Via Nerdist, Legendary Comics have announced “Tragic,” a young adult, LGBTQ+ graphic novel reimagining the story of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Created by novelist Dana Mele (People Like Us) with artist Valentina Pinti (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) and colorist Chiara Di Francia, the book revolves around 17-year-old Harper Hayes, who suspects her father, Hamilton, was murdered by her uncle, after discovering he has been sleeping with her mom.
The full synopsis states, “With the help of her ex-girlfriend Talia and her best friend (sometimes with benefits) Holden, Harper is determined to find her father’s killer. But when Caius, Talia’s father and Hamilton’s business partner, is also found dead, Harper realizes the answer to Hamilton’s murder is more complicated than she had initially realized. As Harper begins to see her father’s ghost in the form of a teenage Hamlet everywhere, and starts slipping into hallucinations of his murder that end with blood on her hands, one thing becomes clear — in order to uncover the truth about what happened to her father, Harper has to confront her own demons and ones that haunt the Hayes family.”
Mele stated, “Years ago, I played Hamlet in college, and what I love about retellings is the familiar heartbeat of a beloved story in sometimes a strange or quirky, unexpected form. I’ve always seen Hamlet as a queer character, as someone with a deeply intimate relationship with Horatio. And if Hamlet were written today, I think it would be a psychological thriller, so that’s the story that came about organically. ‘Tragic,’ in essence, is about anxieties surrounding identity, obligation, and mortality.”
Nikita Kannekanti, Editor of Legendary Comics, said “It has been great to work with Dana on bringing a new queer version of Hamlet to the page, and ‘Tragic’ is such an intriguing retelling. Valentina and Chiara have done a fantastic job capturing the human and theatrical elements in the vivid art of this tale, and I am really looking forward to sharing Harper and her messy life with readers.”
“Tragic” will be released sometime in spring 2022.
