The Shakespearean Social Network

I was reading another rave review of The Social Network, this time on HollywoodReporter.com.  The film is garnering fantastic reviews and I'd like to state that it's one of the best film marketing campaigns I've seen.  Everything - from the haunting trailer to the posters.. Great work.The Hollywood Reporter uses this expression: "The Social Network has as its protagonist a character drawn in a Shakespearean mode, a high-achieving individual who carries within him the seeds of his own destruction."  A great description and so I sat down last night for a couple minutes and put together this mock-up poster, using our own Shakespearean character (Hamlet) as a subject...

I hope you like it...

Word!

Your fave Bardolaters are taking it to the mean streets of Toronto this weekend.Swing by The Word on the Street Festival on Sunday at 2:00 PM to check out Conor as a panelist on the Digital Drive stage. He'll be chatting with other "literature luminaries" about the future of books, magazines and comics in this the digital age.Plus, his photo on their webpage makes him look so darn professional - like a burly, red-headed Perry Mason!And for more info on the festival a link to the great blog post from which the image above was "borrowed".(Like how I wrote  this whole thing in the third person as if you couldn't see I was the one responsible for the post?)

How does one cash a novelty cheque?...

A number of people have been asking us about the novelty cheque that we received at the Pitch This! contest two days ago... Were we able to keep it?... How does one bring it home?... Can we cash it?... The answers are:1. Yes, we were able to keep the novelty cheque.  When I won back in '06 for Outsourced, I turned around and the cheque was gone.  So I made a point this year to ensure that the cheque remained right by us the entire time.2. Conor and I fought over who could bring it home (see photo below) and Conor, being Irish, fought dirty and was able to beat me in a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors... So he took it home on his bike.  Yes, his bike.  See photo further below.  He apparently was almost killed (he forgot to account for the wind resistance) and also passed some people on the street that were, at that exact moment, declaring that they had seen a lot of crazy things in the city (but this topped them all)...

STICK FIGURE HAMLET

Yes, this site has the ENTIRE tragedy drawn entirely in stick figures.Now we ask, can you really have ANY more fun with the Bard than a stick-ginger Hamlet? (yes, correct the answer WAS Kill Shakespeare, but this is a close second).ENJOY!

KILL SHAKESPEARE GETS SOME LOVE ON "NATIONAL READ A COMIC IN PUBLIC DAY"

We here on the Kill Shakespeare team are big fans of comics. Not just the super-hero books (tho' we love those too) but the notion that there is a comic for EVERYONE .And one of the ways to  show that to people is to read comics -- in public.I know, I know -- its a scary idea.  And,  I''ll admit that occasionally the Wednesday books stay in my bag on the TTC in favour of the latest issue of WIRED or a "proper" book -- but the time has come to stand up and unite.Or rather, unknown to me until the day OF, the time ALREADY came.Yes it was National Read  A Comic In Public Day on August 28th, and by all accounts it was a screaming success. Some very cool people we have met before in San Francisco were part of the event, and it was spearheaded by Brian Hibbs the accomplished author of  Tilting at Windmills (one of the best collections of comic-related essays ever) and owner of the very excellent Comix Experience.So a tip of the hat to Brian, and to everyone AROUND THE GLOBE who went out and read a comic in public, and hopefully inspired someone new to try out this awesome medium of ours.

"KILL SHAKESPEARE did something that no English teacher ever could"

We have received a LOT of very positive reviews of late (I'm still buzzing from the one that mentioned the term "genius", though not sure if we deserve it...) but it's always great to get another one - this time from AintItCool.com.  We received a positive review of the first issue back in April but this time the review is for our fourth issue - and the three leading up to it.Perhaps the best line from the review: "What I do want is writers who know how to dream and artists who brush with their souls. To that end, KILL SHAKESPEARE is a smashing success."

Check out the review by clicking on the image.

Letters like this make it all worth it!...

Conor and I received the email below earlier today.  It's emails that this that make this project so worthwhile for us - having people tell us how much they love the series.  It's also great that so many Americans have caught the series Slings & Arrows, a great Canadian television production.  Thanks to Dana for her email, and we hope you continue to read the series!Just wanted to drop a line to say how much I'm enjoying this. The story is great, as well as the artwork. As a theatre actor I've had a love/hate relationship with Shakespeare over the years. Currently, between this and recently devouring the series Slings and Arrows. I'm in love again! Even reading Hamlet again just for funsies. Thank you so much for renewing my spirit!Much loveDanaSacramento, CA

An EPIC, EPIC of KILL SHAKESPEAREAN EPICNESS - in four parts (To borrow from Scott Pilgrim) .

