Classical Comics Win Another Award!
Classical Comics Win Design Award For Macbeth Following on from the success of their first book, Henry V (which won a Silver IPPY this year), the second book in the series, Macbeth Original Text, has scooped a first prize at Wednesday night’s ceremony for the British Book Design and Production Awards 2008.
The event was a great success overall for Classical Comics. Macbeth Original Text was the winner of the Secondary Education category and was also Highly Commended (2nd place) in Literature; while Henry V Quick Text achieved the shortlist for the Secondary Education category. The award for Macbeth, presented by Gyles Brandreth, marked a significant achievement - not only for the book itself, but also for the company as both gain recognition from the mainstream book industry.
Following the success of its pioneering three-tier dialogue treatments of Shakespeare’s Henry V and Macbeth, Classical Comics continues its series of graphic novel adaptations of literary classics with the publication of multi-text versions of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
All three of the latest books, plus Macbeth, have been nominated for the 2009 Cybil Awards.
Charlotte Bronte’s classic Jane Eyre is brought to vibrant life by legendary artist John M Burns. Perhaps best known for his daily newspaper comic strips (such as The Seekers, Modesty Blaise, Danielle, and George and Lynne), John has also worked on Dan Dare, Judge Dredd, and Trueno; he co-created Bendatti Vendetta for the Judge Dredd Megazine, and is lead artist of Nikolai Dante. John’s sympathetic treatment of this classical romance from 1847 perfectly matches Amy Corzine’s inspired script adaptation.
Declan Shalvey’s naturally gothic artistic style is just right for Frankenstein. Films of Mary Shelley’s epic tale have strayed so far from the original novel that many people today don’t realise this classic horror deals with timeless subjects such as alienation, empathy and understanding beyond appearance. With Frankenstein, Classical Comics has chosen another great story and beautifully crafted it into a superb graphic novel with script adaptation by Jason Cobley.
Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol - arguably Dickens’ best loved novel - highlights the social injustice of Victorian England. Sean Michael Wilson’s script adaptation perfectly captures Ebeneezer Scrooge’s emotional journey from oppressor to benefactor, as does the graphic artwork by Star Trek, Dr Who, and Harry Potter comic illustrator Mike Collins.
Notes to editors:
With literacy levels in schools, and amongst school leavers, at an all time low, Classical Comics has devised a revolutionary multi-text approach as an invaluable classroom teaching tool. Each Shakespeare play is published in three versions: Original Text - the full, unabridged script; Plain Text - a modern English version of the original script; and Quick Text - with reduced, simplified dialogue for easier and faster reading. Clive Bryant, of Classical Comics, explains the thinking behind this: ‘We wanted to spread a joy and appreciation of literacy, and particularly to target readers in key stages 2 and 3. By providing three text versions, which are all overlaid on the same artwork, we allow a reader to absorb the story at Quick Text level, proceed onto Plain English, and then onto the Original script. We believe that we’ve created a way for readers to enjoy these fantastic stories regardless of their age or their reading ability’.
Non-Shakespeare books are in two text versions, Original and Quick, as the English is close enough to modern usage not to require a translation.
Not wanting to patronise its readers, and mindful of the sanctity of the original text, Classical Comics carried out a large amount of research to arrive at the right approach with its books. The response from teachers, parents and young people themselves has been extremely positive. Teaching resources, in the form of both hard-copy ready-made lesson plans for teachers, and interactive whiteboard toolkits, are available with each book, as are ELT versions complete with audio recordings.
Classical Comics has signed a deal with California-based distributors Publishers Group West to make its books available in
Other great literary novels receiving the Classical Comic treatment include: Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations (January 2009), Shakespeare’s Richard III (March 2010), The Tempest (May 2009), Romeo and Juliet (July 2009) and Hamlet (2010), Bram Stoker’s Dracula (September 2009), Oscar Wilde’s The Canterville Ghost (October 2009), and Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights (2010).An Inspector Calls and Sweeney Todd are the latest books to be added to the series.
The books retail at £9.99 each, and are available from Amazon, and all good bookshops nationwide.
Review copies are available on request
Copies of the teaching resources are available on request
Images/sample artwork/text are available on request
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