Julius Caesar

by Carl Bowen

A graphic novel adaptation of William Shakespeare's play about the first emperor of ancient Rome, the conspiracy to assassinate him, and the civil war that follows his murder.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Classics, Historical Fiction, Shakespeare, Fiction, Comics

88 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[S A · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Julius Caesar' centres around the tragic life of the prominent,hubristic and valorous politician and dictator Julius Caesar.This story explores the consequences of betrayal,the downfall of the arrogant and the importance of listening to others . When loyalties are strained and Rome's well being hangs in the balance ,will Caesar have to run for his life?Find out.

This graphic novel version of Shakespeare's famous 'Julius Caesar' is simply fantastic.It allows archaically-illiterate people,(like me),to read and enjoy William Shakespeare's spectacular plays.The text is abridged and concise as well as including actual lines from the original play.The illustrations are out-of-this-world and blend so well with the writing.

It stays true to the story line while maintaining an original twist to the well known play. Those wishing an easy-read or to catch up on their Shakespearean knowledge will immensely relish the beautiful artwork merged with the succinct text.

Do I sound like an advertiser or what?

[Suhasa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listened to the dramatised audiobook*

[Nicole Diaz · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Et tu, Bruté?” 💔

[Jared · Rating 4 out of 5]

Julius Caesar was a military leader of Rome. He has won many battles and is refusing the crown offered to him as king. Some people don't like his power and start to make plans to kill him. Some of these men are his friends. They do kill him, but Mark Antony turns the people against the murderers.
They leave the country and Caesar's forces find them and kill them.

The artwork is full color panels and dynamic bright colors. There are captions and speech bubbles.

The conflict of this story is between Caesar and and Cassius. Cassius wants the power Caesar has and turns the public against Caesar. He even gets Brutus to turn against his friend. Cassius thinks that he will gain the power by killing Caesar. He didn't because Mark Antony remained loyal to Caesar and turned the crowd against Cassius.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this for my classroom to help simplify Julius Caesar for some of my students. It is definitely simplified, though personally I think it is a little too simplified. It removes a lot of my favorite pieces and really only hits major plot points. If your students need a summary, this will work. If you want to talk more about motivations and rhetoric, you'll lose a lot with this version. However, it does give a decent outline of the story.

[Kasara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Do I write a review for the graphic novel of JC?? I guess? I don’t care for graphic novels. This took me mostly one sitting to read. It was very hard to tell which characters were which since they are all drawn very similar in the novel. The text was also hard to follow. It gave a general overview of the play by act though which is helpful to me. Other than that, it was just okay. I’d rather read Macbeth 🙃

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Concise but had a hard time telling Caeser and Brutus apart with the way it was drawn.

[Danica · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5🌟 Not a bad retelling graphic novel of Julius Caesar. Not my favorite of his plays anyways. Decent artwork.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was very, very simplistic. I can't say that I was a fan. 2.5 stars rounded up to 3.

I expected an abbreviated text to fit the play into this format, but this was too edited. Subtlety was nonexistent. There were really very few actual Shakespearean quotes, other than things like "Beware the Ides of March" and "Et tu, Brute'?" Maybe this one is more for kids, I don't know.

If you like both Shakespeare and graphic novels, I can't really recommend this one. I do, however, recommend Macbeth by Gareth Hinds. That one was very well done.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the original Shakespeare version would be hard to read, this version felt like a summary of the original. And maybe that's due to the original having endless dialogue that didn't add to the story, so it was cut out for the graphic novel version. I don't know. I actually never the original version. I feel like having the pictures did help the story. Shakespeare's language can make the scenes hard to visualize sometimes.

So, I give it 3 stars because in some ways this was much better, and in others it took away from the story.

[Maxie · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 My aunt gave me these silly little Graphic novels (3) and I'm reading them even if I haven't read the original story. It's a good story, art looks good, didn't stick out but enjoyed

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

A graphic novel version of Julius Caesar that presents the story in a streamlined way.

[Donald Bullard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderfully Quick

I enjoyed something about this. Perhaps it is too breezy, but it made sense like a map of the work. On to more.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

As is the case in all the graphic novel adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays in this series, this title covers the main points of the plot against Julius Caesar, including his betrayal by the honorable Brutus, and the civil war that engulfs Rome after his assassination. The death scenes are exceptionally bloody and show the assassins spotted with blood. Of course, readers will be reminded, as Caesar was, to beware the Ides of March. The book makes Shakespeare's plays quite accessible for young readers.

[Spillminttea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave it three although it’s good for kids. The play is much better than this to acknowledge Brutus as the navigator for whole package.

Beware of the Ides of March-Be careful on March
15th.

Cowards die many times before their death. The valiant never taste of death but once.-People who fear death suffer all their lives. People who do not fear death suffer only once - When they die.

[Jeni]

My fifth graders will be performing an adapted version of Julius Caesar and so I read this book to them to help them understand the story and get to know the characters. It was a very basic introduction to the story and the students enjoyed it. I also appreciated the historical context that was included at the end of the book.

[Carlene Alexander · Rating 3 out of 5]

Something weird happens on good reads. Whatever version of Julia's Caesar I put in (graphic novel / simple version/ original/ no fear Shakespeare) it always defaults to this version when I put it in my books.

[Ahren Honeycutt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it. It was really good but I think that it would have been better if it had more detail I guess. But other than that I liked it. I recommend this to anyone who likes Julius Caesar and graphic novels.

[Sorcered · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good for ten year olds. It takes the plot, shows the main moments, gives a few memorable quotes, and an explanatory page about Shakespeare, the play, the real history, and calls it a day. Maybe some kids will want to read the real play after they read this? Dunno.

[Emily Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this Shakespeare graphic novels because they are easy to read and allows you to read a entertaining summary of Shakespeare’s plays. Julius Caesar was we scripted, nicely illustrated and interesting to read. Definitely recommend for anyone with ADHD or trouble paying attention to books.

[Jeff Mayo · Rating 2 out of 5]

A quick version that doesn't do the story justice. The artwork is more caricature than a portrayal of real humans. Shakespeare doesn't work in this shortened format. A longer book might have worked, but the artwork doesn't.

[Academic Amphibian]

No one makes anything original anymore. It’s all remakes. Pretty sure William didn’t come up with this story all on his own. :/.

That being said. I have had the friends romans countrymen speech memorized since early middle school so.

[Dylan Berger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grade/interest level:4th grade-8th
Reading level:710L
Genre: Fiction
Main Characters:Day, June, Thomas, and Commander Jamson
Setting:
POV:

[Antonio · Rating 3 out of 5]

i think this book was not good.I would not recommend this book because I didn't really learn much about him. But on the other side it was interesting and kept me entertained

[Annagail · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the artwork in this, and of course the story was excellent because it's Shakespeare. Everything he ever did was pure gold.

[Jaime Grande · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good guided reading with elementary level to introduce Shakespeare.

[Asha Loves Apple Juice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. Pretty good. Would not recommend.

[Chase Amartey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it.

[Haley-Beth Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed reading it better than if I would’ve read the play write.

[vio · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good, concise retelling of Shakespeare's play with well-executed artwork.