The ENTIRE Kill Shakespeare team (including that 'wascally wabbit' Andy) take part in a mammoth interview with Joe Wilcox at Oddly Together.Joe is a great journalist with year's of experience - it may be the first time we've been questioned by a guy who also cover's Microsoft's earnings.There are four parts to the awesomeness -- each one bite-sized and tasty.

Act 1 -- Enjoy as Andy gets to be the pitchman for the first time in a live interview. Thrill to how he says the series is about Shakespeare's characters playing with themselves. Gasp as Anthony and Conor reveal themselves to be Bert and Ernie on acid (those aren't two pillows....)Act II -- Anthony gets us on track and explains what the heck this series is actually about. And he explains how Kimberly Cox may still be trying to kill us.Act III - This was a real, real treat -- a WORLD-EXCLUSIVE sneak preview of art for issues #5, 6 and beyond. If you are a Kill Shakespeare devotee (as we know you are) you wanna check this clip out for sure!Act IV - We get philosophical here and ask a big question for Bardolators: Was Hamlet a suicide-case? Did he actually LET himself be killed in the play? And does that make him one big fat coward???All told we had a great time chatting with Joe, and we really hope you enjoy the interviews as much as we did making them!

Thou art a Shakespearean insult!...

Two weeks ago we ran a Shakespearean Insult contest, in which anyone could submit an original Shakespearean-esque insult and the winners would receive signed copies of issues 1 and 2 of the series.  We had a lot of entries via this website, Facebook and Twitter.  After a deliberation amongst our team we were able to settle on the following winners:

If you are one of the winners please email us and give us your mailing address and we will send you the copies ASAP!

Shakespearean Insult Contest!

What is the best Shakespearean insult you can come up with?We are running a contest this week and giving people a chance to win autographed copies of Kill Shakespeare #1 and #2.  Send us (via email, facebook, twitter, or leaving a comment below) your absolute best (or worst) insult and we'll give copies to the best three entrants.Some of Shakey's best:"(Your) brain is as dry as the remainder biscuit after a voyage." - As You Like It"Come, you are a tedious fool. To the purpose." - Measure for Measure"Were I like thee I'd throw away myself." - Timon of Athens

This made my week!

Earlier today we received a letter in the mail, unmarked on the envelope.  I opened it up and discovered something that blew me away... A personalized letter of congratulations from Tom Stoppard (who we had sent the first issue to)!!!For those that don't know, Sir Tom is the Oscar/Tony/Olivier-Award winning writer of SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE and ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD (amongst many others).  These two are inspirations of ours (I personally think that Shakespeare in Love is one of the greatest screenplays of all-time) and to receive a letter from him has definitely made my day, my week and my month!

Controversy!

It appears as though a Shakespearean scholar has not taken kindly to Kill Shakespeare and our concept... Kimberly Cox, a New York-based scholar (and coincidentally enough the girlfriend of artist/writer Frank Miller) has blasted our concept.  She has posted a long letter on BleedingCool.com, which you can check out by clicking on the link.

Random quotes:

"And now a BAD comic book?"

"I just threw up in my mouth."

"Oh, they think they are so clever. They must, because otherwise, this comic book would not exist. IDW would never have even considered the proposal. But no one at IDW knew a thing about Shakespeare, that much is clear, because I doubt that they want to publish a giant stinking turd of a comic book on purpose."

Also of note is that two other scholars are interviewed and their opinions differ from that of Ms. Cox.  They call the project "enjoyable", "hard to fault" and "it's a great idea."We've been asked quite a bit in the last few hours what we think of it and we're okay with the criticism - in fact, we welcome a nice, healthy debate.  That's one of the goals of our project - to get people talking about Shakespeare and interpretations of his works.  It just proves that he - who we believe is the greatest entertainer of all-time - is still relevant in today's world.

Celebrate The Anniversary of Shakespeare's Birth/Death With Us!

To celebrate and recognize the birth/death of William Shakespeare (and the release of the first issue of Kill Shakespeare, of course...) we are doing a signing at Toronto's The Beguiling).  If you're in the Toronto area you can stop by the store and meet our team - myself, Conor, Andy Belanger and Kagan McLeod.

