11
Feb
2010
Manga Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare & Kate Brown
What fools these Manga be!
O.K., that was totally lame of me, but Manga Midsummer Night’s Dream? It’s teh awesome.
The only thing I thought was sucky was that it is in black and white. As someone far more knowledgeable than myself pointed out to me recently, it’s pretty cheap to print in color these days, too.
And reading a book with pictures in black and white is sort of like watching a movie in black in white, in that I forget who is who because they don’t look different enough to me. I need color (of hair, clothes, eyes, etc) to be able to distinguish people.
However, Kate Brown does a pretty good job of making the main characters unique. I absolutely loved Hermia, who had short hair and wore a Greek-style shift over capri-length leggings.
That little bit of modern update leant itself nicely to the Manga style, which I admit, I know practically nothing about. Manga, that is, not modern clothes. I know slightly more about anime, and I appreciated that Kate Brown didn’t use any cheesy tactics–drawing bulging eyes and giant beads of sweat. Is that popular in Manga as well? I really don’t know. Frankly, I don’t even know whether or not I’m supposed to be capitalizing Manga.
But I do know a little bit more about Shakespeare. I’ve often said that I think that Midsummer Night’s Dream is something that should be seen, rather than read. Not that I’ve ever seen it. But still. It has a certain production quality inherent to it.
So reading it along with each panel, black and white though they may be, really brought it to life for me in a way that reading it on its own never has. So yay!
Buy Manga Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night’s Dream on Amazon
If you like this book/author, you might like:
(my reviews in blue)
The Good Fairies of New York by MartinMillar
Fool by Christopher Moore
The Odyssey (Marvel Illustrated) by Roy Thomas, Alexandre Dumas, and Greg Tocchini
The Iliad (Marvel Illustrated) by Homer, Miguel Angel Seupulveda, and Roy Thomas
Beowulf: Monster Slayer by Paul D Storrie and Ron Randall
The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb
Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev
Fables Vol 1: Legends in Exile by Bill Willingham
Other works in the Manga Shakespeare series*:
Manga Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet
Manga Shakespeare: Macbeth
Manga Shakespeare: Hamlet
Manga Shakespeare: The Tempest
Manga Shakespeare: As You Like It
Manga Shakespeare: Richard III
Manga Shakespeare: Julius Caesar
Manga Shakespeare: Twelfth Night
Manga Shakespeare: Much Ado About Nothing
Manga Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice
Manga Shakespeare: Twelfth Night
Manga Shakespeare: Henry VIII
Manga Shakespeare: King Lear
*All books in the Manga Shakespeare series are written by William Shakespeare, illustrated by various
LOL. I need to pick up the manga for Twelfth Nigh so I can be ready for my convo with Megan.
I need to try this! I read Manga Hamlet a while ago and wasn’t too impressed, but that should teach me not to start with the most difficult play to adapt. I can see how this would work much better.
I don’t think you capitalize manga, hee. I love Shakespeare and manga seem like a winning combination. I’ll have to look for it in my area.
I don’t know that much about manga, but I do love Shakespeare, and I’d be interested in seeing these books. I’ll look for them at the comic shop.
I was very impressed by this rendition of the Bard. I would like to read some of the others as well.