Shakespeare Comics: Art, Time and Character

Investigating how character, time and art manifest and interact in the visual-verbal medium of Shakespeare comics, Svenn-Arve Myklebost uncovers how this medium (which includes comic books, graphic novels and manga) reframes and interrogates the Shakespeare canon. He argues that comics’ blend of literary narrativity, dramatic action and fine art draw out elements of the plays, their genesis and afterlife that other media cannot capture. Among comics’ distinct affordances are their spatial treatment of time, their ability to mix genres and media, their meta-aspects, their art-historical roots, their position within print culture, their “dramatic” combination of words and visuals, and their generic flexibility – all of which offer new ways to look at Shakespeare’s dramatic and printed production.