A stick-figure Shakespeare comic by Mya Lixian Gosling
Here comes some more plays! I’m very fond of Richard III, so I’ve done quite a lot of scattershot comics about it over the years. I really want to do a scene-by-scene of it… but I kind of think I need to do the Henries first? That will take YEARS…
Yes, it’s MORE remastered Shakespearean selfies!
Consulting pocket dramaturg: Kate Pitt
Check out the original here and marvel at my primitive pen-and-ink attempts to draw “insubstantial”.
Pretty pleased with my action-blur on Casca, tbh.
I’m a huge Star Trek nerd, and, as I am in the midst of a long-running TNG/DS9/VOY rewatch project, it seemed only natural to figure out which Shakespearean characters would make the ideal Federation starship crew. Here are my (totally non-definitive) picks:
CAPTAIN HENRY V: This one is kind of a no-brainer. The captain has to be decisive, able to command with a mixture of compassion and discipline, inspire loyalty in his crew, and accept ultimate responsibility for the ship. Henry V ticks all those boxes.
FIRST OFFICER ROSALIND: Rosalind’s ability to manage numerous moving parts and get people to do exactly what she wants them to make her an excellent choice for first officer. A natural leader, she stands ready to take over should the captain be incapacitated, and also will not hesitate to call the captain out if she thinks he is making a mistake.
COUNSELOR PAULINA: Paulina is not your touchy-feely empathic counselor. She is a no-nonsense problem solver. If you are having a problem, she will fix it. It might not be a pleasant experience for anyone involved, but you will come out the other side a better person. Probably.
OPERATIONS OFFICER ARIEL: Nobody is quite sure exactly what it is the operations officer does, but the bottom line is that he’s responsible for keeping the ship running smoothly. The airy spirit Ariel is more than capable of monitoring all of the starship’s complex systems and addressing any problems before they get too troublesome.
CHIEF ENGINEER PORTIA: The chief engineer of a starship has to be a consummate problem solver, able to quickly adapt to rapidly changing circumstances and come up with innovative and effective solutions. All this leads to Portia—the one from The Merchant of Venice—who is constantly overcoming obstacles in unexpected ways. If there’s a loophole in the laws of physics, she will find it.
TACTICAL OFFICER & SECURITY CHIEF CORIOLANUS: Battles must be won! Order must be maintained! Coriolanus’s single-minded adherence to those two maxims make him the ideal tactical officer and security chief. Fortunately for him, his excellence in those fields balances out his total lack of interpersonal skills and objectively objectionable personality.
MEDICAL OFFICER HELENA: She’s still relatively junior, but Helena—the one from All’s Well That Ends Well— shows great promise as a doctor. Able to blend established practices with new technological and pharmacological innovations, she is on the cutting edge of medical research, and does her best to keep her crew healthy.
HELMSMAN PERICLES: Pericles is more at home sailing between the stars than he is on the ground. OK, one time he piloted a starship into a gravimetric distortion and ended up having to abandon ship, but that was a while ago, and he’s got the hang of it now. Honestly.
SCIENCE OFFICER FRIAR LAURENCE: Friar Laurence is an avid xenobotanist. Nothing makes him happier than collecting plant samples from alien planets and then conducting weird experiments in his lab. He was demoted to ensign after the infamous Sleeping Death Replicator Virus incident, but he’s promised not to make that mistake again.
Thanks to my Shakespeare consultant Kate Pitt and my Star Trek consultant (and Star Trek re-watching buddy) James for letting me bounce these extremely nerdy ideas off of them.
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!
HAPPY NEW YEAR! Let’s check in with some of our favorite Shakespearean characters and see what their plans for the new year are.
Those resolutions aren’t quite doing it for you? Here are some from past years:
Looking forward to sharing year SIX of Good Tickle Brain with you!
*sniff* Webcomics grow up so fast nowadays….
One more Stratford Festival production photo summary before I get back to A Stick Figure Midsummer Night’s Dream!
It's that time of year again... The Stratford Festival's opening is just around the corner and it's time to take a look at their playbill for the season. Here we go!
First up we have a classic musical that needs no introduction.
Then some Shakespeare! This production of The Tempest has a female Prospero, so... ignore the beard.
Then it's everybody's favorite sci-fi/comedy/horror rock musical!
Then a stage adaptation of a classic book.
The following is possibly the production I'm most excited about. By all accounts this is going to be an extremely cinematic and visually stunning production of an underrated Shakespeare play.
Let's lighten things up with some Oscar Wilde. No, not the one with the handbag. It's the one with all the letters.
I knew nothing about the following Italian play, which is getting a new translation at Stratford this season. It seems to be half rollicking riotous comedy and half cynical dark comedy. Either way, I'm looking forward to it.
This season's production of Julius Caesar features some great gender-neutral casting, with Caesar and Cassius, among others, being played by female actors. Very excited about this.
DISCLAIMER. The following two plays are NEW plays, which means I don't have any idea what they will actually be like. What I do know, though, is the source material they are based upon. And so I present....
...and, with a similarly literary bent, we have...
One more Shakespeare! This one looks like it's going to be quite the production, with male/female Antipholi and Dromios.
Finally we have this entry from what I call "The American Canon of Miserable Families Being Miserable", by Eugene O'Neill.
SOUNDS LIKE FUN!
But in all seriously, I'm very much looking forward to this season at the Stratford Festival. Maybe I'll see you there!
For the last (for the moment, anyways) installment of this month's Shakespearean Stick Figure Iconography series, we're going to take a look at that very iconic sorcerer, Prospero!
Of course, one of the most memorable Prosperos I've ever seen was Patrick Stewart as a bald, clean-shaven, fur-clad arctic Prospero, and female Prosperos are becoming more and more widespread, so obviously these signifiers are not universal...
....except the stick. He's always got his stick.
Tune in next week as we start on an April Shakespeare special!
