Honestly, I don't know quite what to make of Manga Shakespeare: King Lear. First, I suppose, it's far more graphic novel than strictly manga. But that's mostly a quibble.
The book sets the plot of King Lear in America in the 1750s in the troublesome time between the colonizers (French and British) and the members of the Iroquois Confederacy. So far, so good. Lear's story could be made interestingly relevant to that setting. The characters are divided into Native Americans (Lear, Kent, the Fool, Cordelia, Edmund), Colonizers (Gloucester, Cornwall, Regan and Goneril—unless those last two are meant to be merely adopting the dress, manners, and facial expressions of the Colonizers), and Mountain Men (Gloucester and Edgar). Again, so far, so good.
But there's nothing beyond that that shows us how the story tells us anything about that time period or those relationships. Therefore, the setting seems arbitrary rather than telling or compelling.
Here are some illustrative images from the book:
It's well done—as far as it goes. It just doesn't go very far.
Click below to purchase the book from amazon.com
(and to support Bardfilm as you do so).
(and to support Bardfilm as you do so).
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