and I found the adaptation visually striking and had no complaints about the edits to the text. In fact, I thought Mr. Babra did an excellent job of keeping the story moving while maintaining a sense of the imagery and flow of the original. If you love independent comics, I recommend this highly. If you are a Hamlet purist, I recommend reading the play.