King Lear [Paperback]

Gareth Hinds (Author, Artist)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 21, 2007

When an old king tries to divide his kingdom among his three daughters, he unleashes a power struggle that will tear his family and the kingdom apart. With a raging storm as a backdrop, Shakespeare explores themes of truth, loyalty, anger, madness, ambition, justice, and rebellion in this, one of his greatest tragedies. In his elegant, faithful adaptation, Gareth Hinds delivers a graphic novel that will make Lear's story speak to Shakespeare readers both old and new.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Having kicked off the recent outpouring of graphic-format Beowulf adaptations, Hinds now contributes to the similarly enthusiastic flood of graphic-format Shakespeare adaptations with an excellent rendition of one of the bard’s great tragedies. Using splash pages that open up the settings, washes of otherworldly colors, grotesquely expressive faces right out of William Blake, and figural work much improved from his previous effort, Hinds occasionally attains a visual poetry that marked the painful betrayals, the epic scope of the battles,  and Lear’s seething madness. Even abridged (with helpful endnotes about many of the excised passages), the story and language here can seem intimidatingly dense, but the artwork  keeps the exposition moving, and comic-book sound effects (“thwok!”) and expletives (“unh . . .”) paradoxically add a gritty realism. The most effective parts of the book are the dramatic ones, and most memorable are the grisly eye-plucking scene, a supernaturally eerie storm scene, and two cracking good sword duels. For powerful drama with quality art, this adaptation is the one to choose. Grades 7-10. --Jesse Karp

About the Author

Gareth Hinds says he sees the graphic novel form as "a perfect bridge between the printed word and theatrical performance." He is currently at work on a graphic-novel edition of Homer’s THE ODYSSEY. He lives in Watertown, Massachusetts. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: TheComic.com (September 21, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1893131068
• ISBN-13: 978-1893131064
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 7.7 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,916,762 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book, January 21, 2008

By 

Daniel G. Thron (Los Angles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: King Lear (Paperback)

Gareth Hinds' King Lear is one of the most elegant yet accessible Shakespearian adaptations I've ever seen. Most efforts in the vein of Shakespear-for-comics make one of two bad choices: either they 'dumb it down' for what they think a comics audience can understand, or the text is so removed from the imagery that though the art may be well-rendered, they are really only illustrated manuscripts, not comics. Hinds makes neither of these mistakes; rather he uses the visual forms and tricks of comics to clarify the language without changing the text. In fact the text and the images are so flawlessly interwoven that the experience is closer to watching a great performance of the play than anything else. He balances the visuals in the same fashion the play balances the beauty of the poetry versus the bitterness and world-weariness of the sentiment -- the design and framing of the scenes is lavish yet strangely intimate, and he keeps his line light and colors airy, which only adds a deeper, ironic melancholy to the final sequences. Fantastic work; one of my favorite plays is now one of my favorite comics.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A tale well-told, January 22, 2008

By 

Matthew Mackenzie - See all my reviews
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This review is from: King Lear (Paperback)

If you're like me, you never get as much out of reading a play as from witnessing it performed. The actors and director have studied the work and found its nuances, and their staging and delivery make a huge difference. When it's Shakespeare I also sometimes stop and puzzle over the language, which at least throws off the pacing and sometimes just leaves me feeling like I've missed something.

Experiencing that language through this graphic novel is more like seeing it performed than like reading it; only with castles and thunder storms and horses and battles, rather than just resourceful suggestions of the same. And, you can experience it again any time you want, and compare scenes and characters to arrive at a richer understanding. The art is vivid, expressive, varied, richly colored--and above all, expertly crafted to serve the Bard's story.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautifully rendered work, February 5, 2008

By 

Tovar Cerulli - See all my reviews
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This review is from: King Lear (Paperback)

Ask any high school English student: Reading the Bard's work aloud in a classroom doesn't necessarily inspire. Shakespeare's masterpieces are plays. As such, they were meant to be performed. Actors bring us the movement, rhythm, and passion of Shakespeare's work in a way that the printed word cannot.

Fortunately, Hinds's impressive artistic talents have now brought that life to the page. One page gives us the quiet stillness of a castle at night. Another brings us the ornamented swirl of courtiers. Yet another flares with action and swordplay.

With sensitivity, fidelity to the original script, and refreshing visual variety, this rendering of King Lear treats us both to the rhythms of a live performance and to changes of scene and landscape that are simply impossible on the stage. It is, in short, a masterpiece in its own right.