comics . classical comics industry publishing genre literary adaptations founded 2007 founder clive bryant headquarters birmingham united kingdom key people gary bryant products graphic novels website official website classical comics is a british publisher of graphic novel adaptations of the great works of literature including shakespeare charlotte bront and dickens . contents 1 overview 2 reception 3 titles 4 awards 5 see also 6 notes 7 references 8 external links overview edit all of the volumes will be published as graphic novels . art is being provided by british artists most of whom have a long history of working in british comics . some of the releases in particular the shakespeare will come in three different versions the original text plain text and quick text designed to allow readers with different needs to pick the version that bests suits them . 1 classical comics chairman clive bryant has stated we want to make shakespeare as energetic and colourful as spider man 2 the aim is not just to aid in english literature classes but also in other areas karen wenborn the managing director has said we and the teachers we ve consulted can visualize huge benefits within the education process using the books not only for literacy and literature but also drama art and history . 3 in april 2008 classical comics signed a distribution deal with book & volume to cover australia and new zealand . in june 2008 they announced two further distributions deals . publishers group west will be releasing british english and american english versions of classical comics titles in the us and canada 4 and ittosha are going to be translating the books into japanese . 5 classical comics are also adapting their comics into other media and have turned their macbeth graphic novel into an interactive motion comic with actors like derek jacobi and juliet stevenson voicing the roles . 6 jon haward the artist on macbeth and the tempest moved into the role of art direction for the hamlet adaptation providing character designs and rough page outlines for pencilled david lorenzo to work with . 7 reception edit the national association for the teaching of english is supporting the project . this is a fun way of getting into the stories the director ian mcneilly said . plays are not meant to be read but to be seen . the illustrations in these books are an easy way of following what is going on . 8 wenborn has also reported that focus groups were incredibly enthusiastic 9 and the guardian who examined the version of macbeth has suggested that it will also surely suck some more young readers into the brilliant darkness of this play . 10 however they have also been accused by newspapers like the daily mail of dumbing down the original text especially with the very simplified versions . they quote dr bernard lamb of the queen s english society as saying pupils may just enjoy the cartoons and not connect it with shakespeare and they won t be much of a contribution to education and that a lot of the beauty of shakespeare is in the language more than the plot . 11 titles edit henry v by william shakespeare and adapted by john mcdonald with pencils by neill cameron and inks by bambos 144 pages november 2007 original text isbn 978 1 906332 00 6 12 macbeth by william shakespeare and adapted by john mcdonald with artwork by jon haward 144 pages february 2008 original text isbn 978 1 906332 03 7 13 romeo and juliet by william shakespeare and adapted by john mcdonald with artwork by will volley and jim devlin 160 pages september 2009 original text isbn 978 1 906332 19 8 14 the tempest by william shakespeare and adapted by john mcdonald with artwork by jon haward 144 pages september 2009 original text isbn 978 1 906332 29 7 15 a midsummer night s dream by william shakespeare and adapted by john mcdonald with artwork by jason cardy & kat nicholson 144 pages september 2010 original text isbn 978 1 906332 89 1 16 jane eyre by charlotte bront and adapted by amy corzine with artwork by john burns 144 pages spring 2008 original text isbn 978 1 906332 06 8 17 frankenstein by mary shelley and adapted by jason cobley with artwork by declan shalvey 18 144 pages september 2008 original text isbn 978 1 906332 15 0 19 a christmas carol by charles dickens and adapted by sean michael wilson with pencils by mike collins and inks by david roach 160 pages october 2008 original text isbn 978 1 906332 17 4 20 great expectations by charles dickens and adapted by jen green and artwork by john stokes 160 pages march 2009 original text isbn 978 1 906332 09 9 21 the canterville ghost by oscar wilde and adapted by sean michael wilson with art by steve bryant and jason millet 136 pages february 2010 original text isbn 978 1 906332 27 3 sweeney todd by anonymous and adapted by sean michael wilson with art by declan shalvey 168 pages november 2010 original text isbn 978 1 906332 79 2 wuthering heights by emily bront and adapted by sean michael wilson with art by john m. burns 160 pages august 2010 original text isbn 978 1 906332 87 7 dracula by bram stoker and adapted by jason cobley with artwork by staz johnson colours by james offredi and lettering by jim campbell 22 152 pages original text isbn 978 1 906332 25 9 an inspector calls by j. b. priestley and adapted by jason cobley with artwork by will volley colours by alejandro sanchez and lettering by jim campbell 23 144 pages original text isbn 978 1 906332 32 7 the importance of being earnest by oscar wilde . script adaptation characters and artwork by john stokes 24 144 pages original text isbn 978 1 906332 92 1 quick text isbn 978 1 906332 93 8 awards edit 2008 won the silver medal graphic novel drawn book drama documentary independent publisher book award for henry v. 25 2009 won the bronze medal graphic novel drawn book drama documentary independent publisher book award for macbeth . 26 association of educational publishers 2009 winner distinguished achievement award in grades 9 12 frankenstein 2010 romeo & juliet graphic novels win distinguished achievement award for curriculum reading and language arts grades 9 12 . 2012 wuthering heights by scottish writer sean michael wilson 27 and hand painted by comic book veteran artist john m burns received a nomination for the stan lee excelsior awards 2012 voted for by pupils from 170 schools across the uk . finalist in the education resources awards 2012 for best secondary resource or equipment involving ict macbeth interactive motion comic 28 see also edit novels portal classic comics the fore runner of classics illustrated classics illustrated a similar venture from the 1940s to 1960s marvel illustrated marvel comics imprint adapting classic literature paico classics indian series similar to classics illustrated self made hero another new british company producing adaptations of literature including some of the same shakespeare plays the manga bible an adaptation by siku notes edit clive bryant on classical comics newsarama november 8 2007 then lend the eye an easy aspect times educational supplement august 17 2007 classics as graphic novels have your say national association for the teaching of english june 29 2007 classical comics to launch in the usa and canada with pgw booktrade.info june 11 2008 classical comics reverses the flow graphic novels to be published in japanese booktrade.info june 23 2008 flood alison march 1 2010 . schools test interactive graphic novel version of macbeth . the guardian . retrieved march 4 2010 . jordan melanie c. jon haward . imagine daily . retrieved march 4 2010 . to be or not to be dumb the sunday tribune september 2 2007 shakespeare gets comic treatment bbc may 11 2007 something wicked this way comes the guardian february 25 2008 shakespeare dumbed down in comic strips for bored pupils daily mail august 17 2007 classical comics bringing classics to life classical comics bringing classics to life classical comics bringing classics to life classical comics bringing classics to life classical comics bringing classics to life classical comics bringing classics to life talking classical comics with declan shalvey comics bulletin november 20 2008 classical comics bringing classics to life classical comics bringing classics to life classical comics bringing classics to life http www.classicalcomics.com titles dracula.html http www.classicalcomics.com titles an inspector calls.html http www.classicalcomics.com titles the importance of being earnest.html announcing 2008 independent publisher book awards results announcing 2009 ippy awards national and regional results sean michael wilson http www.besa.org.uk library press release education resources awards 2012 shortlist references edit classical comics at the comic book db external links edit official website book & volume australian distributor 1 uk distributor 2 uk distributor retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title classical comics & oldid 713363064 categories comics based on fictioncomic book publishing companies of the united kingdombritish graphic novels2007 establishments in the united kingdomcompanies established in 2007 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 3 april 2016 at 16 07 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view