Jaques

It's the question on everyone's lips.... HOW DO YOU PRONOUNCE "JAQUES"?

Don't forget the poor second Jaques in As You Like It, the deus-ex-machina man himself, Jaques de Boys. 

Upcoming Appearances

September 6: Stratford Festival Forum - Willy Shakes: Fanboy

WHO: Me! And also Anthony Del Col and Conor McCreery of the Kill Shakespeare comic book series.
WHAT: Panel discussion on Shakespeare in pop culture and graphic novels. Part of the Stratford Festival Forum series of events. 
WHEN: Wednesday, September 6, 10:45am
WHERE: Chalmers Lounge, Avon Theatre, Stratford, Ontario.
WHY: Because they asked me! 
HOW: Buy tickets at the Stratford Festival website. 

Taking September "Off"

I've got a very busy September coming up, so instead of new comics I'm going to be posting some filler material taken from past social media posts and some of the bonus comics I share with my supporters on Patreon. It will hopefully (a) still be fun for all of you, and (b) allow me to take the time to get the rest of my year's tasks and projects in order without having a nervous breakdown.  Thanks for understanding! 

The Good Tickle Shoppe, with all its objectively awesome merchandise, will remain open for business, although orders placed between September 4 and September 11 won't ship until September 12. 

Shakespeare Quotes for Rock Climbers

When I'm not drawing Shakespeare comics or going to the theatre, I am often found at my local rock climbing gym. I love rock climbing, and whenever I love something, I tend to mash it together violently with other things that I love. And so here we have...

I had to tweak a couple pronouns here and there, but otherwise those are all very real and applicable quotes. Try them out the next time you're climbing!

Upcoming Appearances

September 6: Stratford Festival Forum - Willy Shakes: Fanboy

WHO: Me! And also Anthony Del Col and Conor McCreery of the Kill Shakespeare comic book series.
WHAT: Panel discussion on Shakespeare in pop culture and graphic novels. Part of the Stratford Festival Forum series of events. 
WHEN: Wednesday, September 6, 10:45am
WHERE: Chalmers Lounge, Avon Theatre, Stratford, Ontario.
WHY: Because they asked me! 
HOW: Buy tickets at the Stratford Festival website. 

Taking September "Off"

I've got a very busy September coming up, so instead of new comics I'm going to be posting some filler material taken from past social media posts and some of the bonus comics I share with my supporters on Patreon. It will hopefully (a) still be fun for all of you, and (b) allow me to take the time to get the rest of my year's tasks and projects in order without having a nervous breakdown.  Thanks for understanding! 

The Good Tickle Shoppe, with all its objectively awesome merchandise, will remain open for business, although orders placed between September 4 and September 11 won't ship until September 12. 

Crocodile Danedee

The bear in The Winter's Tale gets all the glory, but there are actually many underrated animals in Shakespeare. Three of my favorites are in Hamlet: the beaver, the porpetine, and... the crocodile!

I would love to see a production of Hamlet where Laertes and Hamlet duel with live crocodiles instead of swords. Just putting that out there...

Upcoming Appearances

September 6: Stratford Festival Forum - Willy Shakes: Fanboy

WHO: Me! And also Anthony Del Col and Conor McCreery of the Kill Shakespeare comic book series.
WHAT: Panel discussion on Shakespeare in pop culture and graphic novels. Part of the Stratford Festival Forum series of events. 
WHEN: Wednesday, September 6, 10:45am
WHERE: Chalmers Lounge, Avon Theatre, Stratford, Ontario.
WHY: Because they asked me! 
HOW: Buy tickets at the Stratford Festival website. 

How "Measure for Measure" Should Have Ended

After I did my "How Much Ado About Nothing Should Have Ended" comic, I stopped to think about what other severely problematic endings there are in Shakespeare's canon. It turns out (unsurprisingly) that there's a lot of them! Here's how I'd fix Measure for Measure's ending:

Poor Isabella has SUCH a rough time, and is given such a rough time by everybody for prioritizing her religious convictions (i.e. not agreeing to sleep with Angelo) over the life of her brother. And then what happens at the end? The duke is all "EVERYTHING IS SETTLED, YOU'LL MARRY ME NOW, IT'S ALL GOOD".

To be fair, he leaves the question marginally more open than that, but he is the DUKE, and it's super-hard to say "no" to a Duke. Her response to his proposition is deafening silence, and how she actually reacts is up to interpretation. 

"Burn in all down" is just my interpretation...

Upcoming Appearances

September 6: Stratford Festival Forum - Willy Shakes: Fanboy

WHO: Me! And also Anthony Del Col and Conor McCreery of the Kill Shakespeare comic book series.
WHAT: Panel discussion on Shakespeare in pop culture and graphic novels. Part of the Stratford Festival Forum series of events. 
WHEN: Wednesday, September 6, 10:45am
WHERE: Chalmers Lounge, Avon Theatre, Stratford, Ontario.
WHY: Because they asked me! 
HOW: Buy tickets at the Stratford Festival website. 

Shakespearean Vocabulary, part 5

Time to once again check in with Shakespearean Vocabulary, my ongoing series looking at Shakespearean words that don't necessarily mean what you think they mean.

"List" is a fun one. It crops up all over the place. Make sure you LISTen for it the next time you see a Shakespeare play. (SEE WHAT I DID THERE??)

Shakespeare at Leicester

So, I'm actually interested in a lot of other things besides Shakespeare. One of those things is soccer/football (purely as a spectator, mind you), so you can imagine how much fun I've been having with this:

Here's a decent roundup of some of the earliest Shakespeare/Leicester jokes. 

Good luck, Shakespeare.

The Birth of Merlin (in 3 Panels)

One final Apocrypha for the time being. This one sounds particularly fun, if you ask me.

Action packed with lots of magic and comedy and hijinks! The Birth of Merlin was originally printed attributing it to Shakespeare and William Rowley, but most people agree it was written by Rowley alone, or possibly with another collaborator who was definitely not Shakespeare. It still sounds like a lot of fun, though. 

There are more apocrypha to tackle in the future, but that's it for the moment!

Thomas of Woodstock (in 3 Panels)

I'm particularly intrigued by today's Shakespeare Apocrypha play, Thomas of Woodstock, as it is, essentially, a prequel to Richard II. 

Richard II picks up almost immediately after Thomas of Woodstock, with people arguing over who murdered him. When I saw Breath of Kings, which condensed Richard II, Henry IV  parts 1 and 2, and Henry V into two plays, at the Stratford Festival last season, they actually opened with the murder of Thomas from Thomas of Woodstock, which I thought was a nice way to try and fill in the backstory of Richard II a bit.

Thomas of Woodstock exists only as an incomplete, anonymous manuscript. Many people have tried to argue that Shakespeare wrote it, but, as with the other apocrypha, there is no evidence and no scholarly consensus to back up that claim.