Kill Shakespeare #5
The Tide Of Blood
Written by Conor McCreery & Anthony Del Col
Illustrated by Andy Belanger
Colored by Shari Chankhamma
Lettered by Chris Mowry
Cover by Simon Davis
IDW Publishing
Release Date: August 28, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

Kill Shakespeare: The Tide of Blood #5 written by Conor McCreery and Anthony Del Col and illustrated by Andy Belanger is the final installment in this latest series from IDW. With the culmination of the events from the previous four issues, how does this series end? Well, I’ll give you a hint: in true Shakespearean fashion, it’s tragic.

I’m going to skip my normal synopsis of the issue, as so much happened within the 27 allotted pages that trying to mention anything at all would give too much away; and believe me, you wouldn’t want that. Instead, I’m going to move right to the part in which I offer unabashed praise for McCreery and Del Col’s story as a whole. Kill Shakespeare: The Tide of Blood has been an incredible series with a wide assortment of clever and unique twists to Shakespeare’s tragedies. They’ve added extra heart and revelations about the characters that weren’t necessarily focused on in the first series, but helped to make this addition stand on its own. While a few things are left unfinished — which is fine because, you know, sequels and what not — issue number five provides an intense conclusion to the mini-series with enough closure to leave me satisfied.

With splatters of ruby red blood and highlighted accents of yellow and orange that burst off of desaturated characters and landscapes, Belanger’s interpretation of the story springs to life. Creating a classic cartoon-style mixed with a hefty dose of gruesome gore, his drawings hearken back to an old style of comics but can instantly shock you like the best of Shakespeare’s tragedies.

This has to be one of the best comic book series I have ever read. It could be due to the fact that I love Shakespeare and focused my senior seminar in college on his plays, but I am absolutely taken with the idea that all of his characters are interconnected; it is in line with common comic-book tradition and integrates surprisingly well with Shakespeare lore. Regardless of your loyalty or distaste for Shakespeare, you’re in for a worthwhile adventure with Kill Shakespeare: The Tide of Blood. I’m so pumped that I think I’m going to go reread some Shakespeare plays while I wait for the next series from McCreery and Del Col to come out. Don’t let your next trip to the comic book shop be a tragedy; go buy this!