KILL SHAKESPEARE

As Coner McCreery & Anthony Del Col/Andy Belanger’s Kill Shakespeare lurches on, it acquires more Shakespearean characters in the manner of a rolling snowball picking up debris as it rolls. Hamlet is ostensibly the hero of this piece — the touted “shadow king” who will kill Shakespeare so the king who recruited him can acquire the “magic quill.” I’m not sure why he wants it. In the second issue of the series, Iago shows up, playing hooky from “Othello”; ditto Macbeth from the play of that name. There’s
lots of spooky stuff — dead, dying or enchanted personages appearing out of nowhere, betrayals lurking, eyes being plucked out (“Lear”). Lots of bloodshed and silent sequences that reek of import but have none, an unforgivable abuse of the medium’s prowess. The third issue is redeemed somewhat by the appearance of a roly-poly happily carnal Falstaff surrounded by thoroughly lascivious wenches (well wrought by Belanger, whose simple bold lines enliven every page), but it’s spoiled by some terrible double entendres and finishes as a mere interlude, a comedic sop thrown to readers like me who dote on characters like Falstaff.

The title’s concept is intriguing: invent a tale in which Shakespeare is, for a change, the villain and then parade all his creations through the pages as they plot his demise. But McCreery and Del Col don’t dig deep enough here: they’re just dropping names and not making them serve any allegorical or metaphorical purpose. Moreover, their contrivance embodies the mechanics of its own dissolution: bringing into the narrative all those characters bloats the plot until it can no longer be recognized. A bloodthirsty King Richard keeps reminding us of the intended drift of things, but it’s a clanking maneuver; still, the idea is fun to watch uncoil.

Kill Shakespeare probably appeals most to those of us with vague memories of being forced to struggle through the Bard’s Elizabethan verse in high school, but those who have more fully-formed knowledge of the playwright and his plays will be disappointed by the cheap allusion tricks in this tale.