Premature Burial

So, this is a recurring issue in the Shakespearean canon:

I know Elizabethan medicine wasn't exactly state-of-the-art, but I'm constantly appalled at how readily people jump to conclusion of "Oh no, she's dead, let's dump the body somewhere" after someone falls over. Then again, these are the same people who say "You know, it's remarkable how you, a boy, look exactly like a girl, but are, in fact, totally a boy".

What I'm saying is that Shakespeare's characters are criminally unobservant. That's what I'm saying. 

Shakespearean Autocorrects, part 1

I've been glued to the couch for the past four days with a horrible cold. That's my excuse for the following comic.

Tadaaaaaaa....

Shakespearean Character Spotlight: Chorus

It's time for the second installment of my very-ongoing Shakespearean Character Spotlight series! Today the random number generator has picked out a Chorus for closer inspection, but it's probably not the Chorus you're thinking of. No, it's not that other one either. It's (drumroll please) the Chorus from Troilus and Cressida!

I want to start a campaign to reintegrate "orgulous" into contemporary speech. Start using it today! I suggest trying out the phrase "Don't be so orgulous, man." 

Greeks Bearing Gifts, part 1

Some days, when I'm feeling particularly unimaginative, I just sit around my office in the library and wait for something ridiculous to happen. And then I take notes. And then I draw it. Hey presto! It's a comic!

To be continued, eventually, once my noble co-worker finishes unboxing all 130 boxes so we have a final tally of how many books we got as opposed to how many tools. 

Stop by on Friday for another in my very-ongoing Shakespearean Character Spotlight series. This week's character is a Chorus... but which one? Ooooo, suspense...

King John's Unfavourite Things

The lovely Ladies of Angiers up at the Stratford Festival have been getting ready to audition for next season's production of The Sound of Music:

Naturally this made me wonder what a King John themed version of The Sound of Music would look like. Here is the result:

I expect it to be ready for an off-Broadway tryout in time for next season.

Shakespearean Character Spotlight: Francisco

Welcome to the first installment of what will probably be a very-ongoing series: Shakespearean Character Spotlight! Each week (or, more accurately, whenever I happen to run out of other material) I will be randomly selecting one of Shakespeare's speaking characters, regardless of part size and importance, and presenting a profile of him or her. 

(In case you're interested, I'm using this list of characters as furnished by Open Source Shakespeare, which is an excellent online Shakespeare resource that you should definitely check out.)

Today's character is.... *runs random number generator* ...Francisco from Hamlet!

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how Francisco manages to miss almost all the action of Hamlet, and thus is one of the few characters who is probably still alive at the end of the play. Way to go, Francisco!

One down, 1223 to go!

The Bib Record Challenge

If you haven't been living under a rock recently, you're well aware of the fantastic Ice Bucket Challenge that has been making the rounds on social media, raising money for ALS research and patient support. Even my beloved Ladies of Angiers have gotten in on the action, Elizabethan-style:

 

 

The Ice Bucket Challenge has been a phenomenal success, and so I decided to see if I could use a similar challenge to raise awareness of a very important issue plaguing catalogers:

Somehow I don't think this challenge is going to catch on...

But seriously, publishers! Print all pertinent publication information in your books! I guarantee you that we do care when that book was published

For more library-themed comics, go here.

Shakespearen What-Ifs: Macbeth

If you've explored all the nooks and crannies of my website, you might have stumbled across my Shakespeare What-Ifs series of mini-comics. For a long time there have only been two installments, but I've finally gotten my act together and penned a third one. Let's take a look at Macbeth! 

See, Macbeth? If you'd just waited patiently everything would have turned out OK!

If you want to print out and fold your very own edition of Shakespearean What-Ifs: Macbeth, download this pdf, print it out at full scale, and then follow these incomprehensible instructions to fold it into an adorable little mini-comic. To see all of my mini-comics, go here.