Earlier this month I shared information about the brand new Kickstarter from Arledge Comics for their anthology comic, My Kingdom for a Panel. I recently received the chance to check out the book a little bit early and wanted to share my thoughts on this Shakespearean anthology before the Kickstarter closes on June 6th.  This is the perfect collection for both comic and literary lovers everywhere.

There are so many different takes on the works of William Shakespeare including sweet romantic pieces, goofy comedic drafts, and even dramatic and dark short stories. The first that caught my eye was the second story in the collection, “Shakespeare on the World’s Stage,” which shows a young Will interacting a number of his characters as well as Christopher Marlowe. The story is just so much fun and reminded me of Saturday morning cartoons from when I was growing up. The story that follows that one is a take on Romeo and Juliet that isn’t romantic, but rather grouchy. “The Grumpy Coroner” sets the story in the present and reveals the inner monologue of a particularly annoyed coroner who has to deal with the aftermath of the ill fated couple’s weekend together. There are also pieces that examine the writing style and character tropes that appear within Shakespeare’s works including a piece devoted to discussing the character of the fool, “Everybody’s Fool,” and another that looks at feminism and female characters, “Bill and Mr. Whiskers: Feminism.”

There are so many great stories that it is admittedly very hard to pull out specific ones to highlight. One additional story I didn’t discuss was “A Sad Part to Play,” which had exceptional art. There are also darker stories like “Lavinia,” which is eerie and frightening. I also really enjoyed the new take on Ophelia and her being given agency outside of Hamlet and his madness is the very witchy “Of Ladies Most Deject.” If you enjoy the works of Shakespeare “My Kingdom for a Panel” is something you will absolutely adore, but beyond that if you just want to enjoy a variety of diverse and well written comics from a great publisher you will want this in your life. There is still time to back their Kickstarter in order to make sure that this comic comes to life. Make sure to check out this new project from Arledge Comics and know that backing it is definitely more than worth it.

Share your thoughts with us in the comments or on Twitter, @thenerdygirlexp. You can find me on Twitter, @kleffnotes, on my blog, kleffnotes.wordpress.com, and on my kleffnotes YouTube channel.