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February 2007
"Maybe, just maybe, we can change society for
the better"
In October 2006 in a bar, somewhere in London, Clive Bryant was explaining
a new business idea to a friend. On the train journey to the city, he'd
been reading The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, and was inspired by
the notion of a zero tolerance to crime having a dramatically positive
effect on the streets of New York.
On reading the book, the question came immediately to mind, "Would
people behave in an antisocial way, if they appreciated fine literature?"
It was a chicken-and-egg question; certainly some people would disregard
such literature regardless of the circumstances. However, the thrust of
The Tipping Point is that the balance changes once a critical point is
reached; there is no need to "convert" everyone, only the need to convert
enough people for the rest to follow.
So, how to create that appreciation? Surely it starts at school?
Ask teenagers their opinion on Shakespeare, Dickens and Bronte, and the
vast majority will answer back with a number of variations on the word
"boring"; and that is the major hurdle to overcome: turning "boring"
into "cool".
Earlier that year, Clive had written a self-help book entitled POP
Success (soon to be available from Providence Press). As an aid to
readability and accessibility, he had introduced cartoon illustrations
to the book. To do that, he researched the area of cartooning, and as
a by-product had become hooked on a style of comic-strip. This twist
of fate provided the key to breaking down the 'cool' barrier. "If
we can make Shakespeare look as exciting as Spiderman, then that would
be cool".
And so the concept behind Classical Comics was born: to create exciting
and engaging graphical novel versions of classical literature;
to introduce new generations to the world of classic fiction; and to make
the works of masters available and accessible to all.
Although at the time it was a wholly original thought, we quickly realised
that it had been done before; at least in broad terms. In our opinion,
and that of readers we questioned, all of these predecessors lacked appeal
for the modern audience; principally, they were missing the vital ingredient:
excitement. Classical literature has a reputation for being
dull and staid. Unlike superhero comics, or indeed more modern literature,
they weren't influenced by film structures or geared towards the 'instant'
society in which we now live. Therefore we had to "turn up the excitement
volume" to compensate for this and in order to draw today's reader
into the story.
Think about it for a second. Wouldn't it have been great to study English
Literature with gripping visual renditions of the stories running alongside
the original text? Wouldn't Shakespeare have been so much more accessible
if there was an illustration with the text - or better still, pictures
with a plain English version - such that they were actually fun to
read? How much of a benefit would it have been when going through
GCSEs, and other tests to already know the stories because you'd tackled them in a simpler
form years ago?
We, and the teachers we've consulted, can see huge benefits within
the education process with the introduction of our book range.
To reach the audience at all ages and literacy levels, each Shakespeare
play comes in three versions:
- Original Text - the full script
- Plain Text - a plain English version of the full script
- Quick Text - with shortened dialogue for young readers and
for those people who want to understand the story rapidly.
(Incidentally, non-Shakespeare comes in Original Text and Quick Text
only, because the language is much easier to start with).
Click Here to see an example
of the different versions of text
In our opinion, Classical Comics represent the very best way of appreciating
these wonderful stories, with the reader being able to choose how
they want to read them. One version should lead the reader to the next,
fuller version - until one could quote Shakespeare in its original context!
But Classical Comics are not just for children; most adults would
like to understand at least some of Shakespeare's plays. Unfortunately,
as we all know, they are hard to appreciate in cold script form - hence
the ongoing successes of film versions of the plays. our Graphical
Novel formats go one step further. There is an extra level of enjoyment
reached by reading rather than by simply watching. It is an active
process and therefore more engaging for the reader who automatically
becomes a participant in the storytelling.
Each of our titles represents a long development project - typically
a 9-12 month lifecycle in which we create the script and commission
the artists to produce these wonderful works. We carefully select the
artist whose style is most appropriate for the book. For instance, Jane
Eyre needed to have a very different treatment from Macbeth; and that
treatment had to match the artist's natural style. Because of the project
lengths, we usually have 4-6 book titles in production at any one time.
We have absolute belief in our approach to both Classical Literature
and Graphical Novels and we think that we have successfully married
these two very different ends of the literary spectrum to offer a
truly unique and wonderful reading experience.
We hope you agree!!
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