Shakespeare and Comics
Negotiating Cultural Value
Published on 30. April 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
264 pages
978-1-350-40138-9 (ISBN)
Description
From their inception, 'low culture' comics have intersected with the 'high culture' of Shakespeare. This is the first book-length collection dedicated entirely to the exploration of this collision.
Its chapters illuminate the ways in which different texts, time periods, politics, authors, media, approaches and forms interact. Ranging from Classic Comics to Marvel, from tebeo to manga, from independent to mainstream comics, texts explored include Y: The Last Man, Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' (The Sandman #19), The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, I Am Alfonso Jones, Marvel 1602, Doom 2099, and manga adaptations of The Tempest and Macbeth, among many others.
As comic books and their big-screen progeny dominate mainstream popular culture, the association of Shakespeare with comics offers creators and critics tools with which to interrogate the place of Shakespeare within the English and global literary and cultural traditions. Shakespeare and Comics argues that, at a moment when the reassessment and reimagining of literary canons has become more urgent than ever, thinking about Shakespeare through the lens of comics invites us to imagine a literary and cultural landscape in which so-called 'great works' exist alongside and in equal conversation with marginalized writers, topics and forms.
Its chapters illuminate the ways in which different texts, time periods, politics, authors, media, approaches and forms interact. Ranging from Classic Comics to Marvel, from tebeo to manga, from independent to mainstream comics, texts explored include Y: The Last Man, Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' (The Sandman #19), The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, I Am Alfonso Jones, Marvel 1602, Doom 2099, and manga adaptations of The Tempest and Macbeth, among many others.
As comic books and their big-screen progeny dominate mainstream popular culture, the association of Shakespeare with comics offers creators and critics tools with which to interrogate the place of Shakespeare within the English and global literary and cultural traditions. Shakespeare and Comics argues that, at a moment when the reassessment and reimagining of literary canons has become more urgent than ever, thinking about Shakespeare through the lens of comics invites us to imagine a literary and cultural landscape in which so-called 'great works' exist alongside and in equal conversation with marginalized writers, topics and forms.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
14 bw illus
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
337 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-350-40138-9 (9781350401389)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
08/2024
1st Edition
The Arden Shakespeare
€31.99
Available for download
E-Book
08/2024
1st Edition
The Arden Shakespeare
€31.99
Available for download
Persons
Jim Casey is an independent scholar based in the USA.
Brandon Christopher is Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Winnipeg, Canada.
Brandon Christopher is Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Winnipeg, Canada.
Content
List of Illustrations
Notes on Contributors
Acknowledgements
Introduction: What's Shakespeare to Comics, or Comics to Shakespeare?
Jim Casey (Independent scholar, USA) and Brandon Christopher (University of Winnipeg, Canada)
Part One: Timeless and Timely
1. Delineating Comics: Shakespeare Illustrated and the Question of Narrative Production, Catherine E. Thomas (Georgia Institute of Technology, USA)
2. Macbeth and the Spanish Post-War 'Tebeo': An Adventure Hero for Young Readers, Elena Bandin (University of Leon, Spain)
3. Shakespeare in Harlem: Race, (Popular) Culture and I Am Alfonso Jones, Daniel Thomas Stein (University of Siegen, Germany)
Part Two: Text and Image
