Page 4

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"The flood god took her by force, and the lady bore him a son: whose beauty from birth justly deserved all love." - Ovid's Metamorphoses

Page 3 (Redrawn)

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One cannot read Shakespeare’s Sonnets coherently without understanding the framing story, which is based on Arthur Golding’s translation of the story of Narcissus and Echo from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Narcissus’ story begins with Lyriop entering the waters of the river Cephisus – and she’s in for a nasty surprise.

Lessons from Page 3

Well, this entire process has been a learning experience – I never fully considered the ramifications of there being nudity in the graphic novel, even if the mature content comprises only two pages.

A big part of my intention is to get the graphic novel into high schools, which with these two pages would clearly not be possible. So once the first issue is complete it looks like we’re going to have to produce two versions, one “sanitized” for schools.

I’m not sure what that will look like, but it would still have to be exciting and get the story across which will be a bit of a challenge. But challenges can be overcome!

Page 3 (Removed)

This image has been removed for its mature content, and as explained in its follow up post has been redrawn. If you would still like to see the NSFW original, it is exclusively accessible my patrons here!

Page 2

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As the rain stops and the sun comes out, William stares into his reflection in the water that's now pooled in Hamnet's grave. Suddenly, he has a vision of blind Tyresias, seen as if he himself was Narcissus hearing the strange prophecy of his doom.

Page 1

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After Hamnet's death, William had no sons to which to pass on his legacy. He would spend almost all of his remaining days composing the sonnets - "little songs" of "little sons" - to serve as his last Will(iam) and testament, as his poetic portfolio, and as a memorial to himself and his son.

Cover

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The cover of Shakespeare's Sonnets is of great importance, as it will be referenced visually throughout the sonnet sequence.