By Conor McCreery and Anthony Del Col (writers), Andy Belanger (art), Ian Herring (colors), Shawn Lee (letters)
The Story: This is the issue that all dedicated Kill Shakespeare readers have been waiting for since the very beginning…Hamlet finally comes face to face with the wizard Shakespeare. Will they fight? Ally? Betray each other? Not say anything at all? We’ll see. (Also: IAGO! *insert fangirl grin.*)
What’s Good: Kill Shakespeare has been a good, smart comic since issue one. The writing has been solid, the Shakespeare-geek in-jokes appropriate and not overwhelming, the art has been very nice (if not always entirely consistent), and the story has been intriguing and very well paced. (Information is dolled out maddeningly slowly from a pure “what’s gonna happen next month dammit!” point of view, but from an overall storytelling perspective, especially once all the issues are collected, I think it’s brilliantly done.)
I told you all that to tell you this: THIS is the issue of Kill Shakespeare I have been waiting to read. Not just because we’re at the point in the story I have most anticipated–we are–but because here, in this issue, I think this book has finally started reaching its true potential and is starting to soar. McCreery and Del Col’s writing continues to be extremely strong (no shock there), but the fine line they walk when writing Shakespeare (the comic character’s) voice deserves special praise: he’s threatening, crazy, mystical and scary as hell–sometimes all at once. That’s no small feat to pull off effectively (and it works particularly well when contrasted with Hamlet’s much more stoic character.) The intercutting between Hamlet’s conversation/confrontation with Shakespeare, and the rest of the Prodigals desperately trying to beat what they need to know out of Iago, is another similarly fantastic contrast and foreshadows the bloodshed and violence–on a much larger scale–that is inevitable to come.
Now: the art. I’ve been hot and cold on Andy Belanger’s work on this series, and pretty harshly critical of a few issues. While I stand by those critiques, this issue acts as an absolute showcase for what he (and colorist Ian Herring) can do, and the results are absolutely beautiful. My absolute favorite moment has to be the two double page-spreads (with panel inserts) in the Globe Woods. More like that, please! Lots and lots more! Herring also gets a specific tip of my hat for the lovely coloring, not only in the Globe Woods scene, but in the interior of Shakespeare’s shack. It straddles a very fine line between warm and inviting, and sickly pale. It’s a deeply unsettling combination, and perfectly hits the nail on the head for the mood of the scene. Well done!
What’s Not So Good: Seriously minimal complaints. My major (minor) one is that I hate when comic books leave off in the middle of something kinetic and action-oriented. It feels like a cheap way of creating “SUSPENSE!!!!!!” and getting the reader to pick up the next issue. Good comics create tension and suspense without such ploys; this issue certainly didn’t need it, and probably would have been better served by ending somewhere in the Hamlet/Shakespeare conversation, just before the final event of the issue.
Conclusion: Since it’s a self-contained story, I can’t exactly recommend this issue as a jumping on point, any more than I could recommend you begin reading in chapter nine of a novel. Still, I CAN recommend seeking out the whole series (issues 1-6 are already in trade.) This issue conclusively assures me that your time will not be wasted if you do so.
There’s a line from another high-concept comic series (my favorite series of all time, in fact) that I’ve always loved: “Sometimes when you fall [in your dreams], you wake up. Sometimes the fall kills you. And, sometimes when you fall, you fly.” The boys of Kill Shakespeare have most definitely taken a risk with this title, and I’m proud to say that–although they may not be dreaming–Kill Shakespeare is finally starting to fly.
Grade: A
-SoldierHawk
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