Kill Shakespeare
IDW
KILL SHAKESPEARE: THE TIDE OF BLOOD
Pop quiz, fanboy. What’s the best part of being a part of the comic book community? Hollywood parties? Fast cars? Faster women? All good guesses, to be sure. But interacting with other like-minded readers means discovering NEW COMICS TO READ.
That happened to me this weekend. While at FablesCon, which was held right here in Minnesota (represent!) I got to talking with Conor McCreery. Conor gave me his “elevator speech” about the series he writes with Anthony Del Col and I was sold. So I gave him and Del Col $3.99 American and I had myself a new comic.
Beware: knowing this comic’s back-story is necessary. McCreery and Del Col have created a universe where the Bard’s greatest creations have been at war with each other, and Will himself is a “god-wizard.” Three months have passed since the forces of Juliet Capulet defeated Richard III and Lady Macbeth. KILL SHAKESPEARE: TIDE OF BLOOD finds Shakespeare’s creations living in the village of Shrewsbury. Wait, wait. Hold on. Richard III AND Lady Macbeth? Juliet is now with Hamlet? This is not how I remember these stories going. So what is Romeo up to, then?
Romeo is having himself a hard time. Finding himself replaced by Hamlet, Romeo spends his time looking for answers in his favorite hipflask. Also, with the local barmaid Bawd. Drunk all the time and aimless, he is now looked upon with pity. While in the throes of a particularly vivid nightmare where he’s being scorned by Shakespeare, Hamlet, and Juliet, Romeo is rescued by a strange girl with a magical book. Waking up, Romeo thinks nothing of it.
Kate and Dan meet the crazy men behind KILL SHAKESPEARE
But when he is sent off to help watch the border between Delphos (where Shrewsbury lies) and the lands of the evil Titus, Romeo discovers the girl is real when he ends up saving her from Titus’s vicious dogs of war. It turns out the girl is Miranda, the daughter of the wizard Prospero. Prospero seeks (of course) to END THIS WORLD, so our heroes journey off through frozen seas to his island of cannibals. Romeo has found his purpose as a leader of men just in time, for all of creation hangs in the balance.
KILL SHAKESPEARE takes work to read. It isn’t a kiddie comic you can read over a quick cup of coffee. McCreery and Del Col have created a vast universe filled with characters you THINK you know only they have grown and changed due to their own continuing adventures. Andy Belanger has a very warm, organic style that is very easy to get lost in. The work you put into reading this comic pays off. This is good stuff, and deserves to sit on your shelf alongside Sandman and Fables.
