Shakespearean Character Spotlight: Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester

I started doing these Shakespearean Character Spotlights to cut down my workload. "It'll be easy," I thought. "I'll just randomly pick a character and give people a quick overview of him or her! I won't have to think up jokes or spend a lot of time on it!" I mean, how much time does it really take to profile Third Servant or Soldier?

And then what happens? My random number generator gives me this guy. He's in four plays. Four plays. It's not fair.

The historical Humphrey was a much more troubling person, prone to idiotic warmongering, alienating people and generally being a self-serving prick. But the image that got handed down was of Good Duke Humphrey, and so here we have him. 

In other news, I named a papier-mâché spider after Humphrey. He sits on my computer monitor at work and has a tiny top-hat made from a Post-It note. I was going to call him Richard, after the famous bottled spider, but thought that was too obvious, so I cast around for another Duke of Gloucester and settled on Humphrey. It's a very nice name, Humphrey.

Finally... have you signed up for The Weekly Tickle Brain e-mail newsletter yet? It's a super-awesome newsletter that I send out every Monday, and is stuffed with Shakespearean comic goodness, including a digest of weekly comics, a round-up of any extra material I have posted on social media, and an exclusive recommendation section where I rationally inform you about a Shakespearean-related book, film or TV show that I think is worth checking out. Or possibly I just gush about something for a couple paragraphs. In any case, it's SUPER FUN. Well, no one has complained about it yet...

Monty Pericles

Remember Thaisa, from Pericles? She had that public service announcement on Premature Burial. Well, she's back, along with her oblivious husband.

Aaaaand scene.

Shakespearean Character Spotlight: Jessica

It's Shakespearean Character Spotlight time again! 

I've seen three productions of The Merchant of Venice, but still don't feel that familiar with the play. Jessica seems to be to be one of those parts that is criminally underwritten. She has an immense impact on the play, and possibly is the root of Shylock's insane decision to claim his pound of flesh, but when you actually look at her speeches you find yourself wanting to know more. It's one of those parts that really needs an actor who can fill in the gaps in the text.(Shout-out to Sara Farb of the Stratford Festival, who was a remarkably poignant Jessica in their 2013 production.)

But regardless of how poignant the Jessica... trading your dead mother's ring for a monkey? That's just cruel, girl. 

In other news, have you signed up for The Weekly Tickle Brain e-mail newsletter yet? This week's edition will be going out on Monday, and will feature (a) a digest of this week's comics, (b) a round-up of all the fun stuff I've been posting while over-extending myself on social media, (c) my review of the most important Shakespeare DVD set in the world, and (d) a behind-the-scenes peek at how I draw my super-detailed and lifelike characters! Don't miss it! Sign up today! (I promise you can unsubscribe if you don't like it, and it won't hurt my feelings.)

Elections

As most of you probably know, the U.S. held its midterm elections yesterday. I generally aim to keep post-Stuart politics off of this blog, but I thought it might be fun to interview some of our favorite characters and find out what issues were important to them in this election. 

It turns out none of them are U.S. citizens, and thus are ineligible to vote, so this entire comic was an exercise in futility. Oh well. 

Shakespearean Autocorrects, part 2

It's time for some more Shakespearean autocorrects! 

In order to generate material for this series I sit on the couch and repetitively swipe Shakespeare quotations on my tablet keyboard. Being a cartoonist is hard work. 

In other news, today marks the launch of the The Weekly Tickle Brain e-mail newsletter! The inaugural issue features my thoughts on Dan Jones's new book, The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors, as well as a behind-the-scenes peek at how my comic's lettering has evolved. Don't miss another issue! Sign up now! It's not a cult, I promise you!

Shakespearean Halloween Party

It's Halloween! Let's celebrate the Shakespeare way!

In other news, I now have an Instagram account. Am I missing any major social networks now? I just can't keep up....

If you'd like to keep up with my social media activity without the hassle of joining all these various social networks, sign up for The Weekly Tickle Brain e-mail newsletter! In addition to a digest of Good Tickle Brain blog, the newsletter will contain highlights from my social media activity and exclusive Shakespearean book and film recommendations, plus occasional peeks behind the scenes at what it takes to be a Shakespearean webcomic artist. (Spoiler: it takes an abiding love of Shakespeare and surprisingly little artistic talent.)

The first issue will go out this coming Monday. Don't miss it!

Shakespearean Character Spotlight: Jamy

Our Shakespearean Character Spotlight of the day falls upon a very notable solider serving in the English army under Henry V. But he's not English. Ooooooh no. Most definitely not English. 

I must admit that I love the regional captains. They are never more stereotypically depicted than in the Laurence Olivier film adaptation of Henry V, where, quite apart from their ludicrously broad accents, each of them also has their nation's symbol (rose, leek, thistle and shamrock) emblazoned on their shirt, in case we ever got confused as to who was who. Politically correct? Not in the least, but then that's never stopped Shakespeare before.

Remember, you can now sign up for The Weekly Tickle Brain e-mail newsletter! Get a weekly digest of Good Tickle Brain activity, plus exclusive behind-the-scenes peeks and book/film recommendations, delivered to your Inbox each Monday!

Voir Shakes-Dire

I was summoned for jury duty today. For those of my readers who aren't familiar with the process, voir dire is when prospective jurors are questioned by the attorneys to determine if they have any biases that might influence their judgement of the case. As I received my summons, the following scene flashed into my mind:

As it happened, my number was not called and I did not have to serve, so the world was spared my terrible interpretation of Portia's great speech from the Merchant of Venice. 

NOTE: I make light of it here, but I do take jury duty very seriously, and have served before. I certainly take it more seriously that Mr. Shakespeare, who somewhat cynically observes that:

"The jury, passing on the prisoner's life,
May in the sworn twelve have a thief or two
Guiltier than him they try."

Measure for Measure (2.1)

He's got a point, though...