Sunday, June 20, 2010

Hamlet: The Manga Edition by Adam Sexton and Tintin Pantoja

Spoilers.


Title: Hamlet: The Manga Edition
Author: Adam Sexton and Tintin Pantoja (and William Shakespeare)
Year of Publication: 2008
Genre: YA, drama, manga
Pages: 185
First Line: "Has this thing appeared again tonight?"

Summary: The sudden death of the king, later revealed to be murder. The queen's all-too-sudden remarriage to the king's brother, the murderer. The grieving, suspicious Prince Hamlet. Supernatural visitations. Deception, manipulation, and soul-searching deliberation. Plots, leaks, and counterplots. Poisoned wine. A rigged sword fight. Revenge.


Source: Back of book


Review: This is the first graphic novel I've ever read. I lovelovelove Hamlet, so I decided to give this a try. (As this is my first graphic novel, I'm not sure how to review it, but I will do my best!) I'll start with the actual graphics. All of the characters seemed age-inappropriate. Gertrude, Claudius, Hamlet, and others seemed far too young. The only one whose age was right, I think, was Polonius. Il oved the depiction of Elsinore, though. It isn't what I prefer for the castle (I like the brighter, more palace-like building in Branagh's version), but by itself, it's pretty awesome. As for the actual dialogue, etc., some of how it was written was spectacularly interesting, if you've read/seen the original play. Certain words were emphasized and stuff like that so it made it a little more accessible to Shakespeare!noobs (not that I'm any expert). I will say that it's fairly difficult to understand if you haven't read/seen the play already and understood it. I have both read and seen it and done a lot of work with it for school, and even I was a bit lost/confused at some parts. That might have just been the graphics, though, which were sometimes so abstract that it was impossible to say, really, what the artist was getting at. A fun read if you've already been exposed (extremely, that is) to Hamlet.

Worst part: Those abstract images drove me insane.

Best part: The fact that it exists?

Grade: C-

Other Books by This Author: (All Adam Sexton) Macbeth, Julius Caesar and Romeo and Juliet.

Other Notes: 1. This is not a substitute for actually reading/seeing the play! If you are a student and are trying to find a way around actually reading/seeing it, this is not the way to go. Besides, it's so fantastic, it's worth just reading/seeing it anyway (and I highly recommend Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet).

2. I am only counting graphic novels as 1/2 (half, .5) of a book for my count.


43.5 / 50 books. 87% done!

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