Hamlet

by Steven Grant (Adapter), William Shakespeare, Tom Mandrake (Illustrator)

William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is one of the most revered and loved plays of all time.  The story of a young man who strives to avenge his father’s death has been performed and read constantly ever since it first debuted at London’s Globe Theatre over four hundred years ago.  Madness, family, and revenge are only a handful of the universal themes found in this tale that still hold great meaning to us today.  Artist Tom Mandrake’s art combined with Steven Grant’s adaptation truly realizes the dark nature of this story.  Each character from Laertes to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern is recreated in this adaptation in a truly unique form, making it a wonderful graphic novel for readers old and young alike.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Plays, Drama, Classics, Tragedy

56 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1602

About the author

Steven Grant is an American comic book writer best known for his 1985–1986 Marvel Comics mini-series The Punisher with artist Mike Zeck and for his creator-owned character Whisper.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_...

Reviews

[Mohsen Ramezanzadeh · Rating 1 out of 5]

خیلی با شور و شوق این کتاب رو شروع کردم چون به فکر می‌کردم خواندن یک نمایشنامه کلاسیک و معروف به شکل کمیک باید جالب ‌باشه اما نمی‌دونم به خاطر ناآشنا بودن من با فضای کمیک بود یا کلا نگارش نمایشنامه به این شکل نادرست بود، شاید هم کلا پیاده سازی این ایده جالب خوب نبود.
به هر حال برای من خیلی گنگ و پراکنده بود و اصلا انتظاراتم رو براورده نکرد.

[StrictlySequential · Rating 5 out of 5]

Without-a-doubt Shakes would have recommended his plays read in the Sequential Art format since he wrote them to be seen in motion!

[Jean-Pierre Vidrine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Steven Grant and Tom Mandrake have crafted here what is almost a perfect artistic adaptation of William Shakespeare's classic play. What prevented it from being absolutely perfect was page number limit of this format. Would that Grant and Mandrake could revisit this story without a page limit and do an unedited adaptation of my favorite Shakespeare play. Whenever I reread the play itself, now, I will picture Mandrake's illustrations of Hamlet and his father.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally, a Shakespeare I can read. A comic book.

[Norman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mandrake's art makes this an easy read as his art is pleasantly representative and the adaptation by Grant is well chosen. This makes me want to see Hamlet again.
The speeches and phrases that still resonate are here; the artwork distinguishes the characters for us and Ophelia's end - depicted from Waterhouse's famous painting is great.

[Summer · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an easy to read and creative book! I would have preferred a more cohesive story line, though.

[Nikki in Niagara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hamlet is my favourite Shakespeare, and probably why I now love good books where everybody dies at the end. I enjoyed Mandrake's art here very much. It's very rich and full, filling the entire page and suits the atmosphere; the lines have an ethereal curvature to them lending to the ghostly theme. When I started to read I was surprised to find that this adaption consists of actual Shakespearean text; I don't know why. I shouldn't have been, since Papercutz has proven itself to be very committed to preserving the content of the original books they are presenting in this series. I'm an odd duck, though, and think Shakespeare is best read by the masses, unless you are a scholar or poetry freak, in ordinary English. I enjoy the plays in the original vernacular because, well, plays are meant to be heard/watched not read. That's just how I am. Back to the book. If you want an original text adaptation this is very good, all the famous quotes are here and the story hasn't been watered down. All the racy bits are here too. But most children won't understand most of the language as there are no footnotes to explain the abundance of 16th century vocabulary. However, they'll get the gist of what is going on by putting the phrases together with the pictures and multiple reads will further expand the enjoyment.

[Sean Chick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ahh Shakespeare, the most overrated of writers. Not that he is not great. This play is a testament to that greatness. Yet, for every great play there is Henry VIII, John I, and the comedies. For every beautiful line that turns the soul there is unintelligible dreck that obscures and confuses. Few authors are for me simultaneously beautiful and laughably bad. As a man who's own work also veers wildly from good to awful, I sympathize. I just wish others recognized the weaknesses. Instead, Easton Press' "Greatest books ever written" featured every bit of Shakespeare but only samples from Euripides, Moliere, Shaw, etc.

[dejah_thoris · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent adaptation of Hamlet that does a good job of keeping the original language while still simplifying the story. There's a few big text bubbles for soliloquies but aside from the two major ones, they truncate the rest without losing much plot-wise. (I'm partial to the Claudius threat soliloquy, so seeing that heavily edited was a little sad.) The panels themselves are lush and the splash panel centerfold is simply amazing. Definitely a great tool to get novices interested in Shakespeare.

[Jennifer James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hamlet is my favorite Shakespeare play, and this graphic novel version does a pretty good job of adapting it. There are some lines cut which could cause confusion for someone who's never read the original, but the illustrations are good.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to jam on my Hamlet in order to guest teach a class, so this was a good way for me to get the gist of the story and the language, too. But the art is so... messy. I found the painterly style distracting, and it was often hard to follow the sequence of dialogue.

[Kristin Boldon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was hoping I could tempt my 10yo to try Hamlet with this. He didn't like it, and neither did I. The images and words were out of joint.

[Satyajeet · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the greatest Of Shakespeare's plays Now in Graphic Detail...

[Beka · Rating 1 out of 5]

I kept having to go back and reread because bubbles were hard to tell what came next