I already knew this, of course, since I’ve met them before, but the two of them are incredibly smart, witty and fun. They’re clearly good friends and have an easy-going rapport with each other. While I know they’ve made presentations like this before, it didn’t feel over-rehearsed or artificial. They were very natural on stage.

The majority of the audience last night did seem to be those who attended productions and other events at the Folger, but there was a group of the messenger-bag types (like myself) and, surprisingly, a few parents with older children (preteen to middle teens, I’d say). But overall, it wasn’t really a crowd of comic-book readers. Obviously, this title is reaching a type of person who usually doesn’t read them.

McCreery and Del col started out with how the idea for the comic was born (Kill Bill had just come out and so they were joking about other “Bills” they could kill. In one of their many jokes about being Canadian, they said they rejected William Shatner because he was one of them) and that they originally thought it could be a video game before shelving the idea for a while.

They then ran through a basic summary of the plot (including a sneak preview of issue #9 that will be out next week) and a rundown of the characters. They discussed the changes they made to the ones they’ve picked and said that while they’ve played loose with some of the details, they try to keep them recognizable and just extrapolate what would’ve been next for everyone.

Most telling for me was when McCreery mentioned that he has a lot of teenage girls telling them they really like the take on Juliet in Kill Shakespeare. I tend to agree — Romeo & Juliet is not my favorite play by Shakespeare, but Juliet was the driving force and decision-maker for most of the events there. It’s great to see her get to be strong.

Del Col and McCreery also showed some before-and-after examples of how comic pages get made, which was probably more interesting to the rest of the Folgers audience than it was to me. (They continually praised artist Andy Belanger, who couldn’t be there since they were making him stay in Canada and draw their comic.)

They both talked a lot about that reading Shakespeare on the page can be kind of overwhelming and boring but his work is pretty well-suited to comics (I feel like comics do have a great deal in common with theater — more so than film). They’ve said that both teachers and students have been pretty excited by Kill Shakespeare and it’s created more interest in the source material.

In one of the night’s lighter moments (and there were many), Del Col said he wants action figures, because to him, that “equals success.”

The audience question-and-answer portion was a mixed bag, as they usually are. I was most surprised at the answer to a woman’s question of “Is this your day job?” They both said yes, and McCreery said before they started, they worked very hard on crafting a business plan. I think that’s an excellent thing.

The Sandman and Neil Gaiman came up a few times in the Q&A portion, since, you know, Gaiman did write some stories involving Shakespeare in his comic. People wanted to know if that was an influence, and McCreery said he was kind of intimidated by the comparison, but that Kill Shakespeare is a different thing. It’s not better or worse, but just different.

That did make me think about something though — The Sandman reached (and still reaches) a lot of people who don’t read comics (and in fact, there are a lot of people who just read The Sandman and don’t ever branch out beyond that). It’s hard to say if Kill Shakespeare will still be read 20 years from now (but you never know) but it is connecting with non-comics audiences right now. It’s a very different comic than The Sandman, sure, and Del Col and McCreery are very different writers, but they do share Gaiman’s interest connecting with fans. I think there are worse comparisons.

ComicsDC‘s Mike Rhode questioned the loose geography of where Kill Shakespeare is set. Del Col pointed out that they just mention it’s in a “strange land” that’s vaguely European and vaguely in the middle ages. They compared it to the island from Lost before joking it was actually set in Canada.

Someone asked about their future plans, and both said they have more Kill Shakespeare planned out (they would love to use The Tempest) and they’re currently writing a screenplay and want to do video games and more.

But ultimately, they’ve been happy with Kill Shakespeare and the reaction it’s received so far. Both seem genuinely appreciative of it. McCreery said he just wants someone to pick up the comic and think “It’s not Shakespeare, but it’s not half-bad.”

Del Col said that should be the blurb on the back of the book.

Kill Shakespeare
Vol. 1
Buy on Amazon.com

I was an English major who would often make jokes about how William Shakespeare was our patron saint (his birthday fell near the end of the semester usually so that was a good day to try to appeal to him for help). Obviously, I like comics.

I don’t think I really need to explain how much I love Kill Shakespeare (IDW, 2010).

Pitting Hamlet, Juliet and Othello against the evil Richard III and Lady Macbeth as they all search for the mysterious wizard known to them as Shakespeare, the concept is ridiculously fun.

While Shakespeare is known for the beauty of his language, I think the non-English major types tend to not realize how violent and sexy his plays are, too. Co-creators and writers Anthony Del Col and Conor McCreery blend both these sides with intelligence and playfulness. It’s the perfect mix of literary references and pulp entertainment.

