Macduff, you have to understand, has four arms, each of which wield a samurai sword. The three witches have orange hair, glowing eyes, reptilian faces, red kimonos, and the ability to float in the air. Banquo smokes a cigar, wears an eyepatch and has
powerlifter shoulders.
Welcome to the world of Manga Shakespeare – specifically to Robert Deas's version of Macbeth. It's set in a post-nuclear dystopia, a world where shattered skyscrapers poke out of deserts, and Lady M wears hotpants. Oddly, though, it works. Akira Kurosawa's 1957 film Throne of Blood is one of the outstanding examples of a successful translation of a work from one culture into another; this manga version has some of the same strengths, while staying truer to the text.
So Macbeth finds that not even Neptune's ocean can wash the blood from his hands, which would "rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red", and the glories of language like that are – unlikely as it sounds – somehow only emphasised by this new context. Bookworm, a sceptic at first, was soon won over. Only the final scene, where Malcolm's armies approach Dunsinane (an illustration of Birnham Wood with the words "Rustle, rustle" on it to indicate movement) seems incongruous, but then it always does, even in the play.
Publisher Self Made Hero, a UK-based manga imprint, was set up with the aim of reinventing literary classics. They've already done half a dozen Shakespeare plays, but this Macbeth is their best yet. Something wicked this way comes – and it's only £7.99.
ABOUT AN E-BOOK
EVERY week now publishers worry just a little bit more about how seriously they should be taking e-books. Nick Hornby isn't convinced: writing in computer magazine PC Pro, he notes that his local branch of Borders is piled high with unsold e-book readers.
Comparisons between these and MP3 players, he argues, are wide of the mark. "Firstly, when we bought our iPods, we already owned the music to put on it; none of us own e-books.
"Secondly, so far Apple is uninterested in designing an e-book reader, which means that they don't look cool."
Finally, he points out, so few people buy books anyway – so who needs a device that stores loads of them?
It all sounds persuasive – for now. But will these words come back to haunt him?
The full article contains 404 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
