Classics Illustrated: Romeo & Juliet (Shakespeare)

Classics Illustrated: Romeo & Juliet, William Shakespeare (Author), (Illustrator)

[image pending]

I don't know where I got this graphic novel from -- probably from the library. It's been in the basement for a while. I didn't read illustrated classics as a kid because they seemed to dense. I picked up a few when I started teaching (they were in the class library), but those seemed very thin. If you didn't already know the story, you might not know what was going on. Then again, if you did know the story, you'd see how much was left out.

So... Romeo & Juliet. I've watched the Franco Zeffirelli film from 1968 with Olivia Hussey and ... other people that I could google. And I've seen the modernized version with Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes, which kept the dialogue but modernized everything else. I prefer the former. There are also a billion adaptations -- skip those.

What I didn't know about this comic -- even though it's on the front cover in the lower corner, and explained on the back -- is that this was a "Quick Text" version, which leaves a bit out. There is a "Classic Text" version, which I may or may not have liked (even if that's want I might have wanted), and a Plain Text version of the same comic (which I probably would have enjoyed the most).

The downside of this is that most of the Shakespearean language is discarded, and when it is included, it sticks out oddly.

Another problem of the Quick Text is the artwork. The art was created and framed to allow for large word balloons. Without them, there are many tall panels with people's heads and shoulders at the bottom of the frame and a lot of empty space above them. It looks weird, and you wonder what the artists (and the editors) were thinking.

As for the story, you know it. Not much to say, except that the review of the material helped when I covered a drama class and they had to do a reading of the sword fight between Mercutio, Tybalt and Romeo. At least I knew enough what was going on (and who was who) to explain to the students.

TL/DR: go for the Plain Text or the Classic Text. Skip the Quick Text. Or just read the play.

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