Reading Shakespeare in the Comics Medium

Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 3-27-2014 12:00 AM Graphic Drama: Reading Shakespeare in the Comics Medium Russell H. McConnell The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Professor Thy Phu The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in English A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Doctor of Philosophy © Russell H. McConnell 2014 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Literature in English, British Isles Commons Recommended Citation McConnell, Russell H., "Graphic Drama: Reading Shakespeare in the Comics Medium" (2014). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 2047. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/2047 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. GRAPHIC DRAMA: READING SHAKESPEARE IN THE COMICS MEDIUM (Thesis format: Monograph) by Russell Hugh McConnell Graduate Program in English A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of PhD The School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies The University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada © Russell Hugh McConnell 2013 Abstract This project adopts a formalist method of literary analysis to approach the modern genre of Shakespearean comic book adaptations. These texts have as yet received little attention from the academy, despite their sophisticated engagement with problems of visualizing the transition from stage to comics page, as well as their capacity for making original contributions to the interpretation of Shakespearean drama. The formalist method that this thesis employs is derived from the foundational work of comics theorists Will Eisner and Scott McCloud, combined with an understanding of Shakespearean language and stage conventions. Once this method is developed and explained, the dissertation uses it in a series of readings demonstrating the ability of Shakespearean comic books to emulate and elaborate on early modern staging practices, engage sensitively and imaginatively with Shakespeare’ literary language, and actually contribute to interpretive scholarly discussion of Shakespearean drama. Although many texts are examined, there is a particular emphasis on versions of The Merchant of Venice and Macbeth, which represent two extremes of the comics medium’s versatile formal engagement with Shakespearean themes. Keywords Shakespeare, Comic Books, Sequential Art, Early Modern Drama, Visual Culture, New Formalism ii Acknowledgments I would like to thank my supervisors, Professor Thy Phu and Professor Steven Bruhm for their help and guidance in bringing this project to fruition I would also like to thank the Province of Ontario and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for their financial support. I would also like to thank Robert and Mary McConnell, as well as Shelagh McConnell, Richard Moore, Jasper McConnell, and Allison Moore, Joel Moore, and Graham Moore. I would also like to thank Jason Bazinet and Benjamin Leung. Most of all I would like to give a special thanks to Dr. Emma Annette Wilson. iii Table of Contents Abstract ii Acknowledgements iii Table of Contents iv List of Figures v Epigraph vii Introduction 1 Chapter 1 18 Chapter 2 84 Chapter 3 130 Chapter 4 179 Appendix 213 Works Cited 258 Curriculum Vitae 275 iv List of Figures Figure 1.1 213 Figure 1.2 214 Figure 1.3 215 Figure 1.4 216 Figure 1.5 217 Figure 1.6 218 Figure 1.7 219 Figure 1.8 220 Figure 1.9 221 Figure 1.10 222 Figure 1.11 223 Figure 1.12 224 Figure 1.13 225 Figure 1.14 226 Figure 1.15 227 Figure 2.1 228 Figure 2.2 229 Figure 2.3 230 Figure 2.4 231 Figure 2.5 232 Figure 2.6 233 Figure 2.7 234 v Figure 2.8 235 Figure 2.9 236 Figure 2.10 237 Figure 2.11 238 Figure 3.1 239 Figure 3.2 240 Figure 3.3 241 Figure 3.4 242 Figure 3.5 243 Figure 3.6 244 Figure 3.7 245 Figure 4.1 246 Figure 4.2 247 Figure 4.3 248 Figure 4.4 249 Figure 4.5 250 Figure 4.6 251 Figure 4.7 252 Figure 4.8 253 Figure 4.9 254 Figure 4.10 255 Figure 4.11 256 Figure 4.12 257 vi Epigraph “Cricket is an art. Like all arts it has a technical foundation. To enjoy it does not require technical knowledge, but analysis that is not technically based is mere impressionism.” - C. L. R. James, Beyond a Boundary (178) “To prescribe what [the poet] shall try to do is less reasonable than to hope that he will do something we should not have thought of suggesting.” - I. A. Richards, Practical Criticism (148) “What we’ve got is the most portable, limitless, intense, personal, focused, intimate, compelling, wonderful visual medium in creation.” - Jim Shooter, Foreward to The Comic Book (6) vii 1 Introduction Why Shakespearean Comics? From 1989 to 1996, celebrated writer Neil Gaiman authored the Sandman comic book series, one