4. This Goodly Frame: The Collaborative Theatre of Good Tickle Brain, Mya Lixian Gosling (artist and author of Good Tickle Brain), Kate Pitt (dramaturg for Good Tickle Brain) and Annalisa Castaldo (Widener University, USA)
5. Shakespeare and Female 'Super' Heroes: Classic Comics in the Golden and Silver Age, Darlena Ciraulo (University of Central Missouri, USA)
6. From Stage to Manga Page: Scalar Mediation and Shakespeare's Tempest, Jennifer Waldron (University of Pittsburgh, USA)
Part Three: Heroes and Villains
7. 'Bigger than Shakespeare': Contingency and Cultural Memory in 'A Groatsworth of Wit', Douglas M. Lanier (University of New Hampshire, USA)
8 Permission to Invade: Doom 2099's Muses of Fire, Philip Austin Gilreath (Northeastern University, USA)
9 Alas, Poor Hero: Heroism in Y: the Last Man, Niamh J. O'Leary (Xavier University, USA)
Part Four: Violence and Trauma
10. 'Ax One Scream One': Shakespeare as EC Comics Horror, Kyle A. Pivetti (Norwich University, USA)
11. Into the Multiverse: Shakespeare, Adaptation, and the Alternate Reality of Marvel 1602, Charles Conaway (University of Southern Indiana, USA)
12. Manga Adaptations of Macbeth, Yukari Yoshihara (University of Tsukuba, Japan)
Part Five: Authors and Adaptors
13. Reading for and against Prospero in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Rhonda Knight (Coker University, USA)
14. When Canons Collide: Isaac Asimov's Dual Influences on Arthur Byron Cover's Macbeth: The Graphic Novel, Joseph Sullivan (Marietta College, USA)
15. Puck You, Shakespeare: Embodiment and Authority in Gaiman and Vess's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', Jim Casey (Independent scholar, USA)
Afterword
Genre in Shakespeare and Comics, Peter Holland (University of Notre Dame, USA)
Index
Notes on Contributors
Acknowledgements
Introduction: What's Shakespeare to Comics, or Comics to Shakespeare?
Jim Casey (Independent scholar, USA) and Brandon Christopher (University of Winnipeg, Canada)
Part One: Timeless and Timely
1. Delineating Comics: Shakespeare Illustrated and the Question of Narrative Production, Catherine E. Thomas (Georgia Institute of Technology, USA)
2. Macbeth and the Spanish Post-War 'Tebeo': An Adventure Hero for Young Readers, Elena Bandin (University of Leon, Spain)
3. Shakespeare in Harlem: Race, (Popular) Culture and I Am Alfonso Jones, Daniel Thomas Stein (University of Siegen, Germany)
Part Two: Text and Image
4. This Goodly Frame: The Collaborative Theatre of Good Tickle Brain, Mya Lixian Gosling (artist and author of Good Tickle Brain), Kate Pitt (dramaturg for Good Tickle Brain) and Annalisa Castaldo (Widener University, USA)
5. Shakespeare and Female 'Super' Heroes: Classic Comics in the Golden and Silver Age, Darlena Ciraulo (University of Central Missouri, USA)
6. From Stage to Manga Page: Scalar Mediation and Shakespeare's Tempest, Jennifer Waldron (University of Pittsburgh, USA)
Part Three: Heroes and Villains
7. 'Bigger than Shakespeare': Contingency and Cultural Memory in 'A Groatsworth of Wit', Douglas M. Lanier (University of New Hampshire, USA)
8 Permission to Invade: Doom 2099's Muses of Fire, Philip Austin Gilreath (Northeastern University, USA)
9 Alas, Poor Hero: Heroism in Y: the Last Man, Niamh J. O'Leary (Xavier University, USA)
Part Four: Violence and Trauma
10. 'Ax One Scream One': Shakespeare as EC Comics Horror, Kyle A. Pivetti (Norwich University, USA)
11. Into the Multiverse: Shakespeare, Adaptation, and the Alternate Reality of Marvel 1602, Charles Conaway (University of Southern Indiana, USA)
12. Manga Adaptations of Macbeth, Yukari Yoshihara (University of Tsukuba, Japan)
Part Five: Authors and Adaptors
13. Reading for and against Prospero in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Rhonda Knight (Coker University, USA)
14. When Canons Collide: Isaac Asimov's Dual Influences on Arthur Byron Cover's Macbeth: The Graphic Novel, Joseph Sullivan (Marietta College, USA)
15. Puck You, Shakespeare: Embodiment and Authority in Gaiman and Vess's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', Jim Casey (Independent scholar, USA)
Afterword
Genre in Shakespeare and Comics, Peter Holland (University of Notre Dame, USA)
Index