A stick-figure Shakespeare comic by Mya Lixian Gosling
There are a lot of strong female characters in Shakespeare. Today’s 30 Days of Shakespeare entry often gets overlooked in favor of your Beatrices or Lady Ms, but she’s arguably one of the most badass of the bunch.
Don’t mess with Emilia. She will ruin you.
Some more play page updates! I’m actually shocked at how few comics I’ve drawn about Much Ado, which is probably one of my favorite plays. I’ll have to rectify that.
Hey! We made it to 2021! There's still a long, dark tunnel ahead before we can put this pandemic behind us, but at least now there's a light at the end of the tunnel which I don't think is a train.
The first couple months of 2021 are going to consist of remastered versions of old comics and more play page updates, because, frankly, I'm burnt out and have some actual commissions that I've been neglecting for too long. But hopefully things will settle down soon and I can get started on the next play.... whatever it will be.
For now, let’s go waaaaaay back to my first set of Shakespearean New Year’s Resolutions!
As you can see, my style has evolved a bit. Not much, but a bit.
I think we can agree that Hamlet’s resolution is still on point.
As Halloween is fast approaching (when did the run-up to Halloween become as involved as the run-up to Christmas?) I thought it would be a good time to revisit some of my earlier Halloween comics and re-draw the earliest ones digitally. Enjoy!
Original Shakespearean Halloween Party I here. Honestly, after all these years, Desdemona’s handkerchief and the bees are still my favorite Shakespearean Halloween costume ideas.
Original Shakespearean Halloween Party II here. Seriously, butter knife + string + stick is all the effort I want to put into a costume.
He’s dressed as a lion tamer and is holding a shrew. I’ve had to explain this to everybody, the sure sign that a joke didn’t work. Oh well.
Pls note bear is mauling his shoulder. Textual accuracy is important.
How should we be acting during global pandemic? As with so many things in life, we can look to Shakespeare for guidance.
Consulting pocket dramaturg: Kate Pitt
This is probably the ONLY situation in which I can confidently say… Be like Timon.
(Except for the bit where he pays prostitutes to go spread venereal diseases. Don’t do that bit. Ew.)
I’m taking March off to work on some projects, but there’s still stuff going on here! I’ve gone and digitally re-drawn some of my favorite early comics, starting with Lobster Shakespeare!
Tune in during the rest of March for some more remastered comics, plus some previously Patreon-exclusive comics and videos!
Today we take a look at the iconography of Othello, which, frankly, is kind of easy because, let's face it, he is one of only two Shakespearean characters who are explicitly not white.
I think we can all agree that the time of Othellos depicted by white men in blackface has well and truly past.
What we can't agree on, though, is the color of the handkerchief. It's traditionally depicted as white (with all the symbolism that entails) but a relatively recent article argues that it should be black (with all the symbolism that entails), as it is mentioned in the text as being "dyed with mummy".
Remember when I put together that infographic on which Shakespearean character spends the most time dead onstage? Well, I decided to do another one, this time on which Shakespearean character spends the most time dying onstage. Here are the results of my haphazard investigation!
EDIT: Thanks to Brad Filippone, who noted I forgot Salisbury from 1 Henry VI. (My apologies to Nick Asbury, my first and most memorable Salisbury.)
My initial thought was that the #1 spot would go to Antony, who, as we know, is really bad at killing himself. I totally forgot that Edmund is dying onstage during much of the final King Lear exposition. So, take a bow, Edmund! You're the Prolonged Shakespearean Dying champion!
Special mention to Desdemona, who also made the top ten list of characters who spend the most time dead onstage. That's a really... special achievement.
Poor Desdemona.
