Classics in Graphics: Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing: A Graphic Novel

by Steve Barlow

Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing like you've never seen it - or read it - before!Classics in Much Ado About Nothing has been adapted into a graphic novel by expert authors, Steve Skidmore and Steve Barlow, with illustrations by Wendy Tan Shiau Wei. The famous battle of wits and misunderstandings reads like your favourite film on the page - as confusion abounds, compounds and finally untangles.Classics in Graphics is a series of graphic novels for children aged 10 plus that has inclusion at its heart, flinging wide the doors of literature for everyone to enter and understand. Including dyslexia-friendly design on every page, and encouraging readers to relate to these iconic roles - casting spells, falling in love and winning duels.Each graphic novel includes pitch-perfect illustrations for presenting the tragic, the romantic, the comedic, the magical, as well - snappy simplified text presenting Shakespeare's themes clearly- introductory materials to help set the scene and context of each story- heaps of extra material at the back to keep the learning and fun going, including an exploration of themes in the play, the language, Shakespeare's inspirations, the publication and performance of the play in history, a timeline of Shakespeare's life and works, and much more!Plays available in the series MacbethThe TempestHamletRomeo and JulietA Midsummer Night's DreamMuch Ado About Nothing

Genres: Graphic Novels, Classics

112 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2022

About the author

Steve Barlow (real name Steven Lowe) was born in Britain. He studied at Warwick University and Nottingham University, and worked at various times as a teacher, actor, stage manager and puppeteer. Then he went to teach in Botswana. On his return to the UK he met Steve Skidmore, collectively known as The Two Steves—are British collaborative writers who mostly work in the field of children's literature. They have written over 70 books together.

Reviews

[Tim Roast · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much Ado about Nothing is a “rom-com”. “It deals with two love affairs: one between Beatrice and Benedick, which begins with feuding, but ends quite differently; and one between Claudio and Hero that begins with sweetness and light, but nearly ends in disaster.”

I’ve not read or seen the original play but assume this is close to it given it is part of a series of graphic novels based off of Shakespeare’s plays (Classics in Graphics). It is definitely child-friendly. The language is thankfully modern rather than taken verbatim from the original text, so it is easy for a modern audience to read. The art is great and easy to follow. The story is indeed rom-com and is funny in places thanks to “itty feuding couples” and the Dogberryisms, where the character Dogberry “tries to use an impressive-sounding word and gets it wrong”.

The story is told over 5 acts and there is some filler to go before and after the story too (Shakespeare bio, intro to the play and character brief bios, breakdown at the end of the different acts in the book, a bit about the themes in the story, a bit about the time Shakespeare was around etc.). It looks like a book made for kids and schools, but is good for me to read too as an adult so that now I know all about another one of Shakespeare’s great plays. 4-stars.
⭐⭐⭐⭐📜🖋

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I think this may be a good gateway to Shakespeare, I just felt like it could’ve been done better. I’ve read other graphic novel adaptations of classics that I felt captured the spirit of the original better tab this one did.

[Candy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Questionable story but funny adaptation with cute illustrations

[James Calefato · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best adaptations I have read so far. It really captures the essence of the story. It flows easy and reads well. The art style is fitting. A great read!

[Jasmine McMillan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Biblically accurate Shakespeare adaptation

[Blue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun time but the brevity of the play cut away a lot of helpful context

[Melissa Young · Rating 3 out of 5]

These graphic novels are such a great idea. I’ve always been someone that’s interested in Shakespeare’s stories but I knew I would struggle with the older language. There’s no need to worry about that anymore. This Much Ado About Nothing adaptation has simplified the language, making Shakespeare’s work accessible for all.

The art work of Much Ado About Nothing is really fun. I love the cartoon style, it feels very clean while still being visually appealing. The block colours and simplistic font make this such an easy read. I loved the art style a lot. Beatrice’s character design was my favourite part. 

The story was really easy to follow, which was my biggest concern. I think these graphic novels are technically made for children, but that’s what made them especially great for me. I knew nothing about Much Ado About Nothing before opening this but now I know the whole story. This is also helped by the back section of the graphic novel. There are simple explanations on every theme in the story, a short summary for each part of the story and a glossary for what some of the less commonly used words mean.

It feels wrong to review the story aspect of this graphic novel as the author obviously didn’t write it. Well, they did write this version but the idea isn’t originally theirs. Does that make sense or am I being silly? This story is silly, that’s the best way of describing it.

I’d highly recommend checking out this graphic novel adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing if, like myself, you’ve wanted to read Shakespeare's work but felt put off by the older language. It’s fun, vibrant and highly informative.