Artist Andy Belanger also brings a good mix of beauty and horror to the title. Complimented by colorist Ian Herring, Belanger’s art switches between epic battle scenes and terrifying encounters to quieter, friendly moments between our main characters. He’s the perfect artist for this title.

While Kill Shakespeare doesn’t particularly require any special knowledge of Shakespeare to enjoy it (basically, if you read anything by Shakespeare in high school, you’ll be fine), there’s still quite a bit going on in this volume. As the first half of the story arc, it’s almost all setup and even though Del Col and McCreery keep things moving and accessible, there are a lot of pieces to keep track of.

But that just means you’ll want to keep reading. This comic isn’t so much about what happens as it is how. It’s a wonderfully smart comic that never disappoints. It will make you want revisit the work of
William Shakespeare himself. And that’s probably the coolest thing about it.

Co-creators Anthony Del Col and Conor McCreery will be speaking at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., this Tuesday and it should be a good time.

Review copy provided by creators.

Comicsgirl: I like that Kill Shakespeare includes a broad range of Shakespearean characters, from the ones everyone knows to ones that are more obscure. How did you pick which characters you wanted to include?

Conor McCreery: We always joke that they chose us. After the main characters, though, we did do a bit more work on choosing the cast. Oddly enough we agonized a lot more over the inclusion of the Parolles and Philip the Bastards of the world then we did over Iago or Juliet.

Anthony Del Col: As Conor said, the main characters came very naturally to us. We immediately could see Juliet and Othello fighting together, Falstaff serving as a comedic sidekick/mentor, and Lady Macbeth and Richard III fighting against them. Hamlet was the last main character that we realized should be in it, which is a tad surprising as he is the main character. But once we realized we need to include him it brought everything together.

CG: How do you balance the legacy of Shakespeare with the need to keep the story moving and accessible? Do you feel like you have any responsibility to stay true to the spirit of Shakespeare?

ADC: We’re trying to make Kill Shakespeare appeal to those that love the Bard (by playing fantastic ‘What if?’ games and including Easter Eggs) but – just as important – making his work accessible in a whole new way to new audiences. We know that we could never write anything better than Shakespeare does. He is the best writer of all time – no debate on that. However, we’re trying to shine a spotlight on his characters in a very interesting, unique manner.

CM: True to the spirit? Absolutely. We VERY much want to tell a story that has sophisticated human emotion and that is, at its core, a humanist tale. But we don’t feel too much responsibility to regurgitate
scenes or tropes from Shakespeare’s plays – at least not ALL of them, GRIN.

CG: The reaction overall has been very positive. Have any of the reactions surprised you?

CM: It is always a pleasant surprise when people like your work. I think I might have been a bit surprised at how much intellectual rigor has gone into the criticism (both good and bad) of the work. That’s actually
very flattering.

ADC: The best reactions are the reviews where the writer states that reading Kill Shakespeare has made them want to go back to re-explore a play that they had read/watched in their pasts. Or, on the flip side, hearing from people that are big Shakespeare fans but have never read a comic book before and now want to check out other series. Those are the best reviews we could ever receive.

CG: Neither of you really had much of a background in comics before this. What do you find satisfying about the medium of comics? How does it compare to the other media you’ve worked in?

ADC: I love the instant – and unfiltered – feedback. It’s very creatively fulfilling to be able to put out an issue and talk about it with fans and readers to see what they liked and what they didn’t like. We’ve tweaked aspects of our story as we’ve gone on based on this feedback. I also like that comic readers are very honest with their feedback – if they like or don’t like something, they are NOT shy to tell you. It’s quite refreshing.

CM: I think the speed at which your ideas become reality is very satisfying. Working in film and TV takes a long time and you never know when the whole thing could come unplugged. I’ve also loved the ability of comics to be the perfect delivery system for both melodrama and delicate emotion. Plus in a comic if you want 600 guys on horses charging a 2,000 person army of lizard men, well, you just have to buy your artist a lot of beer.

CG: After Kill Shakespeare wraps up, what are your future plans?

ADC: More Kill Shakespeare, hopefully! We’d love to continue the series beyond the current twelve-issue arc and know what subsequent stories could involve. We’ve had a lot of people ask for more so we’ll see if we can make it happen. We really love working on this series and it would be a dream to be able to continue.

CM: We also had a kid’s show we did together that we’d love to find a home for. And of course we both have a lot of projects that have gathered dust while we worked on Kill Shakespeare. It would be a dream come true if this work gave us the credibility to move some of that forward.

Check back tomorrow for my review of Kill Shakespeare: Vol. 1