An excellent resource for students who are already studying Shakespeare's Macbeth in its original form, and a great way to get students interested in the Bard's work, this resource would fall short if used as a stand alone. Although the illustrations are excellent and match the mood of the plot very well, too much of the text has been left out of this edition and readers may not understand all of the action. Additional resources, such as a reader's guide listing characters and their relationships would help to make the plot a bit more accessible to the reader. ( )

Sexton, A., Grandt, E., Chow, C. Shakespeare's MacBeth--the Manga Edition (2008). New York: Wiley, John & Sons, Inc.

What would the Elizabethan bard say if, transported four centuries into the future, he was handed a copy of "Macbeth, The Manga Edition"?

As a once-in-mankind genius of the written word, William Shakespeare would surely have been surprised by this presentation of his tragedy rife with witchcraft, treachery and murder. Once over the initial shock, in my opinion, the bard of Avon would probably have been impressed by the dark and foreboding art work but dismayed at the seriously abridged text of his play.

Manga Macbeth is a book shaped, drawn (literally), and edited for the reluctant reader. Adam Sexton is a teacher of writing, an editor, and a well respected, veteran author; however, in my first exposure to his editing skill of a Shakespeare masterpiece, I believe he has fallen far short in imparting the meaning and force of this drama. Yet, for the young adult, raised on violent video games and television, these lines may appeal to one averse to the written word. Lines like this from Macbeth in the famous dagger scene, just prior to his murder of Duncan (p. 43):

"Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle
toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee."

Or, from Macduff, prior to his assault of Macbeth's castle and learning of the murder of his wife and children at the hands of Macbeth's henchmen (p. 154):

"O, I could play the woman with mine eyes and
braggart with my tongue! But, front to front bring
thou this fiend of Scotland and myself. Within my
sword's length set him -- if he 'scape, heaven
forgive him, too!"

The artists, Eve Grandt and Candace Chow, certainly draw a dismal, dreary, and scary portrait of Scotland in the middle ages. There's nothing bright and heartwarming about these illustrations. They are brutal, direct, and do not leave much to the imagination, but again, for a YA audience, they might be the right ticket to keep a reluctant reader reading.

So, is this great literature gone amok? Or, is it taking a great work and whittling it down to where anyone can enjoy a tragedy by William Shakespeare? I think the answer falls somewhere inbetween. For some, it's apostasy to the essence of great literature (I tend to fall in this category), but for others, unknowing of the bard's work, this could be the ticket to further exploration of other plays. This is certainly a feather in the cap to the manga genre.