We'll be at the store from 5-8pm that evening so stop by and chat Shakespeare, comics, film, etc.  We'd love to see you!

Toronto Comic-Con Panel

On Friday, March 26th we hosted a panel at the Toronto Wizard Comic-Con that talked about comics and Shakespeare.  It was a very lively debate, with a great crowd and insightful panelists.  The panel, moderated by Kill Shakespeare co-creator Conor McCreery, featured myself, artist Andy Belanger, comic book artist Cameron Stewart, Shakespeare academic Ted McGee, and actors Kate Hewlett (Stargate Atlantis) and Carlos Diaz (Cra$h and Burn).

Thanks to everyone who showed up and to Crystal Luxmore for taking the photos (you can see all photos at this link).

An interesting sequel to Macbeth

We were contacted recently by author/professor Tania Roxborogh from New Zealand, who had found out about Kill Shakespeare and are looking forward to reading the series when it's released there.  Tania has also told us about a book trilogy that she has embarked upon - a follow-up story to Macbeth called Banquo's Son.

The book is described as, "an epic tale of love, loss and revenge set amidst the turmoil of Scotland after Macbeth" and features Banquo's son Fleance returning to his homeland ten years after his father's death.  Sounds like something that any fan of Macbeth would love to check out!

You can check out Tania's blog here and read some of the first pages of the book here.

The Bard is Best

Last Wednesday (February 24th) I was given the opportunity to present a speech to the Toronto University Health Network Toastmasters Club.  I served as a 'target speaker' that members evaluated in an Evaluation Contest.  What was the topic of my speech?  William Shakespeare, of course - and why he should be considered the greatest writer (and entertainer) of all-time.

Always hoping for Powerpoint slides...

The basis of my argument was this:

1. Shakespeare created the greatest characters of all-time.  Hamlet, Juliet, Othello, Lady Macbeth, Richard III, Falstaff, etc.  Go down the list and even if you haven't seen or read the play, you know the characters.  The greatest characters of all-time.

2. Shakespeare created the greatest stories of all-time.  Strip away the language and get to the core of his stories.  The Bard had everything in his plays – kinetic action and adventure, extremely bloody violence, war, poetry, love, romance, drama, double-crossing, cross-dressing…  The greatest stories of all-time.

3. Shakespeare created production that appealed to all audiences.  Today he is thought of intellectual and high-brow.  Back when he presented his productions they appealed to the royalty in their own private booths and the common folk who would pay a couple ducats to stand in the mud and be entertained.  If Shakespeare were alive today he would write not only plays but be a filmmaker, a video game designer, a comic book illustrator and a mobile content developer.

In summary, Shakespeare is not only the greatest writer of all-time, but the greatest entertainer.

The speech went over well and I look forward to the opportunity to present it again sometime soon.  Thanks to the members of the UHN Toastmasters for being a great audience and to Peter Shewchenko, a Hall-of-Fame speaker himself to give me the opportunity to persuade another audience of the Bard's powers.

One of our first (and biggest) international fans

Conor and I received a fantastic email earlier this week from Deborah Altenbeck, a current English and Art student from the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany.  Deborah had found out about Kill Shakespeare through an online search and wanted to find out more about the project. Deborah is currently working on a paper about the rise of graphic novels and may use Kill Shakespeare as a case study.

More importantly, she has helped us out by referring us to some comic book stores in Germany and is starting to spread the word.

It's these sorts of interactions that make the hours and hours of work and effort worthwhile.  Thank you very much for your enthusiasm, Deborah - we love to hear from people like you.

Will Shakespeare Nuts Geek out on K.S.?

Just saw that Duane at the Shakespeare Geek has posted some KILL SHAKESPEARE stuff (including our trailer).  We look forward to starting up debates moving forward about whether Shakespeare would be interested in doing comic books - or be rolling over in his grave at the moment.  We're of the opinion that if Shakey were alive today he'd probably be working closely with Stan Lee on some really cool stuff...

As Daune write: "Apparently they’ve got something else in mind altogether!  This might be a little over the top for some of the readers, but I think it could be great fun... As a purist I think the whole thing would self destruct – I think Hamlet wouldn’t be able to stand Falstaff and neither of them would give Juliet a second glance.  And I suspect that Iago and Richard would probably kill each other.  But we’ll just have to see how it plays out!"

Check out the link here...