of the most acclaimed productions in the history of the medium. The nineteenth entry in the series is A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1990) and it presents a fantastical version of an early performance of the famous play. Much of Shakespeare’s dialogue finds its way into Gaiman’s script, prompting this comment from the series’ Assistant Editor Tom Peyer: William is new to comics, but we think he did a fantastic job helping Neil with our play-within-a-play’s dialogue. We would ordinarily predict great things ahead for this hot British talent, but, unfortunately, he died over three centuries ago. Too bad; he might have written the definitive Batman story. (Round 95) The idea of treating William Shakespeare as a hot new talent in the field of comics is of course, on the one hand, distinctly humorous. The humour is intensified by Peyer’s affected attitude of superiority, acknowledging Shakespeare as a “hot British talent,” as if the author of A Midsummer Night’s Dream required the approval of a twentieth-century editor for his legitimization. Yet I read the humour of this passage not only as subtly self- deprecating on Peyer’s part, but also as a joking comment on the transferability of literary authority to a different cultural sphere. It is as if Peyer is jokingly saying, “Sure, Shakespeare’s plays may be at the centre of the Western canon...but will Batman fans be impressed?” More seriously, however, Peyer’s remark speaks to the inherently graphic nature of Shakespearean drama. If Shakespeare were writing today, he might well produce the definitive Batman story, just as he has produced definitive accounts of figures 2 like Julius Caesar and Richard III, establishing them more firmly in popular imagination than any other representations. Furthermore, Shakespeare’s plays were written in order to be made visual on the early modern stage.1 Over the centuries, the visualization of Shakespeare has taken many forms: theatre, painting, sculpture, opera, film, and others. Comic books are one more form of such visualization, and like the others they warrant an approach that attends to their specific nature. Additionally, Peyer’s remark has also proved somewhat prescient, because comic book versions of Shakespearean plays, particularly since 2007, have enjoyed an explosion of popularity, with a large number of publications in only a short time.2 Recent years have also seen a great increase in the popularity of the comics medium in general. As Robert G. Weiner observes, “in a world that is going more and more with digital content, graphic novels are one of the last varieties of the printed form that are gaining popularity as each year goes by” (Weiner 5). He also adds that “Graphic novels are now an established part of the library and academic worlds, despite those who may still thumb their nose at them” (5). While it is true that the medium of comics has endured a great deal of nose-thumbing over the last eight decades, increased publication and increased acknowledgement by critics has confirmed the cultural significance of comics, and the ranks of the detractors are growing thinner all the time. Gaiman is by no means the first to try his hand at adapting Shakespeare to the comics medium. Shakespearean comic books begin in 1949 with the series Famous Authors 1 Certainly it is possible to make a case for Shakespeare as a literary dramatist who did indeed write with a reading audience in mind, but the position remains controversial. For a particularly strong case for this point, see: Erne, Lukas. Shakespeare as Literary Dramatist. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. 2 The years since 2007 have seen the publication of the Manga Shakespeare series, the Classical Comics series, the No Fear Shakespeare series, and the Manga Edition series, as well as individual titles such as Nicki Greenberg’s Hamlet and Marvel Comics’ Romeo and Juliet: The War, for a total of nearly 30 books. 3 Illustrated. The issues were cheap, the texts were heavily abridged, and the series was ultimately short-lived; nevertheless, Famous Authors Illustrated did manage to produce versions of Macbeth, Hamlet, and Romeo and Juliet all in the same year. Much more successful was the famous Classics Illustrated series, whose first Shakespearean title was Julius Caesar, published in 1950. After this came A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1951), Hamlet (1952), Macbeth (1955), and Romeo and Juliet (1956). Albert Kanter, the creator of the series, specifically intended it as a means of introducing young readers to the great, classic literature that he loved, and was anxious to produce a high-quality product worthy of his source texts (Jones 11).

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